Beuys and the Horse

Joseph Beuys, Iphigenia, 1973

...the action ‘Iphigenia / Titus Andronicus’ that Beuys performed at ‘experimenta 3’ in Frankfurt-am-Main on 29 and 30 May 1969. During the action, Beuys recited the text of Goethe’s play ‘Iphigenia,’ while a loudspeaker on stage relayed the pre-recorded sound of two actors reading ‘Iphigenia’ and Shakespeare’s play ‘Titus Andronicus.’ The upper part of the image shows a white horse, which stood behind the artist on the stage. It stood on a sheet of metal attached to microphones, and every time the horse scraped or stamped its hooves the sound was magnified. The artist walked around the stage, creating noises and striking a pair of cymbals, as can be seen in the bottom part of the photograph. The action was intended to unite the worlds of nature and culture.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_az/4:322/result/0/68836?initial=B&artistId=2762&artistName=Joseph+Beuys&submit=1