“I Like America and America Likes Me” — but where’s the Art?
Reflecting on the compelling complexity of the ‘Coyote’ process and how it changed our perceptions of where art happens and what art is…
Rated by many (this author included) as one of the most important works of twentieth century art, “I Like America and America Likes Me” aka Coyote by Joseph Beuys (1974–1976) is a complex piece that incorporates aspects of performance, installation, photography and conceptual art.
Joseph Beuys was flown into the USA from Germany. Upon his arrival, he was wrapped in felt and carried from the plane on a stretcher into an awaiting ambulance that delivered him to the warehouse that was to become the René Block Gallery, in New York. Here he was gurneyed to a room on the second floor where a cage had been constructed, the floor lined with straw and copies of The Wall Street Journal. Beuys shared this cage with a wild coyote for three days. On the fourth day, he was once again wrapped in felt and ambulanced back to the airport to be carried onto his departure flight.
For this event, there was no audience, though the photographer Caroline Tisdall recorded the situations throughout. After the event, a selection of these photographs were exhibited in galleries and later published in the book titled, Coyote (1976).
