in 'interfunktionen 2', 1969
Offset, stamped; on page 63 of publication
Magazine, 29.5 x 22 cm
Edition: 50, signed, unnumbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 9
in 'interfunktionen 3,' 1969
Offset; on page 83 of publication
magazine, 29.5 x 22 cm
Edition: 50, signed and numbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 10
in 'interfunktionen 4,' 1970
Offset, stamped; paper strip with typewritten text, stamped; plaster; on page 54 of publication, stamped
magazine, 29.5 x 22 cm
Edition: 60, signed and numbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 22
in 'interfunktionen 5,' 1970
Offset with handwritten text, stamped; on pages 82-83 of publication, with inscription
magazine, 29 x 21.5 cm
Edition: 60, signed, unnumbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 23
in 'interfunktionen 6,' 1971
Seven sheets of printed, coloured tissue paper, folded in various ways and inserted between various pages of the publication
magazine, 29 x 21 cm
Edition: 60, signed on one sheet of tissue paper, publication numbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 38
in 'interfunktionen 7,' 1971
Offset with handwritten text, stamped in blue (Bluecross); on page 28 of the publication
magazine, 29.5 x 22 cm
Edition: 60, signed, publication numbered
Publisher: F. W. Heubach, Cologne
Catalogue Raisonné No.: 39

in ‘interfunktionen’

[in 'interfunktionen']

  • 1969–1971
  • interfunktionen issues 2–7, containing multiples by Beuys

Cologne-based F. W. Heubach founded the art and theory magazine interfunktionen in 1968. He used this publication as a platform for artists who held no affinity for Pop Art, kinetic art, environmental art and minimalism, which had dominated that year’s documenta 4 exhibition.1 Published at irregular intervals over the next seven years, the twelve issues of the magazine served as vessels for distributing information and as artworks in their own right. With a changing roster of authors and editors, interfunktionen became an influential voice in the West German art world.2 Fifty to sixty copies of each issue’s print run were special editions, containing contributions by invited artists.

Asked to contribute to issues two through seven of interfunktionen, Beuys used the magazine to publish photographs of his recent performances, print texts on topics like the ideal art academy, or reproduce existing drawings and other artworks. By adding stamps, inscriptions, and hand-collaged elements to this material, he transformed it into a series of multiples. 


  1. For the backdrop to the magazine’s founding, see Gloria Moure, Behind the facts: Interfunktionen, 1968-1975 (Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2004), 37. 

  2. On the role of interfunktionen in the West German art world of the late 1960s and early 1970s, see Christine Mehring, ‘Continental Schrift: The Magazine Interfunktionen,’ in Artforum (May 2004). 

    Photo 1

    © H. Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen

    Photos 2–7

    © Mario Gastinger, Photographics, Munich

    Ja Ja Ja Ja Ja, Nee Nee Nee Nee Nee1969 Vacuum↔Mass 1970