Social sculpture

Social sculpture is a theory developed by the artist Joseph Beuys in the 1970s, grounded in the belief that everything is art and therefore every person is potentially an artist capable of shaping society creatively. Beuys expanded the very notion of sculpture: instead of stone or bronze, the "material" becomes thought, language, discussion, and social and political relationships. The idea is closely tied to his slogan "everyone is an artist" and to practical initiatives such as founding the Free International University and the vast ecological action 7000 Oaks at Documenta in 1982. Social sculpture stresses the creative responsibility of each citizen for a shared future. These views resonate with the Ukrainian experience of grassroots initiatives and volunteering, where collective creative action, from reconstruction to community self-organisation, is understood as a way of literally shaping society with one's own hands.