Subject to passionate controversy during his lifetime, the work of Joseph Beuys is now considered one of the most significant and influential contributions to twentieth-century fine arts. This book provides a survey of Beuys's oeuvre, which he viewed as part of a larger, philosophically based practice emphasising direct democracy, free access to education and the restructuring of society to meet ecological requirements. A total of 152 works from Beuys's many fields of activity - drawings and watercolours, prints and multiples, sculpture and objects, spaces and actions - are arranged in chronological order, demonstrating the artist's formal versatility, creative richness and conceptual depth. The peculiar poetry of the materials Beuys used - felt, grease, honey, wax, copper and sulfur - emerges along with the gentle melancholy suffusing the work of this sensitive agent provocateur. Alain Borer analyses Beuys's motivation with special reference to the artist's written and spoken statements. The book is an informed introduction to the artistic work and conceptual world of Joseph Beuys, for anyone interested in art.

Richard Mille, 54, has devoted his career to haute horology. His love for high-precision mechanism and his passion for technological perfection have inspired his creations. Thousands of hours devoted to engineering research in a state-of-the-art workshop in the Swiss Jura resulted in the realisation and marketing in 2001 of a wristwatch which was the most ergonomic and the most technically sophisticated watch of its time. Since then, about ten new models have been created and launched successfully. In a Richard Mille watch, the concept dictates the components, and not the other way round. Therefore there is no "standard" part. Carbon fibre, silicon, metallic and non-metallic alloys and ceramics are no longer exclusive to the car, aeronautics or aerospace industries. These materials offer haute horology fabulous possibilities and new technical solutions, provided it accepts the challenge of their adaptation to watchmaking. These costly materials must be tried and tested many times before their full potential to watchmaking is appreciated and understood by the tool-makers and watch-mechanics. It can be considered therefore that Richard Mille watches are futuristic high-tech works of art.