German conceptual artist Timm Ulrichs has died at the age of 86. His death on April 29 in Berlin was announced by the art association Kunstverein Hannover, of which he was the oldest member. Born in Berlin in 1940, Ulrichs studied architecture at the Technical University of Hanover from 1959–1966. In 1961, inspired by the “Merzkunst” (Merz art) of Hanoverian artist Kurt Schwitters, he declared himself a “total artist,” renaming his living space and studio the Werbezentrale für Totalkunst & Banalismus (Advertising agency for total art, banalism, and extemporism). Related Articles “Total Art,” he once stated, “knows no boundaries as regards to genre and encompasses diverse disciplines that serve to get to the bottom of human existence.” In keeping with this philosophy, Ulrichs’s activities included putting himself on display inside a glass case as “the first living work of art” (1961), running naked through thunderstorms holding a lightning rod (1963, 1972, 1977), spending 10 hours inside a hollowed-out boulder (1981), collecting tattoos, writing concrete poetry, and making pioneering computer and copy art. Though his reputation …