Description
The Wolf Vostell papers, collected by the German art critic and friend of the artist, Heinz Ohff, document the activities
of one of Europe's pioneers in video art, Happenings, and Fluxus. The bulk of the material dates from the 1970s and the early
1980s.
Background
Born in Leverkusen, Germany in 1932, Wolf Vostell was a pioneer of video art, and the Fluxus and Happening movements. While
studying graphic arts at the École nationale des beaux-arts in Paris, Vostell developed the concept of
dé-coll/age, or the process of artistic creation through the destruction of everyday materials. In Paris in 1958 he staged his first
Happening,
Theatre is in the Street. Four years later he joined with George Maciunas and Nam June Paik to coordinate the First International Fluxus Festival
at Museum Wiesbaden in Germany. Vostell was among the first artists to incorporate television into his work, which he did
as early as 1958. Vostell had close ties to Spain, the birthplace of his wife, where he founded the Museo Vostell Malpartida
de Cáceres in 1976. The first retrospective exhibition of Vostell's work took place in 1974 at Musée d'art moderne de la ville
de Paris. He died in Berlin in 1998.
Extent
8.0 linear feet
(4 boxes, 4 flatfile folders)
Restrictions
Contact
Library Rights and Reproductions.
Availability
Open for use by qualified researchers.