Wolf Vostell

Wolf Vostell was a German artist born in Leverkusen in 1932 and who died in Berlin in 1998. He was a pivotal figure in post-war contemporary art and worked in painting, sculpture, installation, video art, actions and happenings. His work is associated with the Fluxus movement, the development of happenings in Europe and the early use of television as an artistic medium.

His language was built around the concept of dé-coll/age, a technique and an artistic idea based on the fragmentation, erasure, destruction, and transformation of images and objects from everyday life. Vostell incorporated televisions, cars, concrete, sounds and industrial materials to connect art and life. From the 1950s onwards, he also addressed historical and political themes, including the memory of the Holocaust, war, violence and the need to resist oblivion.

His work is part of collections such as the Vostell Malpartida Museum, which houses the Wolf and Mercedes Vostell Collection and the Vostell Archive; the Museo Reina Sofía; MoMA; Berlinische Galerie; and the Museum FLUXUS+. In 1976, together with Mercedes Guardado, he founded the Vostell Malpartida Museum in Malpartida de Cáceres, an institution dedicated to his work, Fluxus art and conceptual art.