Wolf Vostell
Reading the Lidice Catalogue… Please Put on Fire
Artist
Wolf Vostell
Original Title
Reading the Lidice Catalogue… Please Put on Fire
Date(1967)
Mediumdécollage (sparklers, negatives, paper, wood, glass, textile)
Dimensions22 × 29 cm
ClassificationsFlux Object
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha (Marie and Milan Knížák Fluxus Collection)
DescriptionWolf Vostell was one of the founders of Fluxus, as well as one of its most prominent members. A unique aspect of his artistic contribution to Fluxus was that he engaged with the topic of the holocaust and World War II as early as the 1950s while also addressing contemporary political events. Vostell’s work channeled a criticism of consumer culture, similar to that found in the work of Nam June Paik. Vostell abandoned traditional artistic disciplines and techniques, becoming one of the first artists working with video, television sets, and installations. His pieces often incorporated television screens, seeking to spark a debate about television as a means of manipulation; simultaneously, he also used television as a medium for spreading his innovative video art. Vostell was also a pioneer of conceptual art and an important German pioneer of happenings and décollage. He coined the latter term in 1954 to denote a unique artistic technique based on scratching, separating, and tearing. This process was meant to mirror the society of the 20th century, which Vostell saw as being defined by destruction. Décollage allowed him to expand his artistic practice to include happenings, installations, painting, and destructive processes intended to dismantle dated conventions and values. Already in the 1950s, he began incorporating car parts and television screens—two of the most prominent symbols of post-war consumer culture—in his décollages. Some of Vostell’s décollages containing fragments of advertising posters have also been labelled as a German variation of pop art. His first environment, titled The Black Room (1958, Berlinische Gallery, Berlin), comprised three assemblages (German View, Auschwitz Floodlight 568, and Treblinka). In 1958, he participated in one of the European happenings, which took place in Paris, and also produced his first objects with television sets and car parts. Between 1984 and 1988, he organized over 50 happenings, where—in the spirit of fusing art and life— viewers became participants, thus elevating them into a more creative role. In 1963, Vostell became a pioneer of video art and installation with his piece 6 TV Dé-Coll/age, presented at the Smolin Gallery in New York and currently held in the collection of the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. At the 1986 Venice Biennale, he presented the environment Electronic Dé-coll/age, Happening Room (currently at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin), which comprises six televisions with electric motors. Vostell also frequently embedded his objects into concrete, which became a hallmark of his practice. His monumental piece Concrete Traffic (1970, University of Chicago Public Art Collection) was made by fully encasing a 1957 Cadillac into concrete. Through such works, Vostell experimented with the ambivalent material properties of concrete while also addressing post-war urbanism, specifically German urban reconstruction and American urban regeneration. These experiments with concrete were an innovative and captivating exploration of the material that defined the 20th century. In 1975, topics related to Spain also entered Vostell’s work. In his studio in Spain, he created a series of paintings and drawings thematizing the Spanish tradition of bullfighting. During the 1980s, he also began working with mythological themes. During his final years, Vostell created numerous large-scale sculptural works in public spaces, made using his characteristic materials.
Wolf Vostell met Milan Knížák during the latter’s DAAD scholarship stay in Berlin (1979–1980), where Vostell’s solo exhibition was showing at the time. In his travel memoirs, Knížák described Vostell as a “superbusinessman” , excellent at promoting his brand: “Wolf’s events always seemed ridiculous to me, but I was fascinated by certain details—especially by his artistic knowledge, power, and often also the strange taste he used to navigate this field. His design in particular was always fantastic…” Vostell himself visited Prague twice, including a visit with René Bock, a young German gallerist working closely with Joseph Beuys. Vostell gifted Knížák his décollage Reading the Lidice Catalogue… Please Put on Fire (1967), a work based on tearing a and deconstructing the materials used and composing the resulting fragments of reality into a new whole. The piece contains various fragments of materials related to the tragic fate of the Czech town of Lidice during its occupation by the Germans; it also includes postcards showing various places in Berlin with direct links to its imperial Nazi past. Another component of the décollage is a fragment of a catalogue listing exhibitions at the progressive Galerie René Bock, which Knížák mentioned as an example of Vostell’s wilful promotion of his artistic brand. This is not Vostell’s only artwork about Lidice. He thus purposefully thematized the town’s tragic history and the events that preceded its destruction, presenting a chilling testimony that starkly contrasts the message attached to the artwork, in which he wishes Knížák peace and love, as well as sparklers to evoke the magic of light as a counterpole to Lidice, which was burnt down in 1943.
Wolf Vostell (1932, Leverkusen – 1998, Berlín) byl německý avantgardní umělec. V roce 1953 se začal vzdělávat v oboru litografie a studoval na Uměleckoprůmyslové škole ve Wuppertalu. Na počátku své kariéry se několik let živil jako typograf a grafický designér, v roce 1954 začal studovat malbu a experimentální typografii na Werkkunstschule ve Wuppertalu. Mezi lety 1955–1956 studoval na École Nationale Superieur des Beaux Arts v Paříži a v roce 1957 navštěvoval Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Během studií na École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts pracoval ve významné slévárně písma Deberny&Peignot a také v dílně plakátového umělce A. M. Cassandre, přičemž jedna z jeho plakátových knih mu poskytla podnět pro první dekoláž – akci Divadlo je na ulici (1958); jeho estetické přístupy často vycházely přímo z jeho zkušenosti s grafickým designem. Na konci padesátých let odjel do Španělska za studiem práce Zurbarána. V roce 1959 založil tzv. Vostell-archive, v němž shromažďoval fotografie, umělecké texty, osobní korespondenci s Nam June Paikem, Josephem Beuysem, Dickem Higginsem, stejně jako další předměty dokumentující tvorbu umělců jeho generace. Později se součástí archivu stala i jeho privátní knihovna. Na počátku šedesátých let patřil k zakladatelům hnutí Fluxus. Spolu s ostatními se účastnil řady fluxových happeningů v New Yorku, Berlíně, Kolíně, Wuppertalu nebo Wiesbadenu. Na jaře 1963 poprvé odcestoval do New Yorku, kde se setkal s Allanem Kaprowem, s nímž spolupracoval v rámci festivalu Yam.
Wolf Vostell (1932, Leverkusen – 1998, Berlín) was a German avantgarde artist. In 1953, he began learning lithography and studying at the Academy of Applied Art in Wuppertal. He spent the first few years of his artistic career working as a typographer and graphic designer, and in 1954 he began studying painting and experimental typography at the Werkkunstschule in Wuppertal. Between 1955 and 1956, he studied at the École Nationale Superieur des Beaux Arts in Paris, before attending the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. While studying in Paris, Vostell worked in the important type foundry Deberny & Peignot as well as in the workshop of poster artist A. M. Cassandre. It was one of Cassandre’s poster books that inspired his first décollage—the action The Theatre is on the Street (1958). Vostell’s aesthetic approaches often drew directly on his experience as a graphic designer. In the late 1950s, he travelled to Spain in order to study the work of Baroque painter Francisco de Zurbarán. In 1959, he founded the Vostell-archive, where he gathered photographs, artistic texts, and personal correspondence with artists such as Nam June Paik, Joseph Beuys, and Dick Higgins, as well as other objects documenting the work of his generational peers. Later, his personal library would also become part of the archive. In the early 1960s, he became a co-founder of the Fluxus movement and took part in numerous Fluxus happenings in New York, Berlin, Cologne, Wuppertal, and Wiesbaden, among other locations. In the spring of 1963, Vostell travelled to New York for the first. Here, he met Allan Kaprow, with whom he collaborated as part of the Yam Festival. Following their meeting, Vostell decided to begin using the term “happening” for his actions, which he had up to then referred to as décollage-demonstrations or décollage-events. At the time, he had already begun publishing the magazine dé-coll/age (1962–1969), which was a programmatic extension of his research on aesthetics. In 1968, he founded the group Labor e.V., which focused on investigating acoustic and visual events. In 1970, he moved to Berlin, and from 1976 onwards, he split his time between Berlin and Malpartida de Cáceres, where he founded the Museo Vostell Malpartida. Vostell’s first major solo exhibition took place in 1966 at Galerie René Block in Berlin. Subsequent important presentations of his work included exhibitions at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1975) and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid (1978), which also showed at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon. His first major retrospective took place in 1974 at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, with an expanded version subsequently presented at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. From the late 1960s onward, Vostell also took part in major international art exhibitions such as at the 36th and 44th Venice Biennale (1968, 1983), Documenta VI in Kassel (1977), the 17th São Paulo Biennial (1983), and the 3rd Lyon Biennale (1995). Another major retrospective exhibition of Vostell’s work took place in 1992, with his work presented at six exhibition spaces across Germany (Stadtmuseum Köln, Kunsthalle Köln, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Schloss Morsbroich Leverkusen. and Städtisches Museum Mülheim/Ruhr). An extensive collection of his work is held by the museum FLUXUS+ in Potsdam. In his hometown of Leverkusen, the Museum Morsbroich features a permanent exhibition of his art. Other artworks of his are included in the collections of institutions such as the ZKM - Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, and the Fondazione Mudima in Milan.
Wolf Vostell met Milan Knížák during the latter’s DAAD scholarship stay in Berlin (1979–1980), where Vostell’s solo exhibition was showing at the time. In his travel memoirs, Knížák described Vostell as a “superbusinessman” , excellent at promoting his brand: “Wolf’s events always seemed ridiculous to me, but I was fascinated by certain details—especially by his artistic knowledge, power, and often also the strange taste he used to navigate this field. His design in particular was always fantastic…” Vostell himself visited Prague twice, including a visit with René Bock, a young German gallerist working closely with Joseph Beuys. Vostell gifted Knížák his décollage Reading the Lidice Catalogue… Please Put on Fire (1967), a work based on tearing a and deconstructing the materials used and composing the resulting fragments of reality into a new whole. The piece contains various fragments of materials related to the tragic fate of the Czech town of Lidice during its occupation by the Germans; it also includes postcards showing various places in Berlin with direct links to its imperial Nazi past. Another component of the décollage is a fragment of a catalogue listing exhibitions at the progressive Galerie René Bock, which Knížák mentioned as an example of Vostell’s wilful promotion of his artistic brand. This is not Vostell’s only artwork about Lidice. He thus purposefully thematized the town’s tragic history and the events that preceded its destruction, presenting a chilling testimony that starkly contrasts the message attached to the artwork, in which he wishes Knížák peace and love, as well as sparklers to evoke the magic of light as a counterpole to Lidice, which was burnt down in 1943.
Wolf Vostell (1932, Leverkusen – 1998, Berlín) byl německý avantgardní umělec. V roce 1953 se začal vzdělávat v oboru litografie a studoval na Uměleckoprůmyslové škole ve Wuppertalu. Na počátku své kariéry se několik let živil jako typograf a grafický designér, v roce 1954 začal studovat malbu a experimentální typografii na Werkkunstschule ve Wuppertalu. Mezi lety 1955–1956 studoval na École Nationale Superieur des Beaux Arts v Paříži a v roce 1957 navštěvoval Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Během studií na École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts pracoval ve významné slévárně písma Deberny&Peignot a také v dílně plakátového umělce A. M. Cassandre, přičemž jedna z jeho plakátových knih mu poskytla podnět pro první dekoláž – akci Divadlo je na ulici (1958); jeho estetické přístupy často vycházely přímo z jeho zkušenosti s grafickým designem. Na konci padesátých let odjel do Španělska za studiem práce Zurbarána. V roce 1959 založil tzv. Vostell-archive, v němž shromažďoval fotografie, umělecké texty, osobní korespondenci s Nam June Paikem, Josephem Beuysem, Dickem Higginsem, stejně jako další předměty dokumentující tvorbu umělců jeho generace. Později se součástí archivu stala i jeho privátní knihovna. Na počátku šedesátých let patřil k zakladatelům hnutí Fluxus. Spolu s ostatními se účastnil řady fluxových happeningů v New Yorku, Berlíně, Kolíně, Wuppertalu nebo Wiesbadenu. Na jaře 1963 poprvé odcestoval do New Yorku, kde se setkal s Allanem Kaprowem, s nímž spolupracoval v rámci festivalu Yam.
Wolf Vostell (1932, Leverkusen – 1998, Berlín) was a German avantgarde artist. In 1953, he began learning lithography and studying at the Academy of Applied Art in Wuppertal. He spent the first few years of his artistic career working as a typographer and graphic designer, and in 1954 he began studying painting and experimental typography at the Werkkunstschule in Wuppertal. Between 1955 and 1956, he studied at the École Nationale Superieur des Beaux Arts in Paris, before attending the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. While studying in Paris, Vostell worked in the important type foundry Deberny & Peignot as well as in the workshop of poster artist A. M. Cassandre. It was one of Cassandre’s poster books that inspired his first décollage—the action The Theatre is on the Street (1958). Vostell’s aesthetic approaches often drew directly on his experience as a graphic designer. In the late 1950s, he travelled to Spain in order to study the work of Baroque painter Francisco de Zurbarán. In 1959, he founded the Vostell-archive, where he gathered photographs, artistic texts, and personal correspondence with artists such as Nam June Paik, Joseph Beuys, and Dick Higgins, as well as other objects documenting the work of his generational peers. Later, his personal library would also become part of the archive. In the early 1960s, he became a co-founder of the Fluxus movement and took part in numerous Fluxus happenings in New York, Berlin, Cologne, Wuppertal, and Wiesbaden, among other locations. In the spring of 1963, Vostell travelled to New York for the first. Here, he met Allan Kaprow, with whom he collaborated as part of the Yam Festival. Following their meeting, Vostell decided to begin using the term “happening” for his actions, which he had up to then referred to as décollage-demonstrations or décollage-events. At the time, he had already begun publishing the magazine dé-coll/age (1962–1969), which was a programmatic extension of his research on aesthetics. In 1968, he founded the group Labor e.V., which focused on investigating acoustic and visual events. In 1970, he moved to Berlin, and from 1976 onwards, he split his time between Berlin and Malpartida de Cáceres, where he founded the Museo Vostell Malpartida. Vostell’s first major solo exhibition took place in 1966 at Galerie René Block in Berlin. Subsequent important presentations of his work included exhibitions at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (1975) and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid (1978), which also showed at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Lisbon. His first major retrospective took place in 1974 at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, with an expanded version subsequently presented at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. From the late 1960s onward, Vostell also took part in major international art exhibitions such as at the 36th and 44th Venice Biennale (1968, 1983), Documenta VI in Kassel (1977), the 17th São Paulo Biennial (1983), and the 3rd Lyon Biennale (1995). Another major retrospective exhibition of Vostell’s work took place in 1992, with his work presented at six exhibition spaces across Germany (Stadtmuseum Köln, Kunsthalle Köln, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Schloss Morsbroich Leverkusen. and Städtisches Museum Mülheim/Ruhr). An extensive collection of his work is held by the museum FLUXUS+ in Potsdam. In his hometown of Leverkusen, the Museum Morsbroich features a permanent exhibition of his art. Other artworks of his are included in the collections of institutions such as the ZKM - Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe, the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, and the Fondazione Mudima in Milan.
