Coming of age in Germany in the wake of World War II, Vostell was haunted by the widespread wreckage he had witnessed. In 1954 he proposed a new form of artmaking premised on creation through destruction: unlike the process of collage, in which an image is built up from existing images, the technique he called décollage involved cutting, tearing away, or removal—destroying a picture to create a new work of art. In TV-Dé-coll/age, Vostell slashed a canvas behind which we can glimpse six television screens, displaying montages of news footage, static, and even a straight line. But no clear signal comes through, as each TV feed is further obscured by visual noise and snow.
Gallery label from 2023
