Wolf Vostell

When I was in Berlin over summer, I went to the Hamburger Bahnhof and saw a kinetic sculpture/installation by Wolf Vostell which both influenced and intrigued me.

The piece, entitled Elektronicher dé-collage. Happening Raum (Electronic Decolage Happening Room) was first exhibited at the 1968 Venice Biennal. It involves 6 television monitors attatched to various eccentric contraptions that drag objects across a floor of broken glass. tuning in and out of imagery and static.

The sound's that the installation makes are haunting, the glass, static and whirring of the motors all contribute towards the atmospheric soundscape being created. The version that I saw was different to the one in the video above, as it seems like this one has had ambient sound added on top, although I could be wrong. Also, I have since read that parts of the installation involve interactivity, the technician, Peter Saage, with whom Vostell collaborated with on the work explained that;

'In communicating with the electronic dé-coll/age happening room, you change it. Your position in the room is reported to a computer in the form of electrical pulses derived from the photocells. During your absence, your behaviour is temporarily adopted by self-excited pulse sources in onanic anal-ogy. If the dé-coll/age happening room is overcrowded, then the analog computers work in the nonlinear range, which results in a temporary failure of the control pulses.'

-taken from http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/elektronische-decollage/images/3/?desc=full

Although this statement is fairly confusing, it points out that the audience has an active involvement with the work itself. An early example of new media interactivity and a pioneering artwork using technology to create meaningful work.

I am mostly influenced by this piece's concentration on aesthetic and sound to create an immersive environment, which relates to the technology being used itself (the nightmarish and Orwellian quality of the imposing control of the media through television broadcasts). I intend to adopt a similar style in my work, but adding the idea that the aesthetic and sound are driving a narrative as well as mood and concept.