TV-Oxen II, from the portfolio "Weekend" 1972

Curator: Wolf Vostell's "TV-Oxen II," part of the "Weekend" portfolio, presents us with a stark image of a cow juxtaposed with figures and text, all framed by what seems to be a television screen. It is held at the Harvard Art Museums, measuring approximately 48 by 61.5 centimeters. Editor: My immediate sense is one of bleak industrialization, a kind of cold, blue-gray technology pressing down on something fundamentally organic. Curator: That coldness is interesting. Vostell, deeply involved with the Fluxus movement, often used the television as a symbol of contemporary culture, both a window and a distorter. Here, it seems to confine the natural world. The presence of the cow is very provocative, perhaps symbolic of nature's subjugation within our mediated world. Editor: And the method! The use of screen printing implies mechanical reproduction, almost divorcing the image from the artist's hand. It emphasizes process over expression, the sheer *making* of the image reflecting the mass production it critiques. Curator: That's a brilliant observation. The layering of text, the ghostly figures, and the animal creates a potent sense of unease. There is a tension between the traditional symbol of the ox with the new language of digital media. The combination forces us to reflect on how technology mediates our understanding. Editor: This makes me think about our current consumption of images. A sort of manufactured "reality" where what we see and believe is highly mediated. Curator: Precisely. "TV-Oxen II" speaks to a tension that, unfortunately, has not resolved itself. Editor: Absolutely. It has given me much to consider about process and our relationship to imagery today.