Rudji Bergmann and Vostell 1981

Editor: This is Wolf Vostell’s "Rudji Bergmann and Vostell," a mixed media work. It looks like an altered photograph with paint and added elements. What's striking to me is how the red brushstrokes obscure the figures. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see Vostell engaging with the materiality of image production itself. The photograph, a mass-produced object, is disrupted by bold, gestural paint strokes. It's a commentary on the consumption of images and how artists can intervene in that process. What does the juxtaposition of these elements say about labor? Editor: It feels like a struggle between the mechanical reproduction of the photograph and the artist's hand. Like a tension between mass production and individual expression? Curator: Precisely! And how does the addition of seemingly random text further complicate this relationship between the image, the artist and the viewer? Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way. Now I see the work as a deconstruction of image-making. Curator: Exactly, by focusing on the process and materials, Vostell exposes the power dynamics inherent in creating and consuming visual media.