Ohff, Heinz

Heinz Ohff, a friend of Vostell, was an art critic and editor at the Berlin Tagesspiegel from 1961 until 1987. He also served as president of the German chapter of AICA (International Association of Art Critics).

Biographical/Historical Note

Born in Leverkusen, Germany in 1932, Wolf Vostell was a pioneer of video art, and the Fluxus and Happening movements. While studying graphic arts at the École nationale des beaux-arts in Paris, Vostell developed the concept of dé-coll/age, or the process of artistic creation through the destruction of everyday materials. In Paris in 1958 he staged his first Happening, Theatre is in the Street . Four years later he joined with George Maciunas and Nam June Paik to coordinate the First International Fluxus Festival at Museum Wiesbaden in Germany. Vostell was among the first artists to incorporate television into his work, which he did as early as 1958. Vostell had close ties to Spain, the birthplace of his wife, where he founded the Museo Vostell Malpartida de Cáceres in 1976. The first retrospective exhibition of Vostell's work took place in 1974 at Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris. He died in Berlin in 1998.

Heinz Ohff was a friend of Wolf Volstell, as well as an art critic and editor at the Berlin Tagespiegel from 1961 until 1987. He also served as president of the German chapter of International Association of Art Critics (AICA).