Mercedes Vostell (born Mercedes Guardado Olivenza; 22 July 1933 – 15 October 2023) was a Spanish writer and from 1998 the artistic director of the Museo Vostell Malpartida (MVM). Mercedes Vostell was the wife of German

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

, and happening artist

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are ...

Biography

Mercedes Vostell was born in

Ceclavín Ceclavín () is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2005 census ( INE), the municipality has a population of 2115 inhabitants. People from Ceclavín * Alejandro Rodríguez Arias (1838–189 ...

. At the age of four, she moved with her family to Cáceres. After completing her secondary education, she studied teaching, finishing in 1956. Her first assignment as a primary school teacher took her to Guadalupe, Cáceres in 1957. In April 1958 she met Wolf Vostell in Guadalupe and married him in January 1959 in the Church of Santiago in Cáceres. After their wedding, she moved to

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

where she lived from 1959 to 1970 when they set up their residence in West Berlin. Since 1960 she participated in Wolf Vostell's Happenings. Mercedes Vostell and her husband founded the Museum Vostell Malpartida in 1976 in an old wool washing place in the natural area of Los Barruecos in

Malpartida de Cáceres Malpartida de Cáceres () is a municipality in the province of Cáceres (Spain) with a population of 4368 inhabitants (population figures on 1 January 2004). The urban centre of Malpartida de Cáceres is situated 11 kilometres west from Cáceres ...

with the collaboration of the town hall and the mayor Juan José Lancho Moreno. Since 1994 it has been managed by the Junta de Extremadura. In 1982 she published her first book ''El enigma Vostell'' in which she invited friends and acquaintances to write about Wolf Vostell as a tribute to the artist on his 50th birthday. She participated as artistic director, together with José Iges as musical director, in the staging of the opera

''The garden of delights'' (''El jardín de las delicias'') composed by Wolf Vostell in 1982, performed at the Museo Vostell Malpartida during the art fair ''Forosur'' in 2012. Mercedes Vostell died on 15 October 2023, at the age of 90.

Published books

* Mercedes Guardado: ''El enigma Vostell.'' Extreme Siberian Edition, Malpartida de Cáceres, 1982, . * Mercedes Guardado: ''Mi vida con Vostell. Un artista de vanguardia''. Editorial La Fábrica, Madrid, 2011, * Mercedes Vostell: ''Vostell - ein Leben lang''. Siebenhaar Verlag, Berlin, 2012, * Mercedes Guardado: ''La historia del Museo Vostell Malpartida''. LB Publication, Editor David Vostell, The Wolf Vostell Estate, 2018, .

Filmography

In 1979 Vostell had a small role in the movie '' Ticket of No Return'' by Ulrike Ottinger. In 2000 she played herself in ''Spotkanie: Fluxus'' and in 2015 in ''Malpartida Fluxus Village''.

Awards

* 2000: ''La Asociación de Mujeres Carolina Coronado'' (The

Carolina Coronado Victoria Carolina Coronado y Romero de Tejada (12 December 1820 – 15 January 1911) was a Spanish writer, famous for her poetry, considered the equivalent of contemporary Romantic authors like Rosalía de Castro. As one of the most well-known ...

Women's Association), Honorary Member, Malpartida de Cáceres. * 2009: ''Premios Avuelapluma'' (Avuelapluma Awards), Cultural Promotion Museo Vostell Malpartida and Mercedes Guardado. * 2011: ''Cigüeña de Plata'' (Silver Stork). Malpartida de Cáceres City Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vostell, Mercedes 1933 births 2023 deaths Spanish women writers 20th-century Spanish women artists People from the Province of Cáceres