I declare peace as the greatest work of art!

Wolf Vostell’s (*1932, Leverkusen, DE; †1998, Berlin, DE) artistic oeuvre encompasses happenings, video art, installations, drawings, paintings and sculptures. His practice centred on themes such as the critical examination of current affairs, collective memory and social coexistence. Vostell is regarded as a co-founder of the Fluxus movement. His quote “I declare peace as the greatest work of art!” from 1979 was adopted in the form of a stamp during the of Art-of-Peace Biennale at the Kunsthaus Hamburg in 1985. Vostell, whose work deals with the conflict-laden status of society, provides an answer to the essential question the Art-of-Peace Biennale had likewise focused on: What is peace?

Accompanying Politics of Love, a limited edition of fifty stamp replicas is produced and available for purchase at the shops of the institutions of Kunstmeile Hamburg once the exhibition opens. The Kunstmeile comprises the art institutions Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Bucerius Kunst Forum and Kunsthaus Hamburg. The distribution of the stamps complements a series of exhibition-related activations, all based on the concept of networking, which is at the centre of Politics of Love, with the intention of transcending boundaries. In this context, the Kunsthaus draws on the existing network of Kunstmeile Hamburg as a means of acting beyond the scope of its own institution. The stamps, as movable objects, enable this network to be extended into the private realm: by leaving the exhibition context together with the visitors, Vostell’s message of peace is carried forward in a unique and unpredictable way.