Wolf Vostell: Gesetz des Beton (Law of Concrete) Poster (1978)
Scarce poster by Wolf Vostell, created for a competition at Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, proposing a mural for the outer wall of a building at the Berlin border crossing. The black-and-white image, titled Gesetz des Beton (Law of Concrete), depicts a building with a mural covering its entire exterior wall. The proposed image shows a nude female figure with a rectangular slab of concrete embedded between her legs. The work reflects Vostell’s use of Betonierung (from the German Betonieren, meaning “concreting”)—a technique that uses concrete as both material and metaphor to critique postwar urbanism in Germany. Through structural interventions and graphic imagery, Vostell engages with themes of structural violence, German reconstruction, and American postwar urban renewal.
Although this proposal was never realized at Checkpoint Charlie, it foreshadowed the site's later engagement with art as political commentary. Nearly a decade later, the museum finally brought color to its walls with Keith Haring’s notable mural. Vostell’s visual proposal remains a striking early vision of art as confrontation in public space. Text in German. Item #1885.
Condition: Very Good, light rippling with corresponding color fading along right edge, all ripples under 1"; soft creasing along bottom edge; light edgewear with two closed tears both smaller than .125”; one pinhole at each corner.
Price: $300.00