ZERO foundation
Encyclopedia
The ZERO foundation is a German
cultural institute, established in December 2008, with support of Düsseldorf-based ZERO artists, Heinz Mack
, Otto Piene
and Günther Uecker
, and Museum Kunst Palast
. It is funded by the state capital Düsseldorf
. The artists donated works as well as their archives from the ZERO period comprising photographs, correspondence, invitation cards, newspaper clippings and other documents. The initiative behind the new foundation was taken by Mattijs Visser
, backed by Hans-Georg Lohe, Düsseldorf’s local government officer for culture
, Pol Bury, Enrico Castellani
, Lucio Fontana
, Hermann Goepfert, Kuno Gonschior, Gerard von Graevenitz, Gotthard Graubner, Hans Haacke
, Oskar Holweck, Akira Kanayama, Yves Klein
, Walter Leblanc, Adolf Luther, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni
, Almir Mavignier, Christian Megert, Sadamasa Motonaga, Saburo Murakami, Henk Peeters, Otto Piene
, Uli Pohl, Arnulf Rainer, Hans Salentin, Jan Schoonhoven, Shozo Shimamoto
, Jesus Rafael Soto, Daniel Spoerri, Atsuko Tanaka, Jean Tinguely
, Günther Uecker
, Jef Verheyen, Nanda Vigo, herman de vries.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
cultural institute, established in December 2008, with support of Düsseldorf-based ZERO artists, Heinz Mack
Heinz Mack
Heinz Mack is a German artist. Together with Otto Piene he founded the ZERO movement in 1957. He exhibited works at documenta in 1964 and 1977 and he represented Germany at the 1970 Venice Biennale. He is best known for his contributions to op art, light art and kinetic art.- Biography :Heinz Mack...
, Otto Piene
Otto Piene
Otto Piene is a German artist. He lives and works in Düsseldorf and Groton, Massachusetts.-Biography:...
and Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker, also known as Guenther Uecker, is a German sculptor, op artist and installation artist.- Biography :...
, and Museum Kunst Palast
Museum kunst palast
The Museum Kunstpalast is an art museum in Düsseldorf, Germany.- History :The Museum Kunst Palast was founded as Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, a typical communal arts collection in Germany. The first exhibits were given by the popular regent Jan Wellem, Duke of Palatinate, and his wife Anna Maria Luisa...
. It is funded by the state capital Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. The artists donated works as well as their archives from the ZERO period comprising photographs, correspondence, invitation cards, newspaper clippings and other documents. The initiative behind the new foundation was taken by Mattijs Visser
Mattijs visser
Mat Visser is an organiser of art exhibitions and performances. He studied architecture in Delft, Holland, founded the Troubleyn theatre company in 1986 in Antwerp with Jan Fabre. and the Angelos Foundation...
, backed by Hans-Georg Lohe, Düsseldorf’s local government officer for culture
Organisation
- Staff: Mattijs Visser (Founding Director), Dirk Pörschmann, Tiziana Caianiello, Hilke Hendriksen
- Board of Directors: Friderike Bagel, Daniel Birnbaum, Claus Gielisch, Carl Grouwet, Beat Wismer (Chairman).
- Board of Trustees: Dirk ElbersDirk ElbersDirk Elbers German politician, representative of the German Christian Democratic Union.After the death of former Lord Mayor, Joachim Erwin, who died in office, on 2 June 2008 Elbers was a candidate for the CDU to become mayor. The election took place on 31 August 2008...
(Chairman), Otto Piene and Heinz Mack (Vice-chairman), Friedrich Conzen, Veronika Dübgen, Alexander Fils, Anneliese Lenz, Hans-Georg Lohe, Christian Megert, Toni Mörger, Cornelia Mohrs, Robert Rademacher, Helmut Rattenhuber, Hubertus Schoeller, Günther Uecker, Axel Vervoordt. - Academic Board of Advisors: Daniel BirnbaumDaniel BirnbaumDaniel Birnbaum is the director of the Moderna Museet, the museum of modern art in Stockholm.-Life and career:Birnbaum studied at the Stockholm University, the Freie Universität Berlin and Columbia University in New York. He obtained a Ph.D. from the Stockholm University in 1998. In 1998, he...
(Chairman), Dieter Jung (artist)Dieter Jung (artist)Dieter Jung is a German artist working in the field of holography, painting and installation art. He lives and works in Berlin.- Education :...
, Stephan von Wiese, Hans Ulrich ObristHans Ulrich ObristHans Ulrich Obrist is a contemporary art curator, critic and historian of art. He is currently Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London...
, Heike van den Valentyn, Peter WeibelPeter WeibelPeter Weibel is an artist, curator and theoretician.Raised in Upper Austria he started to study French and cinematography in Paris...
.
Collection
Together with the Museum Kunst Palast, the foundation has important works from the following artists in the collection: Hermann BartelsHermann Bartels
Hermann Bartels was a German architect and member of the Nazi Party and the SS.Bartels was close to Heinrich Himmler, who put Bartels to work on his pet project of rebuilding castles, and as such the Reichsführer-SS gave Bartels the rank of SS-Standartenführer...
, Pol Bury, Enrico Castellani
Enrico Castellani
Enrico Castellani is Italian artist of the Modern Art era . Castellani is known for his "paintings of light". He studied at the Ecole Nationale Superieure in Belgium, then settled in Milan. Castellani collaborated with artists such as Getulio Alviani, Piero Manzoni, and others. He was awarded the...
, Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana was an Italian painter, sculptor and theorist of Argentine birth. He was mostly known as the founder of Spatialism and his ties to Arte Povera.-Early life:...
, Hermann Goepfert, Kuno Gonschior, Gerard von Graevenitz, Gotthard Graubner, Hans Haacke
Hans Haacke
Hans Haacke is a German-American artist who lives and works in New York.- Early life :Haacke was born in Cologne, Germany. He studied at the Staatliche Werkakademie in Kassel, Germany, from 1956 to 1960. He was a student of Stanley William Hayter, a well-known and influential English printmaker,...
, Oskar Holweck, Akira Kanayama, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
, Walter Leblanc, Adolf Luther, Heinz Mack, Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni
Piero Manzoni was an Italian artist best known for his ironic conceptual art. Influenced by the work of Yves Klein, his own work anticipated, and directly influenced, the work of a generation of younger Italian artists brought together by the critic Germano Celant in the first Arte Povera...
, Almir Mavignier, Christian Megert, Sadamasa Motonaga, Saburo Murakami, Henk Peeters, Otto Piene
Otto Piene
Otto Piene is a German artist. He lives and works in Düsseldorf and Groton, Massachusetts.-Biography:...
, Uli Pohl, Arnulf Rainer, Hans Salentin, Jan Schoonhoven, Shozo Shimamoto
Shozo Shimamoto
Shozo Shimamoto, born in Osaka in 1928, is a Japanese artist. He was an early member of the avant garde Gutai group founded in the 1950s, and his works are in museum collections such as those of the Tate Gallery and the Tate Modern and the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art in Kobe, Japan...
, Jesus Rafael Soto, Daniel Spoerri, Atsuko Tanaka, Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor. He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics...
, Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker
Günther Uecker, also known as Guenther Uecker, is a German sculptor, op artist and installation artist.- Biography :...
, Jef Verheyen, Nanda Vigo, herman de vries.
Past activities
- On the night of 4–5 October 2008, the foundation initiated a Sky Event by Otto Piene as part of Nuit BlancheNuit BlancheNuit Blanche is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival. A Nuit Blanche will typically have museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for...
. Staged on Place de Catalogne in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
– not far from Gare MontparnasseGare MontparnasseParis Montparnasse is one of the six large terminus railway stations of Paris, located in the Montparnasse area in the XIVe arrondissement. The station was opened in 1840, and rebuilt completely in 1969...
–, Piene’s sky sculptures captivated thousands of spectators as they rose up into the night sky. - November 6, 2008, the exhibition ZERO in New York opened at the gallery Sperone Westwater with a presentation of some 50 works by 21 artists. The concentrated cross-section of works from the ZERO era, spanning from 1958 to 1966, took on museum proportions with its juxtapositions, thematic ensembles and a light room. The exhibition has been nominated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumSolomon R. Guggenheim MuseumThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
NY as best gallery exhibition of the year 2008..
Publications
- ZERO in NY, exhibition catalog edited by Mattijs Visser, with essays by Yves Klein, Otto, Piene, Heinz Mack, Valerie Hillings, Catherine Millet, Heike van den Valentyn, published by the ZERO foundation/Sperone Westwater, New York/Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 978-90-76979-73-1.
- ZERO – Internationale Künstler-Avantgarde der 50er/60er Jahre, with essay from Bazon Brock, Tiziana Caianiello, Heinz-Norbert Jocks, Catherine Millet, Lóránd Hegyi, Valerie L. Hillings, Heike van den Valentyn, Atsuo Yamamoto, Mattijs Visser, published by Museum Kunst Palast/Hatje Cantz, Düsseldorf/Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 978-3-7757-1747-2.