Exposition Zero

Thekla Zell

On the foundation and establishment of the Zero movement in Germany using the example of the evening exhibitions, the gallery Schmela, the studio f, the gallery nota and the d(ato) gallery. Düsseldorf 1957: The artists Heinz Mack and Otto Piene initiate public exhibitions of contemporary art in their private studios in order to declare a new start in art. Within a few years, the loose exhibition community in the ruinous backyard studio becomes the internationally networked avant-garde movement Zero, which included artists such as Günther Uecker, Yves Klein, Jean Tinguely, Almir Mavignier, Uli Pohl and Piero Manzoni.Starting from the public exhibitions of the Zero artists-the Exposition Zero -Thekla Zell examines the largely unnoticed role of German avant-garde gallerists in relation to the foundation and establishment of Zero in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At the center of the...