Witness to Phenomenon: Group ZERO and the Development of New Media in Postwar European Art

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Witness to Phenomenon articulates a fresh examination of the German Group ZeroHeinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Gnter Ueckerand other new tendency artists, who rejected painting and introduced new art media in postwar Europe. Group ZERO evolved into a network across Europe Amsterdam, Milan, Paris, and Zagreb. This pan-European affiliation of artists generated a continuous stream of innovative artistic statements through the 1960s, incorporating non-traditional materials and new technologies to create kinetic art, light installations, performances, immersive multimedia installations, monumental land art, and the communication media of video and television. They transformed the visual arts from the inanimate objet dart to a sensory experience by adopting the ascendant philosophy of Phenomenology as their conceptual foundation. Drawing from a decade of research on unpublished archives of the artists and critics of this period, this publication positions Group ZERO as a catalytic art moment in the transition from modern to contemporary art.

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Ketners deep dive into previously unmined archival material allows him to convey the nuances of Group ZEROs formation as well as its many ties to international new tendency artists. His impressive research adds considerably to recent exhibitions and publications on ZERO by firmly situating the work of Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Gnther Uecker in relation to lively debates about arts social and political relevance in postwar Europe. * Gregory H. Williams, Associate Professor, History of Art & Architecture, Boston University, USA *
A key development in postwar European art, the German Group ZERO and the work of its core members Piene, Mack, and Uecker is only recently garnering the necessary English-language attention. In Witness to Phenomenon, Joseph Ketner, a longtime champion of these artists on this side of the Atlantic, chronicles a complex web of exhibitions, performances, and multi-media installations, as well as the notable contemporary critical response, introducing new audiences to ZERO and their international network of collaborators. * Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Head, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums, USA *

Author Bio

Joseph D. Ketner II is Foster Chair in Contemporary Art and Distinguished Curator in Residence at Emerson College, USA.