ZERO: The Moment Art Start again

At Tegernsee, a movement built on light, space and perception returns with clarity

There are rare moments in art history when a generation does not attempt to refine what came before, but instead chooses to abandon it altogether. In the late 1950s, across a recovering Europe, that moment arrived with a quiet but decisive force.

The exhibition ZERO. An International Artists’ Movement. 1957–1966, now on view at the Olaf Gulbransson Museum, revisits a period in which artists rejected the weight of postwar painting and set out to rebuild their practice from a position of near nothingness. The term “ZERO” was not simply a title, but a position. It represented a point of departure where art could exist without narrative, without ideology, and without the emotional intensity that had come to define the years immediately following the war.

What emerged was not a formal group but a network of artists working across cities including Düsseldorf, Milan and Paris, connected through exhibitions, publications and an exchange of ideas that moved fluidly across borders. Their shared interest lay in redefining what art could be when stripped of representation, shifting the focus instead towards light, movement, space and perception.

At the centre of this activity were Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, whose studios in Düsseldorf became a focal point for experimentation. Their “evening exhibitions” were deliberately fleeting, open for a single night before being dismantled, reinforcing the idea that art was not necessarily an object to be preserved, but an experience to be encountered.

The work itself reflected this shift in thinking. Traditional painting gave way to surfaces that interacted with light, materials that responded to movement, and compositions that changed depending on the viewer’s position. Light was no longer used to illuminate the artwork but became its primary subject, producing effects that felt unstable, immersive and often intangible.

For Mack, this exploration of light was deeply personal, shaped by early memories of contrast and illumination during wartime, and later intensified through his encounters with the vast, reflective landscapes of the Sahara. His work translates these experiences into structured, abstract forms that balance precision with something more elusive, creating a sense of space that appears to shift as it is observed.

Beyond Germany, the movement extended through a broader European network that included figures such as Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni and Yayoi Kusama. Each approached similar ideas through different methods, whether through monochrome surfaces, spatial interventions or repetitive structures that altered the viewer’s sense of scale and continuity.

The exhibition also repositions the role of women within the ZERO movement, acknowledging the contributions of artists such as Dadamaino and Nanda Vigo, whose work engaged directly with questions of space, light and perception. Their presence here is not supplementary but integral, offering a more complete understanding of the movement’s scope.

Although ZERO formally disbanded in 1966, its influence has continued to shape contemporary art practices, particularly in areas such as installation, minimalism and conceptual work. The emphasis on perception over object, and experience over narrative, has become a defining characteristic of much of today’s visual culture.

What this exhibition ultimately demonstrates is that ZERO was never about emptiness in the literal sense, but about creating the conditions for something new to emerge. By reducing art to its essential elements, these artists opened up a space in which light, movement and time could become the subject, rather than the support.

It is this clarity of intention that continues to resonate, offering a reminder that sometimes the most radical act is not to add more, but to begin again with less.