With the generous support of Akbank Sanat, S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum is welcoming the dynamic and revolutionary spirit of ZERO, the biggest international art network of the 20th century, with the “ZERO. Countdown to the Future” exhibition. Born as a response to the devastation and pessimism in the aftermath of World War II, the ZERO movement came into being in Düsseldorf in 1957. It began when a handful of young artists were unable to find a gallery to exhibit their works in an art world repressed by war. German artists Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, who combined their art production with their education in philosophy, set out from the principle that “art must start from zero” and dreamed of a “ZERO area” that would be the foundation for all kinds of new beginnings. When Günther Uecker joined them a few years later, this shared vision generated an astounding creative energy that reverberated around the world.
The extensive exhibition at S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum focuses on the ZERO movement, which brought down borders and was adopted internationally by artists from all over the world during its active period in the 1950s and 60s, bringing together over 100 works by the founders of the movement Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker, along with the works of Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana. The exhibition, curated by the Founding Director of the ZERO Foundation Mattijs Visser, provides an exhilarating representation of the art movement through such core themes as Time, Space, Structure, Light, Fire, Color, Shadow and Vibration, chronicling the lateral effects of the movement from its inception to today.
“ZERO. Countdown to the Future” is introducing the ZERO movement to art enthusiasts in Turkey through an extensive selection of works in which nature and technology interact in novel ways, produced by a group of artists brought together by their unshakeable belief in the future. “ZERO. Countdown to the Future” instills the galleries of S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum with an atmosphere of energy and force, accompanied by numerous symposia, conferences, film screenings, children’s workshops and an audioguide, along with an extensive exhibition catalogue. The ZERO exhibition is open to visit through September 2, 2015 – January 10, 2016 at S.U. Sakıp Sabancı Museum.
Click to download the exhibition brochure.