Otto Piene

(Bad Laasphe 1928 - 2014 Berlin)
1928 Born Otto Ludwig Wilhelm Hermann Leonhard Piene in Laasphe, Westphalia, on 18 April.
1949/50 Studied painting and art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich
1950 – 1953 Studied painting and art education at the Düsseldorf Art Academy
1951 – 1964 Lecturer at the fashion school in Düsseldorf
1953 – 1957 Studied philosophy at the University of Cologne, graduated with a state examination.
1957 On 11 April, together with Heinz Mack, he founds the artist group ZERO in Düsseldorf, which later becomes internationally influential.
1964 Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
1968 – 1971 Fellow of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) founded by Gyorgy Kepes in 1967.
1972 Professor of Visual Design for Environmental Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1974 Director of the CAVS, which he headed until 1994
2008 Establishment of the ZERO Foundation together with Heinz Mack, Günther Uecker and the Foundation Museum Kunstpalast
2014 died in Berlin on 17 July

The prevailing idea when the group "ZERO" was founded was a complete new beginning in painting starting from the level "zero" and the inclusion in the artistic creation of light (and shadow) and - for Piene - also of fire. Mack and Piene disseminated their views in the magazine "ZERO" until 1961. The traumatic times without light during the Second World War lead him to make light his medium. The ZERO artist is very keen to create anti-museum and democratic art.
In 1959, Piene created light ballets and smoke paintings with reference to elementary natural energies. The traces of fire and smoke are important elements of these works. He also experimented with multimedia combinations (1960). Piene is particularly known for the light ballet and other light-kinetic works. He also created aerial and light sculptures as a result of his intensive involvement with light and movement. The multiple Documenta participant names the sky as his model and inspiration, as it is constantly changing. In his light ballet, Otto Piene lets the light paint, in his fire gouaches the flames become his brush and in his sky projects the sky becomes his canvas. His art convinces through a combination of art, nature, science and technology. One of Otto Piene's well-known work cycles is entitled "Blue Planet / Blauer Planet". With it, Piene advocates the preservation of our Blue Planet by demanding: "Keep the Blue Planet green! / Keep the Blue Planet green!" Until 2009, Otto Piene created the trophy of the International Blue Planet Award of the ethecon Foundation (ethics and economy) as a unique piece on the basis of this motto every year.