Mirror objects in the glaring desert sun and shimmering color prisms in the Arctic: Heinz Mack, artist of light, illuminates the atriums of ZKM. We are very pleased to invite you and your friends to the opening of the exhibition of »Mack at ZKM«.

As early as the 1950s, the artist Heinz Mack (*1931) was already searching for a new harmony between humanity, nature, and technology. In his artworks he began to use materials and kinetic principles hitherto unknown in art. Together with fellow artist Otto Piene, in 1958 he founded the group ZERO, a significant movement in terms of art history. Light, movement, structure, and color are the central themes for Mack.

The Mack exhibition at ZKM addresses thematic complexes from all creative phases of the artist's oeuvre. A special focus is on his light kinetic works and the »Sahara Project«, which has been a fixed point in his work since 1959. Some works, which have been rarely exhibited and some of which have been lost, have now been reconstructed or restaged at ZKM.

Air, water, light, and sand: Heinz Mack has long been using natural resources in his art; resources to which we must find a new relationship today due to climate change. Mack's position regarding nature and technology poses questions and offers approaches to solutions, which in the light of the challenges of the human-made climate catastrophe now confronting us are of central importance.

Mack at EnBW

From November 30, 2023, to April 21, 2024, EnBW will exhibit in the foyer of its Karlsruhe headquarters the exhibition »Jardin Artificiel« (Artificial Garden) by Heinz Mack, which accompanies the presentation at ZKM. »Jardin Artificiel« includes collages, photographs, and objects from the artist’s unique »Sahara Project«.

Program

Welcome

Dr. Helga Huskamp,
Managing Director, ZKM | Karlsruhe

Greetings

Arne Braun,
State Secretary, Ministry of Science,
Research, and the Arts, Baden-Württemberg

Dr. Frank Mentrup,
Lord Mayor, City of Karlsruhe

Introduction

Alistair Hudson,
scientific-artistic director of the ZKM
and the ZKM | Karlsruhe curatorial team

The artist will be present at the opening.

The exhibition rooms and the mint Café in the foyer of ZKM will be open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Admission is free. Registration is not required.