Aldo Tambellini: The Black Archive

Aldo Tambellini is one of the most important pioneers of 20th century media art. With his visionary work, he revolutionized film, video and performance and influenced an entire generation of artists. In the fall of 2024, his extensive archive was donated to the ZKM – a landmark moment for the ZKM and art historical research. To celebrate this occasion, the ZKM invites you to a conversation with Anna Salamone (Aldo Tambellini Foundation) and Tina Rivers Ryan (Artforum) on Sunday, June 15, 2025, offering profound insights into the life and work of Aldo Tambellini.

The Aldo Tambellini Archive bears witness to an astonishing life and a groundbreaking artistic oeuvre: Tambellini, born in Syracuse, New York in 1930, spent the first years of his life in Italy  and returned to New York in 1946. After obtaining his BFA in Painting from Syracuse University and his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Notre Dame, Tambellini realized his lifelong dream of relocating to New York. Tambellini quickly became a key figure in the New York avant-garde art scene of the 1960s, not only through his work, but also as a cultural activist who created structures and spaces that brought together diverse artistic groups and individuals who shared similar political and artistic philosophies. In 1966, together with Elsa Tambellini, he founded The Gate, an avant-garde film theater in New York's East Village, and a year later, together with Otto Piene, The Black Gate – New York's first venue for experimental performances, which became a magnet for the avant-garde scene.

Tambellini began exploring new media in 1963, experimenting with 35 mm slide projections on building façades. The color black, which he had been exploring since the early 1960s, remained a central motif in his work. His Black Films series, from 1965 on, is considered a masterpiece of Expanded Cinema. The work Black Zero from 1968 is exemplary of his groundbreaking Electromedia performances. Starting to experiment with video in 1966, Tambellini was also one of the first artists to use this technology. Tambellini and Piene created Black Gate Cologne (1968), the first artwork conceived specifically for broadcast television. Over the years, he continued to engage with new technologies: During his stay at MIT (1976-1984), Tambellini developed communicationsphere, an interactive network that connected artists, engineers and technicians worldwide and thus anticipated early aspects of the Internet.

Interview and Screening

Two individuals who were close to Aldo Tambellini will address his work and life: Anna Salamone (President of the Aldo Tambellini Foundation), Tambellini's partner, who discovered, organized and built up his archive, and Tina Rivers Ryan (Editor-in-Chief of Artforum) an art historian whose work has been central to the rediscovery of Tambellini as a trailblazer of 20th-century media art. As part of the discussion, excerpts from Tambellini's film and video works will also be shown, providing insight into the archive's extensive audiovisual holdings. Felix Mittelberger, Head of the ZKM Archive, will introduce the Aldo Tambellini Archive in all its diversity and outline its special significance for the ZKM and for the art history of the 20th century. The event will be moderated by Margit Rosen, Head of the Department Collection, Archives & Research at the ZKM.