In Memory of Onno Onnen (1930-2018)
Together with Helmut G. Schütz and Peter Zec, Onno Onnen was involved in the »Concept '88«, which was the basis for drawing up the statutes of the ZKM.
Onnen successfully defended the »concept '88« against reservations of the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg. Onnen, a member of the Commission of Experts, wrote to the City Councillors of the Art and Media Commission in 1988: »We cannot take the concept from history –that would at best do justice to the past. It is not an art historical task ahead of us, but one that must be mastered with artistic and philosophical foresight.«
In addition to his work as a teacher, Onnen developed work on robotics whose concepts deviated from the purely functional idea and demonstrated the creative use of technologies. After studying mechanical engineering at Karlsruhe Technical University, he worked in measurement and control engineering in industry before becoming a lecturer at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in the field of measurement technology, design methodology and project work.
