(More Than) ZERO

We all visited the Guggenheim Museum's exhibition titled, ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s.   The show is the first monumental, historical survey in the United States dedicated to the German artists' group Zero (1957-66).  Zero grew to include an international network of like-minded artists from Europe, Japan, North and South America.  Some of the more well known artists include Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein, Yayoi Kusama, Piero Manzoni but there were over 40 artists from 10 countries in the show, many who were new to us.  Zero explored experimental art-making practices after World War II that came out of a shared, post war experience. There was art made from fire and smoke, works that introduced movement, light and space as its subject, and art that explored the relationship between nature, technology and the human condition.  It was both an exploration of an art movement that I knew very little about but also morphed into a larger examination of the roots of Land Art, Minimalism, Video and Conceptual Art. Art Girls thought this was a fantastic exhibition - definitely much more than Zero!