Nasce a Laasphe, in Vestfalia nel 1928. Studia arte a Monaco, Düsseldorf e filosofia all’università di Colonia. Dal 1974 al 1993 è direttore del Center for advanced visual studies del MIT di Cambridge-Boston. Nel 1957 è tra i fondatori a Düsseldorf del Gruppo Zero insieme ad Heinz Mack a cui si unisce poco dopo Gunther Uecker, e il cui fondamento è la necessità di ripartire da capo, azzerando tutte le esperienze artistiche conosciute fino a qual momento. Il movimento, inseribile nell’ambito delle tendenze ottico-cinetiche, rimane attivo fino al 1966 e si caratterizza per la creazione di mostre collettive autogestite, le cosiddette esposizioni serali, della durata di una sera.
SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI PERSONALI
1959
Düsseldorf, Galerie Schmela
1960
Berlino, Galerie Diogenes
1961
Antwerp,
Galerie Ad Libitum, The Light Paints
Francoforte,
Galerie Dato, Sensibilitè prussienne
1962
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Schmela, Fauna and Flora
Leverksuen,
Stadtisches Museum
1963
Stoccarda,
Galerie Muller
Milano,
Galleria Cadario, Pitture di fuoco
Genova,
Galleria La Polena
1964
Londra, Mc
Roberts & Tunnard
Parigi,
Galerie Lawrence Rubin
1965
New York, Howard Wise Gallery, Light Ballet
1967
Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, retrospettiva
1968
Münster, Westfalisches Landesmuseum fur Kunst und Kulturgeschicte
1969
New York, Howard Wise Gallery
1970
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Wendtorf & Swetec
Pittsburgh,
Arts and Craft Center
Honolulu,
Hawaii State Capitol, Sun and Moon
1971
Monaco,
Galerie Heseler
Worcester,
Worcester Center, Sunburst
1972
Monaco,
Galerie Heseler
Buenos
Aires, Centro de Arte e Communicacion
1973
Colonia,
Kolnischer Kunstverein, retrospettiva
Monaco,
Galerie Heseler
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Schmela
1974
Ingolstadt,
Kunstverein Ingolstadt
Essen,
Galerie Heimeshoff
1975
Brema, Kleine
Grafik-Galerie
Zurigo,
Galerie Ehrensperger
Cambridge,
Hayden Gallery and Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, Otto Piene: Paintings, Gouache, Drawings
1976
Monaco,
Galerie Heseler
Wuppertal,
Galerie Melchers
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Schoeller
1977
Kassel, Documenta 6
Fitchburg,
Fitchburg Art Museum
1980
New York, Fine Arts Center
1982
Monaco, Galerie Heseler
1983
Essen,
Galerie Heimeshoff
Tokyo,
Galerie Watari
1985
Monaco,
Galerie Heseler
New York,
Pat Hearn Gallery
1986
Monchengladbach, Galerie Lohrk
1989
Stoccarda,
Kunsthaus Schaller
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Schoeller
1996
Düsseldorf, Kunstmuseum im Ehrenhof, retrospettiva
1999
Moers, Stadtischen Galerie, retrospettiva
2001
Celle, Kunstmuseum Celle, Lichtjahre 1957-2001: Otto Piene
2002
Praga, Prague City Gallery, Otto Piene: The Zero Experience
2006
Düsseldorf, Galerie Christine Holz, Otto Piene – Solo
2008
Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, Otto Piene: Spectrum
2009
Langenfeld, Kunstverein Langenfeld, Otto Piene: Multimedia
2010
New York,
Sperone Westwater, Otto Piene: Light
Ballet and Fire Paintings, 1957-1967
Monaco,
Walter Storms, Otto Piene
2011
Cambridge, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Otto Piene: Lichtballet
2012
Monaco,
Galerie Terminus, Otto Piene: Objecte und
Zeichnungen
St. Moritz,
Galerie Stefan Hildebrandt, Otto Piene –
From Zero to Now
2013
Hannover, Galerie Koch, Otto Piene – Zero: 20 Works from 1957 – 1966
2015
Tehran,
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Otto
Piene: Rainbow
Munster,
Museum fur Kunst und Kultur, Otto Piene:
Licht
2017
Berlino, Spruth Magers, Otto Piene: Light Ballet
SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI COLLETTIVE
1959
Kassel, Documenta 2
1960
Leverkusen, Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Monochrome malerei
1961
Amsterdam,
Stedelijk Museum; Stoccolma, Museum of Modern Art, Moving Movement
Pittsburgh,
Carneige Institute, Pittsburgh
International Exhibition of Paintings
Zagabria, New Tendencies I
New York,
Museum of Modern Art, Recent Acquisitions
Roma,
Galleria La Salita
1962
Amsterdam,
Stedelijk Museum, Salon de Lumière
Bruxelles,
Palais des Beaux Arts
1963
Berlino,
Galerie Diogenes, ZERO-the New Idealism
Zagabria, New Tendencies II
1964
Londra, Tate
Gallery, Painting and sculpture of a
Decade
Parigi,
Musée d’Art Moderne, L’art jeune
contemporain en allemagne at Salon des Comparisons
Pittsburgh,
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
International Exhibition
Tokyo,
National Museum of Modern Art, 4th
International Biennial Exhibition of Prints
Kassel, Documenta 3
Philadelphia,
Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Zero Show
1965
Washington,
The Washington Gallery of Modern Art
Berna,
Aktuell Galerie, Aktuell 65
Venezia,
Galleria del Cavallino
Amsterdam,
Stedelijk Museum, nul 1965
Berna,
Kunsthalle Bern; Bruxelles, Palais des Beaux Arts; Vienna, Museum des 20.
Jahrhunderts, Light and Movement
1966
Eindhoven,
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Kunst.Licht-Kunst
Stoccolma,
Moderna Museet, Inner and Outer Space
New York,
Guggenheim Museum, European Drawings
1967
Venezia, Biennale Internazionale d’Arte
Minneapolis,
Walker Art Center, Motion Light Space
1969
New York, Jewish Museum, Inflatable Sculpture
1970
Colonia,
Kunsthalle Koln, Jetzt: Kunste in
Deuthschland Heute
Londra,
Hayward Gallery, Kinetics
Pittsburgh,
Carnegie Institute Museum of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
International
1971
Venezia, Biennale di Venezia
Boston,
Museum of Fine Arts, Earth, Air, Fire,
Water
1974
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Celebrations
1976
Krefeld,
Museum Haus Lange, 20 Jahre Museum Haus
Lange
Monaco,
Deutsches Museum, Licht in der Malerei
Minneapolis,
Walker Art Center, Missisipi
1977
Kassel, Documenta 6
1979
Zurigo,
Kunsthaus Zurich, Zero –
Bildvorstellungen einer europäischen Avantgarde 1958-64
Vienna,
CAVS/MIT, International Biennal
Exhibition of Graphic and Visual Art
1980
New York, World Trade Center, Avantgarde Festival
1983
Monaco,
BMW-Museum und Galerie, Sky Art – Kunst
und Technik
Parigi,
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Electra
1985
Amburgo,
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Mehr Licht
Londra,
Royal Academy of Arts, German Art in the
20th Century
San Paolo, Biennale di San Paolo
1986
Berlino, Neue Nationalgalerie, German Art 1945-85
1989
Düsseldorf,
Galerie Schoeller, Gruppe Zero
Berlino, Berlinische
Galerie, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Stationen
der Modern
1991
Lubiana, Lubljana Prints Biennale
1992
Copenaghen, Charlottenborg, UNDR Kunst, Videnskab Teknik
1994
Duren, Leopold Hoesch-Museum, Paper Art
1996
Bolzano, Museion, Enne and Zero
1999
New York,
United Nations, World Artists at the
Millennium
Berlino,
Neue Nationalgalerie, Art in Germany in
20th Century
2005
Siena, Palazzo Papesse, Zero 1958 – 1969 tra la Germania e l’Italia
2006 – 07
Düsseldorf, Museum Kunst Palast; Saint-Etienne, Musée d’Art Moderne, ZERO. Internationale Kunstler-Avantgarde der 50er/60er Jahre
2008
New York, Sperone Westwater, Zero in New York
2009
Lugano, Museo d’Arte Lugano, Il grande gioco. 1947 – 1989. Forme d’arte in Italia
2012
New York, New Museum, Ghosts in the Machine
2014
San Paolo,
Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Paulo, ZERO
New York,
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ZERO:
Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s-60s
2015
Berlino,
Martin-Gropius-Bau, ZERO – The
International Art Movement of the 50s and 60s
Amsterdam,
Stedelijk Museum, ZERO: Let Us Explore
the Stars
2017
New York, Italian Cultural Institute, European Art at The Time of the Treaties of Rome: Informel, Abstraction, Zero, around 1957
