Biography

The important German Zero artist and sculptor Heinz Mack was born in Lollar, Hesse, in 1931 and attended the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf from 1950 to 1953. He is also studying philosophy at the University of Cologne. He completes both courses with state exams. In 1957 the artist founded the ZERO group in Düsseldorf together with Otto Piene, in which Günther Uecker also took part a short time later. In addition to participating in Documenta II (1959) and Documenta III (1964), Heinz Mack also represents the Federal Republic of Germany at XXXV. Venice Biennale (1970). In the same year he received a professorship in Osaka, Japan and became a full member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, of which he was a member until 1992.

Heinz Mack has been awarded important prizes, including the art prize of the city of Krefeld (1958), the Premio Marzotto Prize (1963), the 1st Prix arts plastiques of the IV. Paris Biennale (1965), the Adolf Grimme Acknowledgment Prize for the Tele-Mack Film (1970), the 1st prize of the international competition of light 79 in the Netherlands (1979), the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (1987), the Great Culture Prize of the Rhenish Savings Banks Association (1992), the Great Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany as a first award in recognition of his work and his work as an ambassador of cultures (2004) and the prize of the Dortmund Cultural Foundation (2012). In addition, the artist will be honored in 2011 with the Great Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany. The city of Düsseldorf awarded Mack the Jan-Wellem-Ring in 2016. In 2017 he received the Moses Mendelssohn Medal and was named Düsseldorfer des Jahres 2017 for his life's work.

His works are represented in over 150 high-quality museum and private collections worldwide. In addition, Heinz Mack's works were shown in the major retrospectives on his 80th birthday in the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn and on his 90th birthday in the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast.

Museum and single exhibitions (selection)

2024

Heinz Mack | Von ZERO bis in die Gegenwart, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld

Die dritte Dimension im Bild, Kunsthalle Würth

2023

Mack: Jardin Artificiel, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany

Mack At The Zkm, ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany

Heinz Mack: Das Licht in mir, Osthaus Museum Hagen, Hagen, Germany

2021

Heinz Mack, Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal

2021

Heinz Mack. Werke im Licht (1956 - 2017), Museum Ritter, Waldenbuch

Heinz Mack, Düsseldorfer Kunstpalast

Heinz Mack. Die Sprache der Farben, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld

2019

Heinz Mack – Mouvement et Lumière / Movement and Light, Musée Théodore Monod d’art africain, Dakar, Senegal

Heinz Mack - Das grafische Werk, Stadtmuseum Siegburg

2018

Taten des Lichts: Mack & Goethe, Goethe Museum, Düsseldorf

Rhythmus, Licht und Farbe, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld

2016

Mack - Just Light and Colour, Sakip Sabançi Museum, Istanbul, Türkei

REVIEW AND OUTLOOK, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie in Kooperation mit Galerie Arndt, Bielefeld, Berlin, Singapur

2015

Apollo in meinem Atelier, MACK ungezeigte Werke, Museum Küppersmühle, Duisburg

Das Licht meiner Farben, Ulmer Museum, Ulm

ZERO: Heinz Mack u.a., Sakip Sabanci Museum, Istanbul, Türkei

ZERO. Countdown to Tomorrow. 1950s-60s, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Heinz Mack, Licht Schatten, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden

Von Arp bis Vostell - Plastiken aus der Sammlung der Nationalgalerie Berlin, Stadtmuseum Langenfeld, Langenfeld

ZERO. Countdown to Tomorrow. 1950s-60s, Gropius-Bau, Berlin

Heinz Mack - Das Mappenwerk "Juan de la Cruz", Kulturzentrum am Münster, Konstanz

Azimut/h. Continuity and the New, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venedig

2014

ZERO. Countdown to Tomorrow. 1950s-60s, Guggenheim Museum, New York

Mack. The Sky Over Nine Columns, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venedig

Heinz Mack. Der Garten im Garten, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum

ZERO-Zwischen Himmel und Erde, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen

2013

ZERO in Gelsenkirchen 1963/2013 - Zurück in die Zukunft, Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen

SCHEINWERFER. Lichtkunst in Deutschland im 21. Jahrhundert, Kunstmuseum Celle

ZERO entre Paris et Düsseldorf, Passage de Retz, Paris

DYNAMO! Espace et vision dans l`art de nos jours á 2013, Grand Palais, Galeries Nationales, Paris

2012

L´art contemporain du vitrail en Allemagne, Centre international du Vitrail, Chartres

ZERO auf Papier., Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren

Heinz Mack - Zwischen den Zeiten, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund

Asche und Gold. Eine Weltreise, MARTa Herford

2011

Heinz Mack: Sperone Westwater, New York, Heinz Mack at Sperone Westwater artnet Magazine

Umfangreiche Retrospektive der Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn

Parallel Ehrung im museum kunst palast Düsseldorf mit einer Ausstellung: Mack - Die Sprache meiner Hand

2009

Sammlung Batliner - Monet bis Picasso, Albertina, Wien