Motion in Vision/Vision in Motion

Unpaginated (26 pp.) catalogue published on the occasion of the landmark exhibition at the Hessenhuis in Antwerp, held from March 21 to May 3, 1959. Square octavo (8 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches). Original side-stapled wrappers. Light rubbing to aluminum leaf, slight rust-staining around staples, scattered foxing, back cover loose, overall very good. Antwerp: Hessenhuis, 1959. The ZERO group was founded in Düsseldorf by Otto Piene and Heinz Mack. Their aim, Piene once wrote, was to create "a zone of silence and of pure possibilites for a new beginning." In contrast to the popular Abstract Expressionist movement, ZERO artists championed kinetic and light elements such as chrome, aluminum, latex, and motors. Contemporaneous groups existed in other parts of Europe and Asia, as well as the Americas, including the Nul group in the Netherlands, the Nouveaux Réalistes in France, Azimuth in Italy, and the Gutai group in Japan.

According to an article on the group, "No longer certain that painting best represented the modern age, Piene, Mack, and Uecker developed a new visual language based on science and a poetic existentialism. Many of the works that emerged used light, colour and movement rather than solid materials to convey the visionary potential of science, while also reflecting Cold War anxieties. As the artists' friend and champion Yves Klein wrote, 'We are living in the atomic age, where everything material and physical could disappear from one day to another, to be replace by nothing but the ultimate abstraction imaginable.'" (Heroes of Zero: the art collective that inspired a generation, Christies.com, 2022)

In 1959, the ZERO group held their first exhibition which introduced them to the international public. This catalogue was published in conjunction with that exhibition. The exhibition was artist-curated, and included the participation of Robert Breer, Pol Bury, Yves Klein, Heinz Mack, Enzo Mari, Bruno Munari, Günther Uecker (spelled "Necker" on the cover), Otto Piene, Diter Rot, Jesús Rafael Soto, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. Contributors to the catalogue, which was edited by Marc Callewaert, included Emmet Williams, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Pol Bury, Dieter Rot, Jean Tinguely, and Paul Van Hoeydonck. These include paper cuttings, a silver aluminum leaf, tipped-in illustrations, and a letterpress page.

Very scarce; as of February 2024, OCLC only locates two holdings of this important catalogue in North America.