Note(worthy): Otto Piene’s “The Proliferation of the Sun” (1967/2014)

ZERO co-founder Otto Piene electrified Berlin this summer. Timed to correspond with the setting of the high summer sun, a reconstruction of Piene’s large-scale slide installation The Proliferation of the Sun (1967/2014) took place at the Neue Nationalgalerie every evening from 10pm to 3am. Originally intended for a small project space in New York in the late ‘60s, this new reconstruction of Piene’s immersive spectral project provided a breathtaking contrast to the clean, iconic minimalism of Mies Van der Rohe’s architecture. Strobing lights, multiple projections and a pulsating soundtrack surrounded visitors who reclined on amorphic bean-bag chairs for the 13 minute-long loop. Mere days after the exhibition’s opening, Piene passed away at the age 86 while overseeing preparation for Sky Art Event, a work he was planning to execute in the sky over the Neue Nationalgalerie. The legacy of the movement he launched with collaborators Heinz Mack and Günther Uecker will receive its first large-scale US survey at the New York Guggenheim this October.

Otto Piene, The Proliferation of the Sun (Die Sonne kommt näher), 1966-1967. 25 minute multimedia painted slides, sound, and five carousel projects, Galerie Art Intermedia, Köln, 1967. Photo: Walter Vogel

Otto Piene, installation of The Proliferation of the Sun, 1967/2014, the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Photo: David von Becker

Otto Piene, installation of The Proliferation of the Sun, 1967/2014, the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Photo: David von Becker

Otto Piene, installation of The Proliferation of the Sun, 1967/2014, the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin. Photo: David von Becker