O O=0 (The Number Zero)
by Anna-Lena Weise
4,3,2,1—ZERO = Zero, Zero Point, Nothing
The term “zero” has its origins in Arabic, where the word sifr, means “empty.” It was later adopted in Italian and eventually became common in French and English. Today’s German word Null derived from the Latin nullus(“none”), as a shortened form of the old Italian nulla figura, which translates to “here stands nothing” (no numeral).[i]
In mathematics, zero acts as the neutral element of addition. It is the only real number that is neither positive nor negative. Around 5,000 years ago, an unknown scribe scratched two slanted arrows into a clay tablet to distinguish between numbers such as 12 and 102, for example. Over the following three millennia, the arithmetical symbol developed out of this symbol for nought/naught. It is at once a placeholder, a gap filler, a digit, and a cipher, and looks confusingly similar to the uppercase letter “O”.[ii]
The “group” ZERO uses the zero in many different ways: as their name, on printed matter, in works of art, and in other ways besides.
[i] The German word null is used in the idiom null und nichtig (corresponding to the English legal phrase “null and void,” as in a contract), which means that something is invalid, without value, and is at the same time a duplication. Null is used in numerous other German idioms, as when “something starts at zero”—that is, from scratch—or someone is “technically a zero,” an insignificant person. Null thus often carries a negative connotation.
[ii] Uwe Springfeld, “Die Geschichte der Null,” in Spektrum der Wissenschaft, October 1, 2000, p. 106, https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/die-geschichte-der-null/826879 (accessed January 2, 2024).
The name “ZERO” refers to the new beginning sought by ZERO founders Heinz Mack (b. 1931) and Otto Piene (1928–2014) after the Second World War had ended. As a metaphor, “die Stunde Null”—“the zero hour”—of 1945 marks the beginning of the postwar period in Germany. Eleanor Gibson writes:
“In the years immediately following the war, the term Stunde Nul [sic]—or “Zero hour”—was used to signify a desired or supposed break with Nazism, as well as with the defeat and destruction of the war. The term ‘zero’ also carried specific military associations: ‘air zero’ being the explosion point of a bomb above the ground and ‘ground zero,’ first used in 1946 by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, indicating the ground point directly below an aerial nuclear explosion.”[i]
[i] Eleanor Gibson, The Media of Memory: History, Technology, and Collectivity in the Work of the German Zero Group 1957–1966,Ph.D. diss. (Yale University, 2009), p. 18. The ZERO artists certainly did not choose this name because of its connection with the atom bomb, but rather in connection with the end of the war and the new beginning they hoped for—although this new beginning, symbolized by the Stunde Null (“zero hour”), did not actually come about.
The German expression null Uhr (literally “zero o’clock”) is commonly used to refer to “midnight.” As a time, 00:00 is the start of a new day. Heinz Mack seems to have taken this formulation literally: two of his works represent veritable zero o’clocks. Mack learned how to dismantle and reassemble an alarm clock from his uncle, who was a watchmaker. The ZERO-Wecker (ZERO Alarm Clock), created around 1961, is colored on the inside, with its clockface removed to the edges of the dial so that the mechanism is visible. All the numbers on the clockface are replaced with zeros.[i] Mack turned his attention to a clock once more in the context of the ZERO Midnight Ball at the Rolandseck railway station (near Remagen and Bonn). The large ZERO train station clock[ii] was designed at the end of 1967, but realized later.[iii] The digits on this clock were also replaced with zeros. Both of Heinz Mack’s clocks thus strike the “zero hour,” symbolizing the start of a new era (for postwar art).
[i] Heinz Mack, ZERO-Wecker, ca. 1961, alarm clock and collage, 15 x 13 x 6 cm, collection of the ZERO foundation, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.2008.12.
[ii] Heinz Mack, ZERO-Zeit 220 Volt, 1961/2008, metal, glass, electrical equipment, 210 x 62 x 62 cm, collection of the ZERO foundation, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.2008.11.
[iii] Heinz and Ute Mack, eds., Mack: Leben und Werk. Ein Buch vom Künstler über den Künstler / Life and Work. A Book from the Artist about the Artist. 1931–2011 (Cologne, 2011), p. 160.
There are several posters by ZERO artists that utilize the number zero in a wide variety of forms. For instance, the poster for the exhibition Mack + Klein + Uecker + Lo Savio = 0 at Galleria La Salita in Rome, 1961,[i]incorporates the number in an unusual addition. The names of the artists in the exhibition are written vertically, with a plus sign between each letter and an equals sign at the end of each line, followed by the result: “0”. Additionally, the font design of the letter “O” and the numeral “0” are identical.
[i] Poster for the exhibition Mack + Klein + Piene + Uecker + Lo Savio = 0, Galleria La Salita, Rome, 1961, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.1.VII.44.
In the poster for the exhibition Nul at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1962), a black zero is prominently placed in the center, superimposed over images of the participating artists’ works.[i] It is what stands out and first catches the viewer’s eye.
[i] Poster for the exhibition Nul, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 1962, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.1.VII.47_1.
A large zero composed of three colors—red,silver, and black—was used for the exhibition poster Mack, Piene, Uecker at the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (1965)[i]. A red ellipse in the center is surrounded by a larger silver ellipse, and these are enclosed by a black circle. According to Wieland Schmied, the three colors represent Piene (red), Mack (silver), and Uecker (b. 1930) (black).[ii] The number zero represents ZERO as a whole, but also stands for “O”, the last letter of the group’s name. There is a duplication of the form, with an elliptical “0” and a circular “O”.
[i] Poster for the exhibition Mack, Piene, Uecker at the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, 1965, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.1.VII.52(1).
[ii] For further information, see Wieland Schmied, “Etwas über ZERO,” in Dirk Pörschmann and Mattijs Visser, eds., ZERO 4321 (Düsseldorf, 2012), pp. 9–17.
This use of the zero is also utilized for the poster of the exhibition ZERO: An Exhibition of European Experimental Art, at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, DC, in 1965. It is based on a design by US artist Robert Indiana (1928–2018), who created the black-and-white motif especially for the exhibition and poster. The white zero in the center of the poster is enclosed by a circle.[i] The circle, a symbol of infinity due to its lack of a beginning and end point, encloses the zero inside. This could be interpreted to mean that ZERO is/should be forever/eternal.
[i] Poster for the exhibition ZERO: An Exhibition of European Experimental Art, Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, DC, 1965, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.1.VII.110.
In a collage by Heinz Mack, the “O” can also be read as “0”, which is a reference to the English term “zero.”[i]The word “zero” hangs from a balloon, and the white number zero is set off from the other letters, which are black. Its font is also larger, which adds further emphasis.
[i] Heinz Mack, ZERO-Ballon, photo collage, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no mkp.ZERO.1.V.4.
In the poster for the Mikro Nul Zero exhibition at the Galerie Delta in Rotterdam,[i] the number is used differently. Here, too, the black zero is placed in the center. An invisible dividing line created by the typography runs through the middle, which results in the mirroring of the text. The names of the participating artists are listed on both sides of the zero, while the title of the exhibition is placed inside it. The connection between ZERO and the Nul group from the Netherlands, signaled by their names, is particularly evident in the poster for the exhibition ZERO-0-Nul, at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, 1964.[ii] The connecting link—the zero—is again placed in the center, while the names of the participating ZERO and Nul artists are arranged around it on four sides. The catalog is also divided into two parts: one page belongs to the Nul artists, and the facing page to the ZERO artists. On each page half of a zero is depicted, which only becomes whole when the two pages are taken together.
[i] Poster for the exhibition Mikro Nul Zero, Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no mkp.ZERO.1.VII.116.
[ii] Poster for the exhibition ZERO-0-Nul, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1964, archive of the ZERO foundation, estate of Heinz Mack, inv. no mkp.ZERO.1.VII.51(1). For more information about this exhibition, see Thekla Zell, “The ZERO Traveling Circus: Documentation of Exhibitions, Actions, Publications 1958–1966,” in Dirk Pörschmann and Margriet Schavemaker, eds., ZERO: Die internationale Kunstbewegung der 50er und 60er Jahre (ZERO: The International Art Movement of the 1950s and 1960s), exh. cat. Martin-Gropius-Bau and Stedelijk Museum (Berlin, Amsterdam, and Cologne, 2015), p. 79.
An issue of a magazine or newspaper that appears before the actual launch of the publication is also referred to as “Issue 0”—in German a Nullnummer. Early on, there were efforts to create magazines dedicated to new trends in art. In 1958, Otto Piene and Heinz Mack published the magazine ZERO 1, which was presented at the 7th Evening Exhibition, Das rote Bild (The Red Painting), and ran to two further issues. Thus the name of the new art movement also became its program. In ZERO 3, the thinking is infinite, which is suggested by the juxtaposition of two circles (zeros), reminiscent of the symbol for infinity, “∞”.[i]
[i] On the issues of the ZERO magazine, see Pörschmann and Visser 2012 (see note 10).
Issue one of the magazine Nul=0. Tijdschrift voor de nieuwe konseptie in de beeldende kunst, edited by Armando (1929–2018), Henk Peeters (1925–2013), and Herman de Vries (b. 1931), was published six months after ZERO 3. This magazine also served as an organ for contemporary artists. The editors’ idea was to publish articles by artists on a regular basis as well as to provide information about current exhibitions. The cover of issue one is blank apart from the empty circle in the top right-hand corner—the zero is the focus of attention. The publication of Nul=0 served to promote the Nul group’s exhibition, planned by Henk Peeters for 1962 at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In April 1963, two years after the first issue, the second issue of the magazine was published, dedicated to the late Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni. Its title page features an enlargement of Manzoni’s fingerprints, which resemble the shape of a zero, and a striking red zero in the top right-hand corner.
The hand of Heinz Mack, with a zero stamped on it, instead of an admission ticket. The idea was used for the ZERO farewell party at Rolandseck railway station, Remagen, in 1966. In addition, a ZERO plate was designed for the party in the context of Eat Art, and with reference to fasting after Carnival. The plate features a black zero placed demonstratively in its center on a white background.
In 1961, Günther Uecker (b. 1930) had the idea of letting a white balloon float up into the air in front of the Galerie Schmela—a large white zero, which he repeated a year later in a different form. His circular Weisse Zone ZERO (White Zone ZERO), painted on the ground, was accompanied by live music and a dancing audience at the ZERO Demonstration on the Rhine meadows in Düsseldorf in 1962. Girls wore costumes made of black cardboard with white zeros painted on them, and the balloons rising into the sky also resembled this digit.
The Demonstration was used by Gerd Winkler in his film about ZERO for Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster of the German state of Hesse. The resulting film, 0 x 0 = Kunst. Maler ohne Pinsel und Farbe (0 x 0 = Art. Painters without Brush and Paint), was broadcast on television for the first time on June 27, 1962.[i]The ZERO costume played an important role in the ZERO Demonstrations of the nineteen-sixties. It was an integral part of the performances,[ii] as evidenced by many documentary photos and the design drawing by Uecker.[iii]
[i] See Pörschmann and Schavemaker 2015 (see note 14), pp. 91ff.
[ii] ZERO-Kleid, 1961/2008, 100 x 60 cm, collection of the ZERO foundation, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.2008.10.
[iii] Günther Uecker, Entwurf ZERO-Kleid, 2006, pencil, acrylic paint, and construction paper on paper, 60.6 x 43.2 cm, collection of the ZERO foundation, inv. no. mkp.ZERO.2019.02.
This quote from the ZERO manifesto, titled Zéro der neue Idealismus, which is said to have been written on a whim in 1963, highlights the round shape of the zero frequently used by the ZERO artists. It is already inscribed in a circle.
The letter “O” is circular. “O” like Otto Piene, and like zero. Some letters Piene signed only with “O”. With this “O”, which represents both a letter and a number. The circle encloses his signature, which indicates how strongly he identified with ZERO.
This text has been translated from German into English by Gloria Custance.
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