News/Research

Revisited: “Black Sun: Reflections on Otto Piene and Aldo Tambellini"

07 Mar, 2017

Revisited: “Black Sun: Reflections on Otto Piene and Aldo Tambellini"

On March 6, 2017, Tanya Zimbardo discussed her past and ongoing curatorial projects as well as an in-depth examination of “Black Gate Cologne,” a television series cited as the first program invented by artists, and our fascination of the sciences in art.

Zimbardo focused on the work of Otto Piene and Aldo Tambellini’s work on “Black Gate Cologne,” a seminal live event that involved film, light objects, and involvement of the audience. She explained how Piene and Tambellini’s work was criticized as “a bombardment to the senses.” Hosted at the Gate Theatre in New York, “Black Gate Cologne,” Zimbardo noted, was named with acknowledgement to the space era, cosmic energy, and the Civil Rights movement.

The artists’ aim, Zimbardo said, was to present “a different visual language… Not zero as a nihilistic attitude, as a countdown like a rocketship, a new moment.”

Zimbardo then spoke to artists’ interest in physics, particularly the possibilities of kinetic movement in art. She drew on examples, some of which are on view at SFMOMA, that experimented with different expressions of space.

View our photos and a collection of social media below!

ATC 2017: Tanya Zimbardo