Zero was an artist group founded in Düsseldorf in 1958 by Heinz Mack and Otto Piene. The word “zero,” in Piene’s words, meant “a zone of silence and of pure possibilities for new beginnings.” ZERO, written in capital letters, stands for the international movement, with artists from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and France. The movement is usually interpreted as a reaction to Abstract Expressionism by claiming that art should not have color, emotion, and individual expression. The Zero group maintained numerous international contacts with the Italians Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, the French-man Yves Klein, and the Dutch artist Henk Peeters, who organized the first museum show for the ZERO artists.

With an introduction by Tijs Visser, founding director of the ZERO foundation, and an essay by Daniel Birnbaum, former director Moderna Museet Stockholm, about the importance of the movement for artists today.