Now 95 years old, one of Germany’s greatest artists, Heinz Mack (Lollar, 1931), continues to explore the relationship between light, color, and form. It is precisely this exploration—developed by the German artist over more than seventy years of his career—that lies at the heart of *Color in Forma*, the retrospective that, from October 18 to November 22, 2026, will bring to Palazzo Bembo, overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice, 36 paintings created over the past decade. Of these, 31 will be presented for the first time. The core of the exhibition consists of the Chromatic Constellations, a series Mack has been working on since 1991, following his return to painting. These are compositions in which geometry is not treated as a rigid structure separate from color, but rather enters into a relationship with light and space. Forms and fields of color thus construct a surface in which color becomes rhythm and light, despite being immaterial, acquires a visual presence.
This is a theme that has run through much of Mack’s work since the 1950s. Born in Lollar, Germany, in 1931, the artist co-founded the ZERO Group with Otto Piene in 1957—one of the movements that shaped the international art scene in the postwar period. His work has revolved around elements such as light, movement, space, and energy, with a particular focus on perceptual phenomena and the way in which matter and the immaterial can interact. “Color in Forma” chooses to focus on his most recent work, without, however, separating it from the themes that have run through the artist’s entire career: the works created over the past decade, in fact, allow us to observe how Mack continues to explore these themes through a language grounded in the precision of forms and the interplay between color, rhythm, and spatial perception.
The exhibition is on view on the main floor of Palazzo Bembo and is curated by Marc Mack, the artist’s son-in-law and vice president of the Mack Foundation, while the organization is handled by the Association for Art in Public Dirk Geuer, Düsseldorf, with the support of the European Cultural Centre Italy (ECC Italy). The choice of Venice is no coincidence for an artist who has built a special relationship with the city over the years: water, architecture, and light, in fact, form a context closely tied to Mack’s artistic practice. He has already created and presented works in Venice on several occasions, including *The Sky Over Nine Columns*, an installation presented in 2014 at the Cini Foundation. This work consists of nine columns, each 7.5 meters tall, covered with 850,000 original gold mosaic tiles—a work in which the square geometric shape of the columns established a connection with the Chromatic Constellations, linking a three-dimensional presence in space with the artist’s research on color, geometry, and light.
Mack’s relationship with Venice continued in the years that followed: on the occasion of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, the artist presented *The Vibration of Light* at the Marciana Library in St. Mark’s Square as a Collateral Event, and some of his works are also housed at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
The artist’s return to Venice thus takes on special significance, particularly in terms of the continuity of this relationship. At Palazzo Bembo, however, the exhibition will not begin with a retrospective overview of his entire career, but rather with a selection focused primarily on the most recent developments in Mack’s painting. The inclusion of 31 previously unseen works thus allows viewers to observe a phase of his artistic practice that remains closely tied to the present. “The exhibition,” explains the curator, “is not simply a new presentation of Heinz Mack’s work in Venice. Rather, it constructs a new visual and conceptual context in which geometry, color, light, and structure can be reconsidered through a carefully curated selection of works, many of which are being presented to the public for the first time.”
The exhibition project also coincides with the artist’s 95th birthday and will be accompanied by a tribute to his career. The European Cultural Centre Italy will present him with the ECC Award for Lifetime Achievement, an award given to individuals whose work has contributed over the decades to defining new benchmarks in contemporary art, and which has previously been awarded to artists such as Yoko Ono and Hermann Nitsch. The award will be presented on the opening day of the exhibition. Sara Danieli, Head of Art at ECC Italy, highlights the significance of Mack’s presence at Palazzo Bembo and the lifetime achievement award: “Hosting Heinz Mack’s exhibition at Palazzo Bembo is both a privilege and a responsibility for us—one that is all the more meaningful because, on opening day, we will also have the honor of presenting him with the ECC Lifetime Achievement Award.” Danieli also links the initiative to ECC Italy’s work through “Personal Structures,” the biennial exhibition dedicated to contemporary art and the promotion of artists considered pioneers of new artistic explorations: “Paying tribute to him through this exhibition and this award demonstrates the commitment that ECC Italy upholds through ‘Personal Structures,’ the biennial exhibition dedicated to supporting contemporary art and promoting the pioneers who continue to contribute to the development of artistic exploration.”
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| Heinz Mack Returns to Venice with 36 Paintings: Light and Color from a 95-Year-Old Artist |
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