Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Otto Piene

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.piene88
Creators:
Piene, Otto, 1928-
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1988 Aug. 4-1990 Feb. 22
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
7 Items
sound cassettes (9 hr., 52 min.)
122 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Otto Piene conducted 1988 Aug. 4-1990 Feb. 22, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Cambridge, MA.
Scope and Contents
Piene speaks of his childhood in Westphalia, Germany; his World War II military service; the decision to become an artist; training in Dusseldorf, 1949-1952; the founding of Group Zero with Heinz Mack in Dusseldorf, 1957-1966; visits to the United States in the 1960s and some of his early work and exhibitions; his work as director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, beginning in 1974; some of his light and Sky Art projects, including Sky Art Conferences; and support for art and technology projects and education in the US and in Europe. Piene also recalls Heinz Mack, Günter Meisner, György Kepes, Howard Wise, Stan VanDerBeek, Charlotte Moorman and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Otto Piene (1928- ) is a painter and art administrator from Cambridge, Mass.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Existence and Location of Copies
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 13 digital wav files. Duration is 9 hr., 52 min.
General
First cassette begins with some distortion, lasting approximately one minute. Side B of cassette 2 was recorded in three parts due to tape defect in original, with no loss of content. Cassette 6 only recorded on side A.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mack, Heinz, 1931- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Center for Advanced Visual Studies Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Group Zero Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions