Mike Steiner: Contemporary Art Pioneer Bridging Painting and Video at Hamburger Bahnhof

Contemporary art never stood still in the hands of Mike Steiner. His work, at once vibrant, experimental, and intensely dialogic, has prompted generations to ask anew: What happens when painting and the moving image merge into a single, boundary-defying language? Mike Steiner’s career is a rich tapestry, woven from the threads of abstract paintings, performance documentation, and groundbreaking initiatives in Berlin. How do his artistic interventions continue to unsettle conventions, while anchoring his place among the great contemporary artists of the twentieth century?

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One cannot speak of Mike Steiner without delving into his diverse workgroups, each marking new thresholds in performing arts and multimedia. Notably, he shifted from abstract painting in his formative years to become one of the true pioneers of German video art. His archive and practice are closely entwined with the city of Berlin—especially its feverish contemporary arts culture—and are immortalized in major collections such as the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.

Steiner’s early career was marked by a notable debut at the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung in 1959, still in his teens. Even before the art world recognized the seismic changes looming on the visual arts horizon, Steiner was experimenting not just with oil and canvas, but with the very mechanisms of image production. Informed by studies under Hans Jaenisch and Hans Kuhn, Steiner merged formal discipline with an ever-present drive toward the new.

His formative sojourn in New York introduced him to the epicenter of avant-garde flux: encounters with Lil Picard, Allan Kaprow (the father of the happening), and Robert Motherwell catalyzed his leap into more experimental forms. By the early 1970s, Steiner had distanced himself from painting, launching the renowned Hotel Steiner and Studiogalerie in Berlin—spaces that brought together Joseph Beuys, Valie Export, Marina Abramovi?, and countless other icons of conceptual and performing arts.

These spaces did more than exhibit; they incubated ideas. With the Studiogalerie, Steiner offered not only exhibitions but vital access to expensive video equipment. The studio became a crucible: Valie Export’s radical feminist performances, Jochen Gerz’s poetic provocations, and even Ulay’s infamous art-theft action "Irritation – Da ist eine kriminelle Berührung in der Kunst" found their locus in Steiner’s sphere. His vigilant camera not only documented, but extended the reach of these transient events into the very core of video art’s global canon.

Steiner’s painted tapes series is exemplary for its fusion of painterly gesture with electronic medium—a rare interplay matched only by the likes of Nam June Paik or Bill Viola. The oscillation in his work between abstraction and documentation, color field and real time, marked him as a peer to contemporaries such as Richard Serra, Gary Hill, and George Maciunas. Yet, Steiner’s vision was uniquely his own: in pieces like "Mojave Plan," he advanced a visual language that blurred boundaries, evoking ephemerality with enduring intensity.

Integral to understanding Mike Steiner’s artistic philosophy is his skepticism toward the exclusive authority of painting. Repeatedly, he spoke of a “legitimation crisis” regarding traditional media and how video’s immediacy and accessibility offered potent alternatives. Such attitudes directly connect him to the Fluxus movement and the spirit of experimentation driving the 1970s Berlin art world—a heady mix of rebellion, cross-pollination, and unbridled curiosity.

Steiner was not just a maker. He collected, curated, and broadcast video art, giving formative platforms to performance artists, particularly those marginalized elsewhere. His television format "Videogalerie" (1985–1990) extended the reach of the art scene into German households and remains a cultural touchstone. The project ran over 120 episodes, mixing interviews, documentation, and the presentation of international video events—a prescient response to the eventual proliferation of media-based practices.

Having bequeathed his extensive video art collection to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Mike Steiner’s legacy forms a core pillar of the Hamburger Bahnhof collection. The landmark solo exhibition "Mike Steiner – Color Works" in 1999 stood as a testament to his cross-disciplinary thinking and ceaseless innovation, drawing critical attention from both local and international audiences. Later shows, including "Live to Tape," further solidified his place within the upper echelons of contemporary art history.

While many artists of his era excelled in one medium, it is Steiner’s unique ability to bridge and dissolve boundaries—between the archive and the artwork, document and invention, living event and recorded trace—that sets him apart. His advanced critical posture, nourished by friendships with the likes of Joseph Beuys and collaborations with Ulay, left unmistakable fingerprints on the shape of art in Berlin and beyond.

The later years saw Steiner’s return to abstraction, this time approached through the cumulative wisdom of a life spent at art’s vanguard. His final works in painting and textiles, forged in the quietude of his Berlin studio, maintained the spirit of restless exploration that defined all his creative output.

What renders Mike Steiner’s oeuvre so vital—and so necessary for today’s audiences—is this perpetual reinvention: a refusal to settle for answers, always seeking new questions. His story offers an essential lens on the transformation of contemporary art, and on Berlin as a hotbed for creative risk-taking. For art enthusiasts, curators, and fellow artists, exploring Mike Steiner’s legacy is not a matter of nostalgia but of present-day resonance and future inspiration.

To see detailed work groups, images, and archive material, visit the official artist site for comprehensive information on Mike Steiner’s contemporary art and exhibitions.