Mike Steiner and Contemporary Art: Pioneer, Visionary and Bridge Between Painting and Videokunst

How do you begin to trace boundaries in contemporary art when an artist like Mike Steiner relentlessly blurs them? From his earliest days in postwar Germany to his groundbreaking installations at Hamburger Bahnhof, Mike Steiner consistently redefined artistic media. His life's work reads not only as a chronicle of the evolution of Contemporary Arts Berlin, but as a vivid testament to creative audacity and experiment — painting, video, installation, and performance merge organically in his oeuvre.

Discover contemporary art by Mike Steiner now – immerse yourself in his visionary works!

Characteristic for Steiner’s output is the constant crossing and re-crossing of artistic territory. What stands out? The play of abstract color fields in his paintings, the alchemy of filmed performances, and his impeccable sense for time and presence in video art. Few artists managed to move as freely between the painted canvas and electronic image as Mike Steiner — if ever a “crossover” truly deserved that name, then here.

Mike Steiner’s career unfolded in several dynamic phases. In the 1960s, he gained early visibility on Berlin's stages — among the youngest participants of the Große Berliner Kunstausstellung at just 17, he quickly made a name for himself in both collective and solo exhibitions. His early works radiate an informal, expressive vocabulary: painted gestures and abstraction, later touched by American Pop influences. His eventual turn in the 1970s, after formative encounters with the likes of Robert Motherwell and Allan Kaprow in New York, anticipated the multimedia pivot that defined avant-garde circles worldwide — echoing, but never mimicking, the radical experiments of contemporaries like Nam June Paik or Joseph Beuys.

His deep immersion in the New York Fluxus movement and the turbulent Berlin underground made Steiner a catalyst as much as an artist. The legendary Hotel Steiner and later his Studiogalerie became sanctuaries for the international avant-garde: Joseph Beuys, Carolee Schneemann, Marina Abramovi? and Ulay, Valie Export, Jochen Gerz, and Allan Kaprow — all passed through these doors. It was this cross-pollination, orchestrated by Steiner, that turned Berlin into a hotspot for progressive performing arts.

Fascinating is how the spirit of those encounters flows into his work. With the founding of the Studiogalerie in 1974, Steiner not only created a nerve center for emerging video art in Germany, but also an action space for performance and Fluxus — democratizing access to expensive video equipment and producing, as curator, producer, and documentarian, some of the era’s most iconic moments. Here, his collaboration with Ulay produced the legendary 'Irritation – Da ist eine kriminelle Berührung in der Kunst': the staged theft of Spitzweg's painting 'The Poor Poet', a conceptual art caper that still resonates in art history debates.

In parallel, Steiner's collection of video works became one of Europe’s most important media art archives — works by pioneers such as Bill Viola, George Maciunas, and Gary Hill found a lasting home. This role as facilitator and archivist sets him apart from many contemporaries: while artists like Vito Acconci or Yoko Ono remained focused on authorship, Steiner operated both as creator and community builder. His innovative production of the TV format 'Videogalerie' (1985–1990) broadcasted the vibrancy of video art directly into living rooms, an effort matched in scale and craft only by Gerry Schum’s earlier Fernsehgalerie.

The artistic range of Mike Steiner stretches from abstract painting — richly colored, shimmering with subtle emotional energies — to complex art installation and live-action video. Particularly striking are his so-called 'Painted Tapes': here, painting and video collide, translating gestural brushwork into electronic pulse and vice versa. In these works, the boundaries between the tactile and the ephemeral dissolve; the image is both object and process, time and surface intertwined. Kenner see parallels to the multilayered installations of Bruce Nauman or the visual experiments of Richard Serra, yet Steiner retains an unmistakable signature: a subtle tension between order and chance, rhythm and rupture.

Beyond stylistic bravura, a conceptual rigor pervades his career. Steiner consistently interrogates the relationship between author and audience, permanence and action, medium and message. This is nowhere clearer than in his engagement with performance documentation: by capturing otherwise fleeting, body-based actions on tape, he granted them a stubborn afterlife — a counter-position to the myth of the 'unrepeatable moment' that so often characterizes ephemeral art.

Steiner's art is impossible to reduce to a single discipline: in later years, he returned to painting, exploring abstraction anew and creating imposing series of abstract paintings that radiate chromatic calm and contemplative power. These later works, showcased in several solo exhibitions and honored in the 1999 blockbuster 'COLOR WORKS' at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, complete the circle of an artist whose life was dialog: between traditions, genres, and generations. His works seem always in conversation — with the past, with the future, and with those at the thresholds of their own creativity.

Throughout his prolific career, Mike Steiner’s biography is inseparable from Berlin’s cultural evolution: from Kreuzberg’s bohemia to international art circuits. His relentless curiosity and penchant for experimentation pushed him beyond the obvious paths — collaborating with Tangerine Dream on multimedia projects, curating and producing performances, gathering a one-of-a-kind video art collection, and participating in critical juries and symposia. Even after suffering a stroke, he remained active in his studio, focusing on abstraction and textile works until his passing in 2012.

Today, Mike Steiner holds an almost legendary position within contemporary art. His archive, now held by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and accessible in part through Hamburger Bahnhof, stands as a lodestar for researchers and artists alike, revealing how avant-garde impulses get archived and transformed across generations. It is this legacy — of flux, transformation, and creative generosity — that makes engaging with his work so rewarding, even (and especially) now.

If you wish to dive deeper or explore the richness and nuance of Mike Steiner’s oeuvre, more images, biographical details, and in-depth commentary await you at the official artist website: Visit www.mike-steiner.de for a comprehensive journey into his world of contemporary art.

Mike Steiner’s relevance to contemporary art cannot be overstated. He is a bridge-builder, an innovator, and a chronicler of a restless era — a true force in contemporary arts Berlin, whose work continues to challenge, inspire and connect. Explore, linger, and let yourself be inspired anew.

@ ad-hoc-news.de

Hol dir den Wissensvorsprung der Profis. Seit 2005 liefert der Börsenbrief trading-notes verlässliche Trading-Empfehlungen – dreimal die Woche, direkt in dein Postfach. 100% kostenlos. 100% Expertenwissen. Trage einfach deine E-Mail Adresse ein und verpasse ab heute keine Top-Chance mehr.
Jetzt anmelden.