Mike Steiner: Innovator of Contemporary Art – From Berlin’s Avant-Garde to Video Art Pioneer

Stepping into the universe of Mike Steiner is like entering a dialogue with the shifting borders of contemporary art. With a vision that oscillated between abstract painting, performance, and revolutionary video art, Mike Steiner challenged the categories and expectations of his time. But what does it mean when an artist becomes both a stage and a catalyst – and how did Steiner redefine what contemporary art in Berlin could be?

Discover Contemporary Artworks by Mike Steiner Here

Distinctive for his restless energy and unyielding curiosity, Mike Steiner immersed himself in multiple artistic languages – embracing painting, performance, and, most notably, video. His creative evolution traces not just one path, but a constellation of crossings and returns. Steiner’s journey from early figurative paintings, through vibrant abstraction, to avant-garde video documents established him as one of Berlin’s most versatile contemporary artists.

Steiner’s roots reach back to 1941 Allenstein, now Olsztyn in Poland, but his real artistic flowering came in post-war Berlin. After an initial fascination with film during his school days and a foray into painting in his teens, Steiner exhibited at the celebrated Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung by just 17. This precocious start foreshadowed a lifetime spent at the epicenter of creative exchange, pushing the limits of what art could be.

The pivotal influence of New York in the mid-1960s looms large in Steiner’s biography. On the recommendation of established artists, he plunged into the city’s bold, experimental spirit. Here, he met Fluxus luminaries such as Lil Picard, Al Hansen, and Allan Kaprow, and was drawn into the circles of groundbreaking artists like Robert Motherwell and the vibrant Pop Art scene. These encounters embedded in him a drive for innovation, which would later define his work in Berlin.

Back in Europe, it was in Berlin that Mike Steiner established himself as a true force of contemporary arts. With the opening of the legendary Hotel Steiner in 1970, he created a sanctuary for the international avant-garde – a Berlin analog to New York’s Chelsea Hotel. Steiner’s spaces became crucibles for experimentation, conversation, and cross-pollination among artists: Joseph Beuys, Arthur Køpcke, Peter Hutchinson, and many more steeped his environment in creative ferment.

This sense of community and experimentation reached new heights with the founding of the Studiogalerie in 1974. Modeled after the innovative Art/Tapes/22 studio in Florence, Steiner’s Studiogalerie became a hub for video art production, groundbreaking performance, and independent exhibition. Artists such as Marina Abramovi?, Valie Export, Carolee Schneemann, and Jochen Gerz presented work that was raw, ephemeral, and frequently boundary-breaking. Steiner was not just a facilitator, curator, and documentarian – often he was also behind the camera, capturing these moments for posterity and forging a crucial link between fleeting performance and lasting artistic legacy.

The Video Art movement, especially, owes Steiner a lasting debt. At a time when Cologne had its champions for video, Berlin was still searching for its heartbeat. Steiner answered that need, not only producing his own experimental video works but also amassing a formidable archive and offering essential equipment and exhibition space to fellow artists. His role mirrored that of Nam June Paik – the widely acknowledged "father of video art" – but Steiner shaped a uniquely Berlin approach, spanning hard-edged abstraction to Fluxus performance and installation.

It is no exaggeration to place Mike Steiner alongside his contemporaries in the pantheon of avant-garde: Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, Marina Abramovi?, and Bill Viola, all of whom are represented in or connected to his extensive video collection. Steiner’s multi-genre activities found their culmination in the remarkable Painted Tapes series, a fusion of moving image and gestural painting that underscored his perpetual search for new expressions. Like Bruce Nauman or Carolee Schneemann, his work dissolved the borders between disciplines, making the medium itself part of the message.

Steiner’s art is always a conversation between immediacy and memory, between the physical act of painting and the spectral flicker of video. The "Irritation" action with Ulay in 1976 – where a Spitzweg painting was (performatively) stolen from the Neue Nationalgalerie and hung in a Kreuzberg living room – speaks to his sense for the political and poetic potentials of art. With each commission, performance, and painting, Steiner asked: how long does a moment last? What remains when the performance ends and only the tape or memory survives?

His career was famously crowned in 1999 with a major solo show at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. There, his "Color Works" dazzled with vibrant gestures, reinforcing his legacy as both painter and media artist. Today, the Mike Steiner video collection, bequeathed to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, remains a cornerstone for anyone exploring the history of contemporary arts in Berlin.
Indeed, it is in the collection at www.mike-steiner.de that art lovers and scholars alike can truly appreciate the range and restlessness of Steiner’s production.

Throughout his life, Mike Steiner embraced change. In the 1980s and 1990s, he developed further as an educator and curator, producing the pioneering "Videogalerie" TV format, which brought contemporary video art to a broader audience. He continued to experiment, producing photo cycles, installations, and – in his later years – returning passionately to abstract painting and fabric works. Even after a stroke in 2006 curtailed his public life, he labored on, committed to a vision that transcended personal setbacks.

Mike Steiner’s work is marked by a ceaseless push for originality, a devotion to artistic exchange, and a playful seriousness about the role of art in society. Kenner finden in seiner Kunst nicht nur formale Brillanz, sondern auch die Lust am Diskurs – an der "Irritation" des Erwartbaren. His estate and archive remain treasures for the international art world, inviting rediscovery and fresh interpretations with every generation.

Why does Steiner’s work still matter? In an era of digital saturation and genre confusion, his fearless navigation of media and his belief in the power of creative communities feel more vital than ever. To encounter Mike Steiner’s universe is to understand the restless pulse of contemporary art – a pulse whose echoes continue to shape Berlin, and beyond. For further insights, detailed artwork views, and a deep dive into his art and archive, visit the official Mike Steiner website.