Sakıp Sabancı Museum is preparing to host the leading artist of German modernism, Heinz Mack, with an exhibition showcasing the artist’s long and prolific career with over a hundred works.

The exhibition titled ‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’, made possible with the main sponsorship of Tahincioğlu, focuses on the significant oeuvre of German artist Heinz Mack, who is notably among the founders of the mid-20th century avant-garde art network, the ZERO movement. The exhibition, encompassing the artist's formative earlier works that informed the revolutionary philosophy of the ZERO movement, brings together paintings, monumental sculptures and kinetic works produced throughout the artist’s long career.

The exhibition includes open-air installations Mack designed during his artistic explorations in the Sahara Desert regarding light and colour in nature, reliefs and sculptures produced in a myriad of materials, as well as the artist’s large canvases titled ‘Chromatic Constellations’. As part of the extensive exhibition, a significant portion of Sakıp Sabancı Museum galleries have been transformed into a unique site embodying the artist’s leading explorations into Land Art, which were inspired by his visits to the Sahara Desert and North Pole in the 1960s.  The exhibition site, shaped around desert and light themes, will offer art enthusiasts a unique art experience.

Realized under the curatorship of  Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer and art historian and former Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, Sir Norman Rosenthal, the exhibition notably marks the 85th birthday and 60th year of Heinz Mack’s career with a series of exhibitions taking place in the Far East, Europe and Turkey.

‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’ takes place under the patronage of Foreign Minister of Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who also contributed to the exhibition catalogue with a foreword. Foreign Minister Steinmeier expressed his gladness that Sakıp Sabancı Museum is introducing notable art movements and artists to Turkey with an exhibition program starting with ‘ZERO. Countdown to the Future’ in 2015 and ‘MACK. Just Light and Colour’ in 2016. Dr. Steinmeier underscored the importance of international dialogue with regards to the development of a ‘global reason’, expressing his views on the art of Heinz Mack saying ‘Heinz seeks to create points of contact, to engage people in conversation, to understand and to think, in order to ultimately create anew. Heinz Mack symbolizes this very “global reason”.’

Sakıp Sabancı Museum Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer summarized the inception of the exhibition stating that the focal point is light and colour as two vital themes Mack has revisited repatedly throughout his career, bringing together paintings inspired by the Mediterranean sun, along with kinetic works exploring ‘movement’, which the artist never abandoned as a concept. Dr. Nazan Ölçer said, ‘I am extremely glad to introduce Heinz Mack, the artist and the sage, with art enthusiasts through his long career and unique artistic output. As the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, we are thrilled that this exhibition, marking the artist’s 60-year career, takes place in Turkey, the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations, both immeasurably rich sources the artist artist drew from throughout his life.’

Özcan Tahincioğlu, Chairman of the Board of Tahincioğlu, the main sponsor of the exhibition, commented on the exhibition saying, “Art is an irreplaceable facet of a developed society. We, as Tahincioğlu, place great importance on supporting the arts and artists, drawing inspiration from the projects we endorse. As a real-estate development corporation, it is our belief that our endeavors constitute as works of art in their own right, contributing to the silhouette of the city. For this very reason, we are incredibly glad to have assumed the main sponsorship of the Heinz Mack exhibition, which undoubtedly will enrich and embellish the city as it reaches art enthusiasts in Turkey. It is a source of pride to support and realize the exhibition of this important artist, who throughout his career brought together nature and human development, offering his output to the masses through open-air works of art and installations, bringing it to Sakıp Sabancı Museum. As per our guiding vision, we as Tahincioğlu will continue our support to the arts and the artists through future projects.”

Heinz Mack’s first solo exhibition in Istanbul, where the civilisations of East and West have bequeathed a priceless heritage over thousands of years, will be accompanied by a rich program of conferences, education programs, workshops, as well as a comprehensive exhibition catalogue suitable for both scholars and the general public.