Oral history interview with Otto Piene
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 7 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 13 digital wav files. Duration is 9 hr., 52 min.
label: General
content: 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.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Piene, Otto, 1928-
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
label: Names
content: Center for Advanced Visual Studies
label: Names
content: Group Zero
label: Names
content: Mack, Heinz, 1931-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- Interviews
label: Occupation
content: Arts administrators -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art, American
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Piene, Otto, 1928-
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Otto Piene (1928- ) is a painter and art administrator from Cambridge, Mass.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Items (sound cassettes (9 hr., 52 min.))
label: Extent
content: 122 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1988 Aug. 4-1990 Feb. 22
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.piene88
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.