Mike Steiner and Contemporary Art: Trailblazer Between Painting and Video Avant-Garde
27.01.2026 - 07:03:03
Where does painting end and the moving image begin? This fundamental question permeates the entire oeuvre of Mike Steiner, whose legacy resonates throughout contemporary art. Few artists have done more to unsettle and expand the boundaries between media. Whether as visionary painter or pioneer of video art, Mike Steiner’s body of work stands as a compelling testament to both the fluidity and the radical potential of artistic forms.
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Mike Steiner was never content with remaining within the boundaries of a single medium. Early in his career, his painting—first exhibited at just 17 in the famed Große Berliner Kunstausstellung—already hinted at a restless, experimental spirit. By the late 1960s, Steiner was drawn to the city’s postwar vibrancy and the possibilities of new art forms emerging from the intersection of Abstract Expressionism, Fluxus, and early performance. The subsequent decades would see him become one of the most influential figures in the history of Contemporary Arts Berlin.
The pivotal moment, however, arrived in the 1970s, as Berlin became a magnet for avant-garde experimentation. Inspired by contacts with artists such as Allan Kaprow and Al Hansen in New York, Steiner immersed himself in the unfolding scenes of performance and video art. The results were nothing short of groundbreaking. His Studiogalerie (founded 1974) swiftly became an international center for video, performance, and experimental installation—hosting luminaries like Marina Abramovi?, Ulay, Valie Export, Carolee Schneemann, and Jochen Gerz. It was in these revolutionary years that Steiner’s name became inexorably linked with the performing arts and the birth of European video art.
The 1976 action "Irritation – Da ist eine kriminelle Berührung in der Kunst" with Ulay, involving the removal of Spitzweg’s famous painting from Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, created a scandal and lasting impact. Captured on video, it reflected Steiner’s distinctive ability to combine conceptual rigor with potent symbolism and cultural provocation—a recurring hallmark of his work. Such interventions aligned him with global contemporaries who interrogated the boundaries of art, including Nam June Paik and Joseph Beuys, yet the performative, often mischievous Berlin context gave Steiner’s approach unique flavor.
Not content to merely document or curate, Steiner was himself an indefatigable creator. His celebrated Painted Tapes series from the 1980s and 90s outwardly exemplifies his synesthetic methodology. These works elegantly fuse video footage with painterly interventions—layering moving images, pigment, and even sound into immersive artistic experiences. His later abstractions, especially those celebrated during his large solo exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in 1999 (Color Works), highlight Steiner’s enduring fascination with the material and perceptual qualities of color, gesture, and form. These abstract paintings pulsate with vitality and a sense of the possible, inviting viewers into an ongoing dialogue between sensory perception and conceptual investigation.
It is this multidimensionality that has led critics to draw comparisons with other radical voices in contemporary art. While Joseph Beuys’s socially engaged practice and Nam June Paik’s technological audacity are clear points of resonance, Steiner’s commitment to archiving and nurturing artistic communities in Berlin set him apart from peers like Bill Viola or Allan Kaprow. His spaces—such as the legendary Hotel Steiner—became crucibles for creative collaboration, and his video work opened up Berlin’s art world to international dialogues long before globalization became the norm.
Steiner’s own biography reflects an existence lived at the crossroads of geography and genre. Born in 1941 in Allenstein and shaped by the turbulence of the era, he relocated to West Berlin, where he first studied painting at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste. Yet, even as a student, he began to question painting’s adequacy in addressing contemporary realities. Travels to New York and formative encounters with artists like Lil Picard and Allan Kaprow deepened his appreciation for performance, while his engagement with the American and European avant-garde sharpened his drive to innovate. By the 1970s, Steiner’s faith in the new medium of video—and its ability to capture the ephemeral—catalyzed an explosion of creative activity that indelibly shaped Berlin’s art ecosystem.
As a curator and collector, Steiner preserved not only his own output but also vast archives of video art from peers and younger artists. This sensibility—a mix of creator, archivist, and networker—finds concrete form in his gift to the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, which established his archive at the Hamburger Bahnhof. His legacy is visible in the preservation and public accessibility of works by the very artists with whom he shared a stage: Bill Viola, Valie Export, Gary Hill, and Marina Abramovi?, among others. The influence of his collection and curatorial foresight still reverberates through contemporary museum practice and the wider field of media art studies.
Throughout the later years, Steiner’s energy did not abate. He hosted TV formats such as the influential Videogalerie (1985–1990), discussing contemporary trends, interviewing artists, and introducing an ever-wider audience to the evolving language of video. His experimental spirit continued through photographic cycles like Das Testbild als Readymade and an ongoing dialogue with abstraction in painting and textile works, culminating in exhibitions across Berlin, Leipzig, San Francisco, and beyond.
What, then, is the lasting message of Mike Steiner’s art? Perhaps it is best captured in his unshakable faith in hybridity and experimentation. By refusing to draw hard lines between painting, video, performance, or installation, he anticipated the multimedia flux of 21st-century creative practice. Berlin’s reputation today as a crucible of cutting-edge art owes immeasurably to Steiner’s willingness to open doors, push boundaries, and invite the world in.
It is well worth revisiting Mike Steiner’s remarkable journey—through acclaimed exhibitions, landmark collaborations, and a relentless questioning of what “contemporary art” could be. This legacy continues to inspire. For deeper insights, original documentation, and images, a visit to the official website of Mike Steiner is highly recommended.
