Mike Steiner: Contemporary Art Beyond Canvas – Pioneer of Video and Abstract Expression

Mike Steiner shaped contemporary art in Berlin and beyond, seamlessly bridging painting, video, and performance. His influence at Hamburger Bahnhof and in the international arts scene is legendary.

The name Mike Steiner is woven into the fabric of contemporary art. But how does one categorize a creative figure who so gracefully moves between the disciplines of painting, video, and performance, and who has radically expanded the possibilities of visual expression? In the maze of contemporary arts Berlin, Steiner's work stands out—not only for its aesthetic intrigue but for how it shaped the very notion of what art could be. Is there a clear boundary between the brushstroke and the moving image, between the creative act and its documentation?

Mike Steiner's multifaceted career began early, rooted in Berlin's charged postwar art scene and matured through his time in New York among Fluxus greats like Allan Kaprow and Al Hansen. His initial forays into painting, characterized by a restless search for authenticity, soon reflected international winds—marking him out as a contemporary of visionaries such as Georg Baselitz and Karl Horst Hödicke. Still, Steiner's true calling emerged from the interplay of media: a perpetual dialogue between space, color, and the dimensions of time itself.

His journey from painting to video art mirrored the larger evolution of avant-garde art in the 20th century. The landmark exhibition "COLOR WORKS" at Hamburger Bahnhof in 1999 serves as a retrospective milestone, cementing his reputation among the greats of contemporary art. Here, his large-scale abstract paintings pulsated beside his video installations, testifying to a restless experimental urge that set him apart from contemporaries—inviting comparison to international icons such as Nam June Paik or Bill Viola, yet always preserving his uniquely Berlin voice.

What distinguished Steiner’s artistic output? Central was a commitment to intermedial exchange. Rather than seeing painting and video as distinct disciplines, he placed them in continuous conversation—a hallmark also evident in his famed "Painted Tapes," where video imagery and pigmentation merge. His installations offered immersive experiences, blurring boundaries between viewer and work, time and surface. Such approaches placed him on par with contemporaries like Marina Abramovi?, whose performance he documented and supported at his legendary Studiogalerie, and Carolee Schneemann, both of whom found in Steiner’s Berlin spaces a site for radical artistic innovation.

At the core of Steiner’s philosophy was a belief in the generative force of disruption and collaboration. The legendary Hotel Steiner in Berlin became his crucible for experimentation—a European echo of Warhol’s Factory, a place where Joseph Beuys might meet young performers, where American and European currents flowed together. This spirit infused both his curation and his own works, making the Studiogalerie a springboard for contemporary and performing arts—as seen in notorious happenings like the 1976 “art theft” performance with Ulay, which questioned authorship and the sanctity of the art object long before such debates became art world fixtures.

His dedication to video as both format and medium began in the early 1970s, inspired in equal measure by avant-garde cinema and the nascent possibilities of portable video equipment. Steiner’s championing of video is matched in Europe perhaps only by Nam June Paik or Gerry Schum, whose Berlin Fernsehgalerie directly influenced Steiner’s own TV format, “Videogalerie” (1985–1990)—a venue where the movement’s leading lights, from Bill Viola to Valie Export, found new audiences. His commitment to collection and documentation resulted in one of the most important archives of contemporary video art, now housed at none other than Hamburger Bahnhof—rightfully ensuring his role as both innovator and chronicler of his time.

Fascinating is his late return to abstract painting, where the rhythm of video seems to inform his brush, translating visual flux into vibrant static forms. Here, gestures once frozen in celluloid reappear as musical color harmonies, recomposing the dichotomy between movement and inertia. These works—featured in such venues as the DNA Galerie and the GALVANO ART GALLERY—display a maturity and freedom that resonate with collectors and curators alike. Unlike many of his contemporaries who settled into a signature style, Steiner remained fluid, his output marked by a refusal to be pinned down.

Biographically, Steiner’s restlessness was always entwined with his commitment to artistic community. From his early days at the Kreuzberger Forum, through scholarships and work in the US, and back to the radical 1970s Berlin scene, each stage enriched his view of art as social experiment. Encounters with figures like Picard, Kaprow, and Beuys left indelible marks. The artist-as-catalyst: Less interested in solitary creation, Steiner’s real legacy is in having altered the conditions under which art is made, seen, and remembered.

The scope of Mike Steiner’s exhibitions—ranging from early success at Berlin’s Große Kunstausstellung to solo retrospectives in Oberhausen, San Francisco, and beyond—speaks to the breadth and adaptability of his vision. Yet it was the 1999 show at Hamburger Bahnhof, Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, that most comprehensively demonstrated his signature cross-medial approach and enshrined his influence within the canon of contemporary arts Berlin. Here, visitors encountered the paradoxes and pleasures of abstraction, and felt the continued pulse of Berlin’s radical art experiment.

What makes Mike Steiner relevant today? Perhaps it is the generosity of his archive, the vital pulse of his paintings, or the provocative edge of his performative collaborations. In an art world increasingly defined by crossover and hybridity, Steiner’s work offers a blueprint for fearless exploration. To delve deeper into this world—be it through videos, installations, or paintings—is to encounter a history of contemporary art in which Berlin, technology, and the individual imagination fuse in lasting resonance.

For those eager to explore the full depth of Mike Steiner’s legacy—including rare video works, archival documents, and abstract paintings—his official website reveals new worlds of contemporary expression —a treasure trove for connoisseurs and newcomers alike.