Mike Steiner – The Pioneering Force of Contemporary Art and Video in Berlin

Mike Steiner shaped contemporary art through radical video experiments, abstract painting, and as a visionary networker of international avant-garde in Berlin’s art scene.

How does one define the crossroads between painting, action, and the moving image? For anyone traversing the terrain of contemporary art, the name Mike Steiner signals not only a multifaceted artistic output but stands as a synonym for experimentation and fearless crossing of boundaries. From the Berlin of the 1970s to the halls of the Hamburger Bahnhof, Mike Steiner’s creative trajectory reads like a condensed history of postwar art’s restless search for new forms of expression.

Diving into Mike Steiner’s universe, one stumbles upon a rich interplay of genres: swirling, color-dense abstractions; raw, flickering video documents; and performance actions that redefined the notion of the artwork itself. A key characteristic of Steiner’s style lies precisely in this multiplicity: his refusal to be pinned down, his ability to make painting converse with the urgencies of video, installation, and performance.

Major milestones of Steiner’s journey include the foundation of the legendary Hotel Steiner and the Studiogalerie in Berlin. These were not mere spaces, but atmospheres—kinetic nodes where icons like Joseph Beuys, Valie Export, Marina Abramovi?, and Ulay mingled and collaborated. Just as Andy Warhol’s Factory catalyzed Pop Art, Steiner’s venues powered Berlin into the world map of contemporary arts.

Steiner discovered his affinity for moving image early on—after formative years at Berlin’s Hochschule für Bildende Künste and an immersion in the avant-garde circles of New York, where he encountered figures such as Allan Kaprow and Al Hansen. Influenced by the ferment of Fluxus and Happenings, he returned to Berlin and, almost prophetically, embraced video when it was still an experimental, misunderstood medium.

The establishment of the Studiogalerie in 1974 marked a tectonic shift. Steiner offered the first professional space for video art in Berlin—providing equipment, support, and a stage for artistic innovation. Female artists and performance pioneers found in him an ally: Carolee Schneemann, VALIE EXPORT, and Marina Abramovi? carried out performances there that today are recognized as milestones of feminist and interdisciplinary art. In turn, Steiner often took up the camera himself, producing essential video documents—his style: direct, immediate, but with a painter’s eye for form and contrast.

The legendary art action "Irritation – Da ist eine kriminelle Berührung in der Kunst" (1976), created with Ulay, exemplifies Mike Steiner’s flair for the provocative and the conceptual. The orchestrated ‘theft’ of Spitzweg’s "Der arme Poet" from West Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie wasn’t merely spectacle; it was a bold interrogation of art’s institutional authority, a performance captured on tape and etched into art history.

Technically, Steiner was always a step ahead. His so-called “Painted Tapes”—the fusion of video and painting—offered a singular extension of visual language as early as the 1980s, prefiguring the now ubiquitous dialogue between digital image and classical media. His video “Mojave Plan” and “Penumbras 3”, with their electronic, painterly qualities, signaled the creative curiosity driving his entire output. These technical experiments, honored at international venues such as the Toronto Video/Culture Festival, place Steiner alongside global new media visionaries like Nam June Paik and Bill Viola.

Crucially, Steiner was also a collector and chronicler: his extensive video art archive, now part of the Hamburger Bahnhof Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, preserves the first generations of video art—featuring works and documentation from Richard Serra, Gary Hill, George Maciunas, and more. In 1999, his solo show "COLOR WORKS" at Hamburger Bahnhof was a masterful homage to his work in color, abstraction, and cross-media experimentation, highlighting his unique position bridging painting and new media.

Steiner’s biography mirrors postwar Berlin’s artistic pulse: born in 1941 in Allenstein (now Olsztyn), his formative years were shaped by war, migration, and the intellectual ferment of postwar West Berlin. His studies and tenure as Head of the Student Council at Berlin's Hochschule für Bildende Künste brought him into contact with future luminaries such as Georg Baselitz and Karl Horst Hödicke. Crucially, his participation in the international scene—from New York’s Fluxus movement to lectures and juries in Europe and the USA—underpins the cosmopolitan network that fueled his vision.

The later years of Mike Steiner’s oeuvre saw a renewed focus on abstract painting, as seen in his exhibitions at Galerie Dittmar and DNA Galerie in Berlin. In parallel, he continued to experiment with installation, photography, and textile works—a restless spirit until the end. His approach always remained that of a mediator: bridging the ‘high’ of institutional art with the ‘now’ of ephemeral actions and contemporary experiment.

When considering Mike Steiner’s legacy, what emerges is more than a body of work—it is an attitude. Steiner did not just make art; he shaped the conditions that allowed contemporary creativity to flourish in Berlin and beyond. In so doing, he belongs to an exclusive circle of artist-curators—akin to Harald Szeemann or even Joseph Beuys—who viewed the boundaries of artistic production as opportunities for collaboration and redefinition.

For contemporary art aficionados, Mike Steiner’s world offers insights into how artistic media—and the institutions surrounding them—can be fruitfully unsettled. His works and archives, partly housed at Hamburger Bahnhof and circulating in international exhibitions, remain a vital point of reference for understanding the entangled histories of painting, performance, and video. Anyone wishing to explore further should not miss his official website, which provides an unparalleled window into the life and work of a crucial figure in European contemporary art.

For further biographical details and in-depth exploration of his works, visit the official Mike Steiner website.

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