Movie
Zero Revolutie, (de)
Documentaire (kunst, geschiedenis), 2015, 55 min, NL & Duits gesproken, ENG ondertiteld, regie Sherman De Jesus, kartonnen digipack geseald SYNOPSIS: No artist has rid himself with as much flair and force of the arrogance and conceit of the art world as Henk Peeters did. Now an old man, he wittily looks back at his career as an artist, his role in ZERO, and his relationship with Yayoi Kusama a.o. In his own eyes his resistance ended in a big disappointment although nowadays ZERO is big business at art fairs, auctions and museums like the Guggenheim, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, and Stedelijk. Henk Peeters travelled through Europe after World War II meeting like-minded artists such as Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, and Gunther Uecker, in Italy, France, and Germany. The artists with whom Henk Peeters founded the Dutch ZERO group included Jan Schoonhoven, Armando, and Jan Henderikse. They brought about a permanent change in the art world of the 1950s and 60s. The film light heartedly reveals the shockwaves the ZERO artists caused and the ridicule and mockery they were met with. Later on Henk Peeters concentrated on lecturing. Former students, Joke Robaard and Paul Damst, talk about his idiosyncratic lecturing style. His widow, Truus Peeters-Nienhuis, reminisces about her life with him and Ad Petersen, a former curator, discusses the last ZERO exhibition in the Stedelijk. Henk Peeters tried to remain loyal to the ZERO ideals, which proved to be impossible when his collection of ZERO works were auctioned at Sothebys. With great success. But Henk Peeters was not very happy. His striking last words on the subject: "Yes, this is a sign of the times. Thats how it goes. And now I am sold out."