Mike Steiner – The Visionary of Contemporary Art: From Abstract Paintings to Video Art Icons

Contemporary art has always thrived on visionary thinkers – individuals who challenge conventional boundaries and instill fresh perspectives into how we experience art. Mike Steiner stands as a powerful testament to this spirit. Renowned in equal measures as a painter, pioneer of video art and influential driver of Berlin’s avant-garde, Steiner’s oeuvre draws us into a world where genres dissolve and art becomes an immersive experiment. How does one encapsulate the elusive line between abstract painting and moving image, performance and document, installation and archive? With Mike Steiner, this very question lies at the heart of his enduring legacy.

Discover unique contemporary art by Mike Steiner in this curated online exhibition

Mike Steiner’s artistic journey began in postwar Berlin and soon extended into the wider field of international Contemporary Arts Berlin. Born in 1941 in Allenstein, he made his public debut at just 17, presenting his "Stillleben mit Krug" at the Grand Berlin Art Exhibition. This precocious appearance foreshadowed a restless curiosity that would accompany him through painting studies in West Berlin and, significantly, a transformative sojourn in New York. There, amidst the ferment of Fluxus, Pop Art and Happenings, Steiner immersed himself in the artistic circles of Lil Picard, Al Hansen and Robert Motherwell. Encounters with artists like Joseph Beuys and Allan Kaprow would become not only formative but also catalysts for Steiner’s later innovations in video and performance.

The late 1960s and early 70s marked a turning point. Moving beyond canvas, Steiner’s attention shifted to new artistic media. As early as 1972, collaborations with Al Hansen led to his first video art pieces, while a foundational trip to Florence’s Art/Tapes/22 studio fired his enthusiasm for videotape experimentation. Sensing the potential of these mediums to capture not just image but action, temporality and creativity in motion, he returned to Berlin and founded his own Studiogalerie. This experimental hub became a vital node in the European performing arts and video art community, hosting iconic artists like Valie Export, Marina Abramovi?, and Jochen Gerz. The Studiogalerie, together with his legendary Hotel Steiner – Berlin’s answer to New York’s Hotel Chelsea – provided both stage and sanctuary for the international avant-garde.

What distinguished Mike Steiner within contemporary art was not only his early embrace of video, but also his unique ability to foster cross-disciplinary dialogues. His role as artist, collector, initiator and documentarian blurred the lines between creation and curation. This polymathic approach was recognized with his landmark solo exhibition "COLOR WORKS" at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in 1999, a true highlight of his career. Here, the scope of Steiner’s work unfolded: vibrant color fields, painterly “Painted Tapes” fusing gestural abstraction with electronic manipulation, alongside the legendary video art collection he donated to the Nationalgalerie – home to key tapes by Ulay, Bill Viola, Gary Hill and Nam June Paik. To this day, these works define the cultural memory of the burgeoning video art movement within Berlin and beyond.

At the core of Steiner’s methodology lies experimentation. Whether with super-8 film, copy art, photography or his signature abstract paintings, Steiner’s search was ceaseless. The "Painted Tapes" series remains particularly emblematic – a synthesis of painting and video, where brushstrokes and digitized images overlap, time and matter intersect, and the ‘work’ expands from two to multiple dimensions. His approach foreshadowed today’s zeitgeist of intermedia practice; Kenner see in Steiner a precursor to a generation of artists like Bruce Nauman or Marina Abramovi?, equally versed in studio, stage and screen.

Yet, Steiner was not solely a creator; he was also a bridge-builder. His stewardship of the Videogalerie TV format from 1985 to 1990 brought over 120 broadcasts of contemporary video art into German living rooms. More than an artist’s monologue, Steiner’s programming was a dialogue with the community, inviting a broader public into new worlds of contemporary practice. This drive to communicate, to mediate and archive, is evident in the scope and accessibility of the Mike Steiner collection now housed at Hamburger Bahnhof. For many, his efforts to collect, preserve and champion video art are just as influential as his own practice.

Biographically, Steiner was a restless mover between media and methods. Trained as a painter at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Berlin, awarded a Ford Foundation scholarship to the US, and ever attuned to artistic zeitgeists from Pop to Minimal, his evolution reflected the international spirit of the post-war era. He explored the world, photographing in Egypt, collaborating with musicians (notably the group Tangerine Dream), continually pushing the limits of the conceivable in art. Through it all, Berlin remained his home base and living archive, a city whose own oscillations between political tension and creative surge mirrored his personal artistic journey.

Steiner’s links to other contemporary artists cannot be overstated. As an organizer, he staged performances and exhibitions featuring key figures like Marina Abramovi? and Ulay (their 1976 performance-turned-provocation “Irritation – Da ist eine kriminelle Berührung in der Kunst” remains legendary). As a collector, he amassed tapes by the likes of Bill Viola, Richard Serra and Valie Export. His dialogic, experimental approach belongs in the same conversation as Nam June Paik, Gary Hill or Joseph Beuys – masters who, like Steiner, refused artistic complacency and instead followed the challenge of the unfamiliar.

In his later years, following a stroke in 2006, Steiner retreated from public life, working quietly in his Berlin studio and devoting himself anew to abstract painting and textile works. Yet the arc of his creative legacy, as preserved on his website and in institutional memory, remains vibrant. The Hamburger Bahnhof’s 2011 exhibition “Live to Tape” celebrated both his video donations and his conceptual contributions to art's evolving language.

Why does Mike Steiner matter for today’s art audiences? First and foremost, his ethos of experimentation, his refusal of boundaries – genre, format, institution – provides a model for younger artists wrestling with questions of medium, message and participation. Steiner’s archive, both literal and philosophical, forms a vital part of Berlin’s, and indeed Germany’s, journey into contemporary artistic modernity. In an era where contemporary art is often fragmented, hyper-digital or market-driven, Steiner’s work is a reminder: art is a field for exploration, risk and dialogue across disciplines, cultures and viewpoints.

Those touched by Contemporary Arts Berlin or seeking to dive deep into the lush, multifaceted world of Mike Steiner are urged to explore the artist’s official site and collection. Here lies the tapestry of a creative life that shaped, and continues to inspire, the international art landscape.

Visit the official Mike Steiner website for detailed works, exhibitions, and archival materials