Mack - Sahara: From Zero to Land Art: Heinz Mack’s Sahara Project (1959-1997)

Heinz Mack’s Sahara Project is legendary. In 1968 he installed for the first time light columns with a height of up to 11 metres which reflected and mirrored the glaring sunlight in the Tunisian desert. Nature and object fused to create an artwork of breath-taking beauty. This comprehensive volume records the history and ideas of this spectacular project over four decades.

Sophia Sotke’s in-depth presentation traces an arc from the conception of the project in 1958/59 via the sensational film Tele-Mack (1968) and the subsequent Expedition into Artificial Gardens of 1976 in Algeria andGreenland to the artistic experiments which Mack carried out in the Wahiba Desert in Oman in 1997. The uestion regarding the importance of the Sahara Project in Mack’s oeuvre is examined together with his role in the development of Land Art. Hitherto unpublished photos of the expeditions into the desert and the Arctic regions provide new insights.