Zero Top Hat. Signed by Mack, Piene and Uecker

Handmade oversized black cardboard cylinder (diameter 32.5 cm, height 50 cm), mounted in two parts, used during the Zero Fest in Düsseldorf, 1989. Boldly signed in white chalk by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker.

In 1964, the Zero group participated in the Düsseldorf Carnival parade with a Zero float. Its members were dressed entirely in black, with white zeros on their outfits, faces painted white, wearing self-made outsized top hats. In 1989, the performance was repeated at the Zero Festival organized by Galerie Schoeller in Düsseldorf. The hats were once again assembled by hand (by Piene, Schoeller and students), but were taller and narrower than the 1964 version. After the performance Mack gifted his hat to a friend, signed by himself, Piene and Uecker, and with a dedication. The dedication is mildly erased in parts, but still legible. Very good copy. Ref: Heiner Stachelhaus, Zero Dusseldorf 1993, pp 41, 42, 51.