The first two ZERO magazines published 1958 by Heinz Mack and Otto Piene in Düsseldorf became a manifesto that signaled an artistic new orientation for postwar artists. At a time in which people dream of astronomic and cosmonautic adventures, the Zero artists – as Otto Piene saw it – were interested in light, the elements, fire, air currents, the unlimited possibilities for designing a better, light-infused world in which technology and nature are reconciled.

Because of the large positive resonance in the art world, Mack and Piene conceived of a third, 300-page edition, which was published on July 5th 1961, parallel to a spectacular action at Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf.