The Belgian ZERO artist Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) became known as the painter of light streams and colour spectra. He experimented not only with light, but also with movement and the invisible as means to evoke natural mechanisms and to reveal universal interrelationships between human beings and the surrounding world. He used geometric principles – his passion for geometry was born out of his interest in mathematics and (Greek) philosophy – as the basis for harmony. Verheyen never gave up on traditional media and materials such as the canvas, paint, and brushes to search for the essence of our nature. 

Piero Manzoni

(c)image: MACBA Collection. MACBA Foundation, Rocco Ricci
Corpo d'aria [Body of Air], 1959-1960
Collection MACBA, Barcelona
Object , 5 x 42.7 x 12.3 cm, 1.5 x 1.5 x 20 cm, 41.5 x 11 cm
metal, plastic, rubber, whip, paper

Corpo d’aria is a series of 45 pneumatic sculptures that Manzoni began in 1959. The purchaser would pay 30,000 liras for a balloon, a box and a description, together with a certificate of authenticity. The purchaser could also decide if they wanted to preserve Manzoni’s breath inside the balloon or not.