tomas schmit, "zyklus for water-pails (or bottles)", 1962, performed by himself, amsterdam 1963 © tomas schmit archiv, photo: dorine van der klei

tomas schmit, "zyklus for water-pails (or bottles)", 1962, performed by himself, amsterdam 1963 © tomas schmit archiv, photo: dorine van der klei

robert watts, "two inches", performed by tomas schmit and emmett williams as part of “festum fluxorum fluxus. musik und antikunst – das instrumentale theater”, state academy of art, dusseldorf, 2 february 1963 © tomas schmit archiv, photo: manfred leve

george maciunas, “in memoriam to adriano olivetti”, performed during the “festum fluxorum fluxus, musik und antikunst – das instrumentale theater” at the state academy of the arts dusseldorf, february 1963. from left to right: tomas schmit, nam june paik, arthur köpcke, wolf vostell, daniel spoerri, emmett williams, frank townbridge and bengt af klintberg © tomas schmit archiv, photo: manfred leve

poster for nam june paik's "exposition of music – electronic television", gallery parnass, wuppertal 1963 © tomas schmit archive

portrait of ludwig gosewitz, maruta schmidt and tomas schmit during an action at berlin tiergarten, ca. 1965 © tomas schmit archive, photo: unknown

cover of the programme booklet of the festival of new art, 20 july 1964, th (technical college), aachen, edited by tomas schmit and wolf vostell

tomas schmit, „action without audience“, 1965, performed by himself at „24 stunden“, galerie parnass, wuppertal 1965 © tomas schmit archive, photo: hanns sohm / staatsgalerie stuttgart

tomas schmit at the opening of his first solo show, jysk kunstgalerie, copenhagen 1969 © tomas schmit archiv, photo: unknown

arthur köpcke, “music while you work”, 1962, performed at forum theater in berlin, 1970. from left to rigt: tomas schmit, arthur köpcke, emmett williams and marianne filliou, al hansen, carolee schneeman, valerie herouvis © tomas schmit archiv, photo: armin hundertmark

nino malfatti, angelika margull, fritz margull, andrea tippel, mischa mengelberg and tomas schmit at jazz festival berlin 1976 © tomas schmit archiv, photos: fmp / dagmar gebers

portrait of tomas schmit at his writing desk in his flat, bleibtreustr. 3, in berlin-charlottenburg, pictured on the cover of the catalogue "tomas schmit, werke 1962–1978", kunstverein cologne, 1978 © tomas schmit archive, photo: dagmar gebers

tomas schmit and michael werner at the gallery of werner in cologne, 1980ies © tomas schmit archive & gallery werner, photo: dietmar schneider

tomas schmit presenting his book "first draft (of a central aesthetics)" at the bookshop of walther könig in cologne, 7 june 1990 © tomas schmit archive, photo: dietmar schneider

portrait of tomas schmit at the exhibition space of edition hundertmark in cologne, early 90ies © tomas schmit archive, photo: benjamin katz

portrait of tomas schmit during a lecture on music at the academy of arts in braunschweig, 1997 © tomas schmit archive, berlin

tomas schmit with the curators brigitte kölle and kasper könig during the setup of his exhibition at portikus in frankfurt/m., 1997 © heike bayrle, "tomas schmit: portikus under construction", 1997 (film still)

foreword by nam june paik for tomas schmit's "katalog 3", published on the occasion of schmit's exhibition at portikus in frankfurt/m., 1997 © tomas schmit archive, berlin

tomas schmit during the performance of his work "lucas-tower" at the cinema metropolis in frankfurt/m., 22 november 2002, in the framework of the exhibition „grotesk! 130 jahre kunst der frechheit“, schirn kunsthalle, frankfurt/m © schirn kunsthalle, frankfurt/m., photo: corinna gab

opening of tomas schmit's exhibtion at kunsthalle bremerhaven, 10 july 2005. left to right: rainer noeres, tomas schmit, unbekannte besucher, wilma lukatsch (opening speech), jürgen wesseler © tomas schmit archive, berlin

kasper könig delivering a speech a the opening of the exhibition "tomas schmit. 'are humans capable of thought?'" on 20 april 2007 at museum ludwig, cologne © rba, cologne

john bock and barbara wien after the event held in honor of tomas schmit at the ludwig museum in cologne on 8 may 2007. john bock performed "wardrobe poem for philosophers" there, which is printed in tomas schmit's book "first draft (of a central aesthetics") © tomas schmit archive, berlin

"tomas schmit. pieces, actions, documents 1962–1970", neuer berliner kunstverein (n.b.k.), 2021/22 © n.b.k., photo: jens ziehe (exhibition view)

cover of the catalogue "tomas schmit. works, texts, documents 1962–1970", ed. by marius babias, krisztina hunya and barbara wien, vol. 26 in the series n.b.k. exhibitions, verlag der buchhandlung walther and franz könig, cologne 2024

poster of the exhibition "making t h i n g s. tomas schmit. drawing, action, language 1970–2006", kupferstichkabinett – state museums berlin, 2021/22