vienna showcases citys shock actionist art movement
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Used body as both surface and site of art-making

Vienna showcases city's shock 'Actionist' art movement

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Vienna showcases city's shock 'Actionist' art movement

Man performs a work by Austrian 'Actionist' Hermann Nitsch
Vienna - Arab Today

As artists, they pushed the limits, bathing in blood, mud and urine. Vienna's famed "Actionists", whose avant garde movement may be the most radical in contemporary art, are the focus of a new exhibition in their home city.
The movement emerged in the 1960s as part of the new performance-based art, which broke with the confines of traditional painting and used the body as both surface and site of art-making.
"Vienna Actionism" shied away from little -- and sometimes landed the artists in jail.
"They sought a direct confrontation with reality, both physical and psychological, to limits that were very difficult to tolerate," said Eva Badura-Triska, curator of "My Body is the Event" at Vienna's Museum of Modern Art (Mumok).
The movement's main members were Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch, Guenter Brus and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, who skinned animal carcasses, tied up human bodies or mixed them up with viscus, gore or mud.
Muehl, in particular, created a series of "still lifes" with body parts sticking out through planks, giving the impression of a dismembered corpse.
Brus once crisscrossed Vienna with his body painted white and bisected by a jagged black line before being arrested by the police. His other performances involved scatology or verged on pornography.
-  Artists also suffered -
"Actionism broke away from traditional values. But it remains art. It is well-thought out, has a precise form and references," said Badura-Triska. "It's an extension of the field of painting, even though it is one of the most radical.
"They overturned the rules by considering as aesthetic things which were deemed ugly according to social norms," the curator added, conceding that the exhibition would be difficult to hold in certain countries.
The city of Sigmund Freud and other radical thinkers, Vienna already saw taboos broken in the early 20th century when artists like Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele shocked the world with sexually explicit artworks.
If the Vienna "Actionists" follow this spirit, a source for their non-conformity was also World War II, said Badura-Triska.
They lived "in a country where, unlike Germany, the Nazi past was pushed away, literally hidden in bourgeois normality, which helps explain their extreme reaction.
"In this respect, 'Actionism' had a cathartic effect. It allowed suppressed drives to be released in controlled fashion, in the context of artistic experience," the curator said.
The exhibition compares the Vienna movement with other developments in performance-based and action art, featuring a wide range of international artists from Yoko Ono to Marina Abramovic.
The movement at times took a heavy toll. During a filmed performance which also featured her husband, a nude and bound Ana Brus had a nervous breakdown.
Guenter Brus, who publicly urinated, defecated and cut himself with a razor blade, held his last live performance in 1970 in which he appeared nude and drank his own urine.
But Hermann Nitsch, 76, is still performing and has at least three museums devoted to his work in Austria and in Naples, Italy.
Otto Muehl died in 2013 at the age of 87 after being sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of sexual offences with minors and rapes committed in a commune he had founded.
The movement, which was little known in the 1960s, received a boost two decades later with a series of exhibitions in Cologne, Vienna, Paris and Los Angeles.
The exhibition at the Mumok runs through August 23.
Source: AFP

almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

vienna showcases citys shock actionist art movement vienna showcases citys shock actionist art movement

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

vienna showcases citys shock actionist art movement vienna showcases citys shock actionist art movement

 



Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017

GMT 09:22 2018 Monday ,22 January

Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way

GMT 11:03 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Modern colorful bedroom renovation

GMT 10:57 2017 Thursday ,21 December

Modern colorful bedroom renovation
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president

GMT 13:56 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 10:47 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 23:55 2011 Monday ,02 May

Royal designer mooted for Christian Dior

GMT 16:00 2013 Tuesday ,03 September

GCC passports departments heads conclude meeting in Doha

GMT 13:23 2017 Wednesday ,08 February

Tokyo 2020 bid chief quizzed over payments

GMT 13:15 2012 Thursday ,23 February

Jamal Suleiman begins new drama

GMT 08:59 2012 Wednesday ,14 November

MBC Egypt appoint channel director

GMT 00:26 2012 Tuesday ,10 January

Acanto Boutique Hotel completes $5m refit

GMT 23:22 2012 Tuesday ,23 October

2013 Ram Heavy Duty

GMT 09:04 2016 Tuesday ,16 August

Indonesian minister sacked for dual citizenship

GMT 07:54 2017 Saturday ,08 July

US, Russia agree on ceasefire

GMT 11:04 2011 Sunday ,18 December

Fairmont to hire near 3,000 staff for new hotels

GMT 12:51 2017 Monday ,31 July

Yemeni forces achieve notable advance in Taiz

GMT 20:48 2017 Thursday ,13 April

EU foreign policy chief to visit Russia

GMT 07:30 2017 Wednesday ,12 April

First woman on trial in Saudi
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
 
 Almaghrib Today Facebook,almaghrib today facebook  Almaghrib Today Twitter,almaghrib today twitter Almaghrib Today Rss,almaghrib today rss  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

.almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday almaghribtoday almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday