Phallocracy, Catholicism and Decadence 
- some thoughts on the emergence of action art in post-war Vienna. 

by Peder Jansson (1998)





It seems as though something is still hanging over Vienna, dating back to 
the days of the empire in the 17th century. Centuries of oppression and a
strict, deep rooted Catholicism have left their mark on Vienna, which in
cultural terms, has since the turn of the century been a city that has paved
the way for a great number of important figures in Europe, including Freud,
Mahler, Klimt, Musil, Lassnig, Schönberg and Wittgenstein.
 
The roots of Hermann Nitsch's (1938-) idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk stem
primarily from Alexander Scriabin's musical works1 and Richard Wagner's
dramatic operas. Philosophy meant a great deal to Wagner and his music.
The new Renaissance of Schopenhauer's Weltanschauung had made a powerful
impression on Nietzsche, as it had on the Viennese cultural establishment.
Both of them in turn were significant influences on Wagner, especially as
Nietzsche brought to light parallels between Dionysus and Wagner's works
in The Birth of Tradegy in 1872. Early on, Nitsch felt an admiration for
Nietzsche's analysis of Wagner, which was to form the foundations for 
Nitsch's oeuvre. During the late 19th century and afterwards, Wagner is
a major cultural figure in central Europe, one who has an influence on 
the French Symbolists, especially Baudelaire and subsequently on both the
German and Austrian Expressionists. Wagner had his own unique theory of 
the Gesamtkunstwerk, about the way it arises out of sociological aspiration,
which is why he called it Das Gemeinsamme Kunstwerk and explained it as 
"a new kind of art which will express the identity, the character, the 
cultural and mythic aspirations of an entire people, while uniting them 
in a common ritualistic and religious experience."2 Gustav Klimt and
Oskar Kokoschka carry on Wagner's interest in philosophy, thus giving 
cause to describe this as a theoretical Austrian Expressionism. The 
architect, Adolf Loos and the critic, Karl Kraus endorse Expressionism's
reassessment of the aims of art, but also seek out distinctions between
their different modes of expression. They want cultural expressions to
reveal the inner reality, which is why they demand a change in the over-
ornamental and superficial status of art and architecture, a status they
had acquired with the arrival of the Danubian empire. It was in answer 
to this criticism that the Wiener Secession was formed in 1897, largely
because artists were tired of the segregation between the different forms
of cultural expression. They followed the words of a member, Ludwig Hevesi:
"To the Age Its Art, to the Art Its Freedom", which also became their motto.
There was talk of a new art that was based on Impressionism, Jugend style,
Art Nouveau and Expressionism. The Secession thus marked a beginning of 
the Avant-Garde that was alive after Klimt, and up to contemporary Austrian
artists like Elke Krystufek. 

There was room for a great deal in the melting pot of expressions for which
Nitsch created the prototype in 1957-58 under the title, Das Orgien Mysterien
Theater - a Gesamtkunstwerk of drama, music, religiosity and excess, with the
focus on ritual. Via all-day ecstatic rituals, Nitsch still has the aim of
releasing people from their inhibitions and leading them back to their
primitive origins. Over the years, the aim of the actions has come 
increasingly close to being an explanation of the process of creation. This,
to say the least, pretentious aim begins to appear a tad feeble if we look
back at the years of kneading animal entrails to music influenced by the
Vienna School.3 Already before Nitsch writes his first synopsis of Das 
Orgien Mysterien Theater, his drawing and painting is predominantly
characterised by religious subject matter, with the crucifixion in 
particular a recurrent theme in several of his earlier works. His interest
in the consistencies of (bodily) fluids is also aroused early on with his
Rinnbilder (1960), which are categorised by the expressive property of red
pigment, blood - a property more important than the work of art itself. 
Early on, he is already dissatisfied with the expressive potential of 
painting, which is why in the manner of Pollock and Klein he develops the
painting process instead of the subject matter. Nitsch presents his painting
actions and inaugurates his collaboration with Otto Mühl (1925-), Günther 
Brus (1938-) and Rudolf Schwarzkogler (1940-1969). In this context, around
1961 Nitsch concentrates on the elements: existence, mysticism and religion,
and writes paraphrases on classical dramas like Oedipus Rex. In 1962 he writes
the manifesto, Die Blutorgel, in which he explains his fascination with the
ecstatic significance of the sacrifice and the link between the cross and
existence. Towards the end of 1962, he carries out the first action, and
inaugurates Vienna Actionism and a Viennese form of Body Art, in which
dressed in an alb4, he invokes his own crucifixion covered in animal's blood.
Starting with 32 Action in 1970, the fusion of drama and music using action
painting as its grammar produces the complete OMT.

In the USA the Happening movement is a long-established concept, ever since
John Cage created Theater Piece No. 1 (1952), "a light/sound movement work 
that is sub-sequently recognized as the first Happening."5 But the American
Happening was a far cry from being as political and subversive as Vienna
Actionism was to become, even if Nitsch and Cage shared a common interest 
in Artaud's and Meister Eckhardt's texts. Nitsch's actions after 1965 are
public and focused on the spilling out of animal intestines, which is carried
out in a ritual fashion. After personal problems and repeated obstacles to
carrying out actions he moves to Munich in 1967. In the following year, 
Nitsch is invited to mount four actions in New York on the initiative of the
film-maker, Jonas Mekas (via the expatriate Austrian, Peter Kubelka). During
this period, Mühl and Brus commen-ced their actions, which differ right from
the start from Nitsch's work. Mühl was concerned with freedom within the art
collective, while Brus focused on a self-investigative track with political
overtones. Mühl's actions take their point of departure in protest against
an increasingly technocratic society, with a Rabelaisian black humour in 
which he reduces humanity to the status of animals in order to remind us of
our origins. In a similar way to Nitsch, Mühl is interested in people's
primitive instincts, but they each come up with their own line: Nitsch
addresses the relationship between survival-death linked with the process of
creation, and Mühl with people's elemental, animalistic inheritance. In 1970,
he founds the action collective, Action Analysis Organisation in Friedrichshof
 - a resort similar to Nitsch's castle, Prinzendorf, both situated in the
country outside of Vienna. In 1990 the collective is dissolved when Mühl is
sent to prison for having sexual intercourse with minors. However different
these four actionists are, they pursue their art with one thing in common, 
and that is that the actions function as a kind of protest or healing as in
the work of Schwarzkogler. Brus and Schwarzkogler work with themselves in an
auto-psychological manner. Both undergo personal crises that are mirrored in
the actions. Even before Brus carries out actions, he subjects himself to
various physical limitations in order to obstruct the painting process. The
elements of self-degradation that Brus uses subsequently take on their most
forceful expression within Vienna Actionism, in the so-called "body analyses."
Already in Aktion 31 1 Totalaktion - Ornament ist ein Verbrechen, 1966, he
quotes Kraus' and Loos' criticism of architecture and art. There are several
signs of historical and political involvement in Brus' actions, as in 32 Aktion
Der Statsbürger Günther Brus betrachtet sein Körper, 1968. He produces a text
as an explanation of the action, part of which states: "Art with a precisely
formulated goal arouses my suspicion (manifestoes). But I can describe pretty
exactly what's on my balls: The Austrian with his Metternich in his pants/
The Jugendstil bosh / The Austrian as religious booby / The Austrian, who feeds
the mentally ill with state prizes and exterminates the sensible perversions."6
Here Brus clearly explains the broad basis of actionism; protest against the
way the reactionary exercise of power and religious state oppress the
population. Prince Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar von Metternich, who Brus calls
a dick, upheld the idea of Emperor Franz from the 18th century of Hapsburg as a
centralised autocracy, the so-called Hausmacht, which entailed the Hapsburgs
seeing themselves as God's deputies on earth.7 But Brus is not satisfied with
writing down his protest against power-poisoned Austria, he also attacks the
nation in 33 Aktion, 1968, in which he "undresses himself, cuts himself in the
chest and thigh with a razorblade and urinates in a glass. He drinks his urine
and smears his body with faeces. Then he lies down and begins to mastubate,
singing the Austrian national anthem."8 Of course, there is a terrific
commotion, and Brus and Oswald Wiener (a member of Die Wiener Gruppe) get six
months in prison for bringing disgrace on the national symbol. In 43 Aktion
Zerreißprobe (Breaking test), 1970, which is his last, he comes perilously
close to his own self-destructive energies. He nevertheless continues to work
as an artist with painting and drawing. Later on, Schwarzkogler gets going on
his own actions, partly contingent on the demands of his failing health and
high standards of aesthetic perfectionism, which prevent their being realised.
His role models are the classic painters of the Secession, but also Arnulf
Rainer, and later Yves Klein and Piero Manzoni. As with Brus, for
Schwarzkogler, art has a healing purpose, in which Aristotle's theory of
catharsis forms the basis for his aesthetic efforts, in what he calls "Art as
Purgatory of the Senses." His actions, especially from the third and onwards,
contain an equally large measure of Wagner's idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, which
he develops using staged photography. Purgation and healing ideas are always
present in his expression, which in comparison with the other actionists is
highly taciturn and subtle, with the exception of Aktion 5a, 1965. He is
pronouncedly intellectual and reads masses of literature, philosophy and
eastern mysticism and religion. After carrying out six actions in barely two
years, he continues with sketches for film projects, actions and installations
(unrealised), along with painting and drawing. Towards the end of 1968, his
mental health steadily deteriorates, and he finds it difficult to communicate.
Nevertheless, he writes a poem dated 1969, in which he sums up his life, and
which hints that he is about to fall to his death, as actually happens on June
20, 1969, when he falls from the window of his flat in Vienna and dies from his
injuries. During the second half of the 1960s, Valie Export (1940-), entirely
on her own, enacts a parallel form of action art that she calls Feminist
Actionism. This is primarily concerned with the viewing process, and its
primary goal is to gain an understanding of the male gaze. She performs more 
or less naked in these actions, which are presented in situations intended to
distract attention from the voyeuristic qualities of masculine objectification
of the female body. Export has since developed the action form into works with
film, photography, video and computers. Even now that Nitsch has some hundred
actions behind him, he is still looking for the ultimate primal state. "There
is a slime threshold that one has to cross", Nitsch says, meaning that
contemporary society has suppressed the mental state generated by the hunting
and survival instinct. He wants the viewer of an exhibition to be affected to
the maximum, i.e. that the art will be as expressive as possible, and installed
with as little room as possible. This also applies to a great extent to the
actions, whose emotional density is supposed to entirely take over the space in
which it is acted out. Nitsch wants to overpower viewers with art so that they
are forced to stop and awaken out of their everyday lives. He is still
directing actions that last several days and nights taking place at Prinzendorf
in an attempt to reach the climax that he has striven to achieve since the
1960s, this despite the fact that he is aware that a complete realisation of
OMT as the tragedy it is impossible, that OMT has an inevitable utopian
factor.9
 
The Empire, Catholicism and the the hunting tradition run like a connecting
thread through the Astrian cultural landscape. However one twists and turns it
the aim of the actionists fits in with the entire cultural flowering that
starts at the end of the 19th century; with grand protests against the
government and which has created architecture, design, film, philosophy, art,
literature, music and psychoanalysis. This is nothing but a cultural uprising,
and it is still going on. 




Notes:

1 Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) used the term, ”mysteries” in preference to
symphonies. He had an idea of creating a mystery play that would be performed
in a hemispherical temple in India. The participants would be plunged into the
ultimate ecstasy that would dissolve the physical plane of consciousness and
spark off a world revolution.

2 Vergo, Peter: ”The Origins of Expressionism and the notion of the
Gesamtkunstwerk” in Behr, Shulamith, Fanning, David and Jarman, Douglas (eds.):
Expressionism Reassessed (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York,
1993), p. 13. 

3 Arnold Schönberg (who also painted) established a new school of classical
music with the Gesamtkunstwerk , The Lucky Hand , 1908, which consisted of
music, speech, stage construction and lightning. 

4 Gustav Klimt also painted in a ritual costume that had religious
associations. 

5 Brentano, Robyn and Georgia, Olivia: Outside the Frame: Performance and the
Object: A Survey of Performance Art in the USA since 1950 (Cleveland Center for
Contemporary Art, 1994), p. 151. 

6 Klocker, Hubert (ed.): Viennese Actionism 1960-1971 Band 2/Volume 2 (Ritter
Verlag, Klagenfurt, 1989), p. 138.

7 Janik, Allan and Toulmin, Stephen: Wittgensteins Wien (Bokförlaget Nya Doxa
AB, Karlshamn, [1973] 1986), p. 39.

8 Ibid. Footnote 6, p. 139. 

9 Hegyi, Lóránd: Hermann Nitsch - an attempt at the total work of art – the
orgien-mysterien-theater in the context of post-war art in Austria”, in Hermann
Nitsch: Das Orgien Mysterien Theater (exhibition catalogue, Museum Moderner
Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, 1997), p. 15.