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Hermann Nitsch

Hermann Nitsch

Acting

Biography

Hermann Nitsch was an Austrian avant-garde artist, known for his controversial performances and paintings. He was a founding member of the Viennese Actionism movement, which sought to challenge traditional art forms through provocative actions. Nitsch's Orgies Mysteries Theatre involved ritualistic performances that often included the use of animal blood and carcasses, aiming to evoke a primal response from the audience. His work has been both celebrated and criticized for its bold exploration of human instincts and societal taboos.

Known For

Trieste

Based on slides shot in 1978 of the Austrian aktion artist Hermann Nitsch. Put away for 24 years, the color transparencies are spread out on a light table. The images are examined with a macro lens and captured with digital video. Not so much a reconstruction, or documentary of an event but a process of re-imagining. A hundred frames record a 12-hour, noon to midnight performance in an Roman amphitheatre in the center of Trieste in Northern Italy. Hermann Nitsch has been creating his unique rituals since the early 1970’s. The blood flows over naked bodies strapped on crosses, carried blindfolded, senses are tweaked with percussion sounds and blaring brass instruments. Religious iconography, operatic orchestrations of cast, crew, friends, and the public who eat, dance, drink.

Trieste

2002Movie
The Action Art of Hermann Nitsch from Past to Present
10.0

A retrospective on Hermann Nitsch, Actionist and painter, composer and stage designer. He is one of the most renowned Austrian artists of today and nevertheless still divides the art world as before. Nitsch belongs beside Günter Brus, Otto Mühl and Rudolf Schwawrzkogler to the most important main actors of Vienese Actionism. At the beginning of the sixties he carried out his first 'Actions' in Vienna, which involved several trials and three terms of imprisonment. His main work, the "Orgy Mystery Theatre", inspired by Greek mythology, as well as by Antonin Artaud or Sigmund Freud, has been introducing, building up and carrying on all art forms since this time. The documentary includes a 4-hour overview of his Actions from 1962-2003, as well as an interview from 2005.

The Action Art of Hermann Nitsch from Past to Present

2006Movie