Otto Mühl & Hermann Nitsch
Video Actions by Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch in Trieste, 1978. Curated by Maria Campitelli and Massimo Premuda. Video by Paola Pisani. Courtesy Gruppo 78 / DoubleRoom arti visive.
Otto Mühl's action at the Istituto dell'Arte, Trieste (1978). Image from the video, courtesy Gruppo78.
Otto Mühl (1925-2013) was an Austrian artist and main participant of the Viennese Actionism. In his Aktionen, the body turned object and subject of art in place of the canvas. In 1972, Mühl founded the Aktionsanalytische Organisation (AAO), better known as the Friedrichshof Commune, a far-left commune promoting a transition from art to life. Hermann Nitsch (born 1938 in Vienna, Austria) is an artist closely related to the Viennese Actionism. His existential and ritualistic actions work on controlled violence and organic mutilation. Nitsch conceived the Orgien Mysterien Theater in the 1950s, staging nearly 100 performances between 1962 and 1998.
At the VENICE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART WEEK 2016, Gruppo 78 | DoubleRoom arti visive show the historic performance documentation Actions by Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch in Trieste, 1978, curated by Maria Campitelli and Massimo Premuda. In 1978, ArteQuattro and Maria Campitelli invited the Austrian artist Otto Mühl together with Hermann Nitsch to present a series of actions in the city of Trieste. Otto Mühl presented his actions to a very young audience at the Istituto d'Arte - an art school, not an academy. The unconventional auto-presentations involved the students in a playful dynamics.