Hermann Nitsch

The Architecture of the Orgies Mysteries Theater

Since 1958, Hermann Nitsch has been working on the idea of the Orgies Mysteries Theater, which he developed with extraordinary consistency over six decades. With psychoanalytical dramaturgy and the staging of excessive actions – derived from cult and ritual acts, Greek tragedy or Richard Wagner’s music dramas, for example – he put performers in ecstatic states of emergency, which ultimately led to extensive catharsis.

What was originally rooted in an explosion of moments developed over the decades into a precisely defined, dramatically mature formalisation process based on scores and encompassing all sensory perceptions, which lasted many hours, days, even weeks.

In its uniqueness, the Orgies Mysteries Theater was designed to become the greatest and most important festival of mankind, to celebrate the here and now and to allow people to find themselves. Condensed into a mystical experience, immersed in all possible pleasures, it was intended to perceive love as the highest state of existence, as a state of being.

– OPENING EVENT –
Friday, 27.09.2024 | 19:00
Introductory words by Roman Grabner (Neue Galerie Graz)