Hermann Nitsch

"Relics, Installations, Works on Paper and Photographs"

In its new Hermann Nitsch exhibition, Galerie Sommer looks at the artist’s Orgien Mysterien Theater from the perspective of what remains of his impressive and ephemeral actions. The focus is therefore not on the prints or the existential action paintings, but on the preparatory notes and scores, the action photographs and relics that the artist later arranged into ensembles and installations. Black-and-white photographs as snapshots of dramatic events, body prints on stretchers, blood splashes on chasubles, diverse traces of an abreaction game convey an impression of the radical nature of Nitsch’s art and at the same time raise the question of the translation of that existential, almost cathartic experience that could only be experienced as a participant.

The exhibition at Galerie Sommer uses numerous artefacts to provide an insight into the complex cosmos of Nitsch’s gigantic drama of existence. Works from almost six decades show his constant work on the theory of O.M. Theater and his continuous struggle for the most sensually intense expression.

exhibition opening: Saturday, 20. April, 2024, 4 p.m.
Roman Grabner, Universalmuseum Joanneum, will speak at the opening.

exhibition period: 20.04. – 22.06.2024