Four actions at the Vienna Actionism Museum

With its second exhibition, the WAM is now going into greater depth. The opening exhibition WHAT IS VIENNA ACTIONISM? first offered an overview of the multi-layered developments of this movement in the 1960s, whereby the individual actions were only presented with exemplary photos. Now, under the title FOUR ACTIONS, an exhibition series is being launched that presents selected actions with all the available historical material. In this way, it will be possible for the first time to understand the actions in all their detail. The aim of the exhibition is to open up new perspectives on the reception of Vienna Actionism through the precise examination of individual actions.

On display are all available photographs of four actions from the first half of the 1960s: Günter Brus, Silver (Silber), Otto Muehl, Mama and Papa, Hermann Nitsch, 3rd Action (Fest des psychophysischen Naturalismus / Celebration of psychophysical naturalism), Rudolf Schwarzkogler, 4th Action. The process and the individual scenes are also described verbally in order to make their complexity recognizable.

The role of photography is also examined more closely by showing photographs by various photographers and demonstrating, among other things, that the artists selected excerpts from the raw material of the images. The comparison of uncut and cut-out motifs and the use of the latter by the artists – for example in collages, but also as motifs on invitation cards – will provide an insight into their visual thinking.

The moving images created during the actions will in turn show that the filmmakers – unlike the photographers – Brus, Muehl, Nitsch and Schwarzkogler did not fulfill the wish for a documentary reproduction of their actions.

Last but not least, the respective preparations, sketches, scores and written considerations as well as the artists’ subsequent reflections and, in some cases, publications will be on display, as will the published press articles.