Hermann Nitsch

Aktionsfotografie 1963 - 1984

The upcoming exhibition at WestLicht focuses for the first time on the photographic work of Hermann Nitsch. The documentation of his wildly controversial actions as well as the independent works from the heyday of Viennese Actionism offer extraordinary insights into the thinking and working methods of the artist, who died last year.

With the presentation of exclusively photographic works, Vienna’s Fotomuseum WestLicht is for the first time focusing on an aspect of the extensive oeuvre of the Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch, who died last year.

According to the curatorial duo Julia Moebus-Puck and Fabian Knierim, photography and film were just as important to the Orgien Mysterien Theater as painting, drawing, prints and music. “Nitsch wanted to use photography to make the immediate sensual experience that was at the forefront of his actions tangible for posterity as well. In our day and age, when we are increasingly distancing ourselves from each other and everyday photography often only produces beautiful illusory worlds, an examination of this part of his work is more topical than ever.”