What is Vienna Actionism?

Blows were dealt. An artist exposed and cut himself, others urinated in glasses, daubed themselves with dirt, and masturbated over the Austrian flag. Meanwhile, music was playing, including the national anthem; someone read pornographic writings. Vienna in the late 1960s: what had started in the artists’ homes and studios was now brough out on the grand stage, and taboos were broken in full view of the public. The Vienna Actionism Museum’ s first publication is dedicated to the idea of Vienna Actionism in the dynamic context of abstract realism, Fluxus, and the international Happening scene. The book relates the story of one of art history’ s most influential art movements, spearheaded by the Actionists Gü nter Brus and Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler.

Lisa Moravec is writer, curator, critic, editor, lecturer and body practitioner. Julia Moebus-Puck is an art historian with a focus on performance art and Viennese Actionism. She has been director of the new Vienna Actionism Museum in Vienna since May 2023, which will open in 2024. Eva Badura-Triska is an art historian and worked as a curator at the Museum of Modern Art Vienna until 2019. She is also Secretary General of the “ Archiv Franz West” Vienna and Chief Curator at the Vienna Actionism Museum WAM.