Venice, a major exhibition on Hermann Nitsch on the Giudecca
From April 19 to July 20, the Oficine 800 space in Giudecca (Venice) hosts “20th Painting Action”, a large exhibition that presents the works of Hermann Nitsch’s twentieth pictorial action for the first time in Italy.
A great exhibition of Hermann Nitsch (Vienna, 1938), the father of Viennese Actionism, is scheduled to Venice at the space Workshops 800 at Fondamenta San Biagio, on the Giudecca island. The event, entitled 20th pictorial action is held from April 19 to July 20 and to announce it is Zuecca projects, which is responsible for organizing the exhibition, in collaboration with the private collection of Helmut Essl and with the Galerie Kandlhofer. The 20th pictorial actionthe only pictorial action of the artist whose works are entirely preserved through the same collection and, the exhibition, it will be possible to see the works for the first time in Italy since their creation.
“At each age, its art. To art, his freedom ”: this is the motto of the art critic Ludovico Hevesi which can be read above the portal of the Wiener Secession in Vienna. Few artists have tested the boundaries of freedom as consistently as Hermann Nitsch (and have been attacked for that reason, including criminal charges, protests and threats). Despite all resistance, Nitsch clung to hers idea of fusion of all arts and stands today as one of the main figures in the history of twentieth century art. With his Orgien Mysterien TheaterNitsch created a total work of art for all the senses, has broadened the traditional parameters of painting and theater; it has brought the cult, which is at the beginning of the evolution of art, back into contemporary art; has fused art with life. Nitsch, how to come, was the pioneer of theViennese shareholding: November 18, 1960, removed fromInformal arthe carried out his first action, during which the painting no longer depicted anything that was outside the painting itself but represented pure color, the immediate gesture and its precise occurrence over time.
In 1957 Nitsch began to develop the idea of his Orgien Mysterien Theater. Influenced by the philosophy of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, by the Greek and by the concept of “total work of art” developed by Richard Wagner, Nitsch conceives a gigantic all-encompassing theatrical act, a synaesthetic experience lasting several days. Among the themes he pours intoOrgien Mysterien Theater there is the story of Oedipus, the saga of the Atrides, the Christian tale of the Passion, the legend of the Grail and that of the Nibelungs, superimposing religion and myth, in a great cultural collage. The fundamental purpose of the vast mass of ideas that make up his Orgien Mysterien Theater it is the intensification of the experience of life and the increased joy of existence that derives from it. Through the OM Theater, art takes on the same functions performed by religions. Starting from 1963 he abandoned painting for twenty years, dedicating himself exclusively to his actions and working on the realization of his last him 6-Tages – Spiel (Theater of the six days). In the early 1980s, Nitsch returns toaction painting: a decision to be interpreted not only as functional to his work, but also as a critical response to the painting of Neuen Wilden (New Savages), which at the time dominated the art market. The 20. malaktion he made at the Wiener Secession in 1987 stands out for its scope, quality and the subjective meaning that Nitsch attributes to it. With its sacral quality, the central hall of the Secession Building welcomes Nitsch, contributing to what he aspired to from the beginning: the “sacralization of all art”.
For Nitsch, “the practice of art corresponds to a ritual”. The “Temple of Art” created by Josef Maria Olbrich in 1898 it was transformed into a stage for a religious pictorial action. It also becomes the fulfillment of a long-cherished desire: there is in fact a sketch by Nitsch dedicated to an action in the Wiener Secession dated 1964. The works of the twentieth pictorial action reveal in an impressive way their genesis which had between “outbursts of unleashed fury and delicate gestures “. We are immersed in a shareholder pictorial environment, in which the fundamental constants of Nitsch’s work visually take form purity, revealing those characters of momentary and eternal, dynamism and contemplative calm, real and symbolic, and profanation, excessive demands and reflection. Through a large-format work (5×20 meters) made with the pouring technique (pouring) and placed on the front wall, and numerous smaller splatter paintings, we are faced with a panorama that fills the space. No other work manages to represent in such a condensed way the very essence of Nitsch’s painting, understood as an integral part of his synaesthetic “Theater of Orgies and Mysteries”. Nitsch said: “I wanted to show how dripping, splashing, smudging and splashing of red liquid can evoke intense arousal in the viewer, leading him to experience very strong sensations.”
As part of his Orgien Mysterien Theater, the pictorial action aims to trigger an accentuated experience of sensorial reality in the audience, ideally leading them to a reflection on their own existence. This new presentation of the 20th malaktion in the historical space of the Oficine 800 on the Giudecca island, not only allows a recapitulation of his most important works, but also makes us retrace and relive the artistic ideas of Nitsch, in tension between the ecstatic and the contemplative.
Hermann Nitsch was born on August 29, 1938 in Vienna. Co-founder of Viennese Actionism, together with Allan Kaprow, Joseph Beuys and Günter Brus, he is one of the international pioneers of Performance Art. A cornerstone of Actionism, painter, graphic designer, set designer, writer and composer, he is one of the few universal contemporary artists. L’Orgien Mysterien Theater (Teatro delle Orge e dei Misteri), conceived and developed by him, is the realization of his idea of a total work of art, which involves all five senses. In 1971 he bought Prinzendorf Castle in Lower Austria for his own Orgien Mysterien Theater, where in 1998, after decades of preparation, he made his last six-day action. In 2007 a museum was dedicated to him in Mistelbach, Austria, where his work is presented in all its facets. In 2008 Giuseppe Morra, a longtime friend of the artist and patron of his work, created the Hermann Nitsch Museum in Naples, dedicated exclusively to his works. Nitsch has been exhibited several times at documenta and during the Venice Biennale. He has made more than 150 actions around the world and retrospectives have been dedicated to him at the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, the Lenbachhaus in Munich, the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin and the Albertina in Vienna. Nitsch’s works can be found in the most important collections and museums in the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Guggenheim Collection, New York; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Tate, London; the Center Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Castle of Rivoli; the GAM, Turin; the Mart, Rovereto; the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf; the Ludwig Museum, Cologne; the Nationalgalerie of Berlin; the Lenbachhaus, Munich; the Staatsgemäldesammlung Munich; the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; the Kunsthalle in Hamburg; the Kunstmuseum Bern; Kunstmuseum Winterthur; Albertina, Vienna; mumok, Vienna; Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna; Leopold Museum, Vienna.
For all information it is possible visit the Zuecca Progetti website.
Image: Hermann Nitsch, Schüttbild (action painting), 20th action painting, Vienna Secession (1987; oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm). Photo by Liesl Biber. Foundation Courtesy of Nitsch. © Atelier Hermann Nitsch.
Information on the exhibition
Venice, a major exhibition on Hermann Nitsch on the Giudecca |
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