Breaking Taboos at the Wiener Aktionismus Museum
A man drinking his own urine, animal blood on canvas, and women strangled by paint … anything is possible at the newly opened Wiener Aktionismus Museum (WAM; Vienna Actionism Museum). In a post-war Vienna of the 1960s, Viennese actionists shocked the public by confronting them with actions (performances) depicting bodily taboos, critique on religion, and continuously testing the grounds of what may fall into the broad category of art. But who are the Viennese actionists, and why did they want to provoke the public? This question is further explained in the museum’s first exhibition, “What is Vienna Actionism?” In seven sections, the exhibition gives a broad, chronological overview of the movement according to the main actionists: Gunter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler.
When I visited the museum for the first time, I was shocked by the range of absurdity in all art works. What do you mean, four guys stripped themselves naked, harmed themselves and then masturbated in front of students at my very own university campus? Would you consider this a prank, or is this truly art? One central theme of Vienna Actionism is destruction. Actionists eliminate the taboo around the body and the psyche by destroying the self. The limit of destruction is tested by using the body as a canvas – artists paint and harm their human subjects with disturbing objects (think of knives, spikes). While such performances may still be disturbing to look at today, these artists risked their lives and freedom for depicting such provocative topics in the 1960s.
Today at ArtNaVee, we meet Julia Möbus-Puck to discuss the stigma portrayed by Viennese actionists and reflect on how whether these taboos remain the same today.
Julia Möbus-Puck, 2024. Courtesy of Wiener Aktionismus Museum.
My name is Julia Möbus-Puck, I am the artistic director of the Vienna Actionism Museum. In 2015, I did research on Vienna Actionism and wrote my master’s thesis about how Hermann Nitsch uses blood as an artistic material in his ‘Orgies Mysteries Theatre’ work. During this process, Nitsch and I became friends. Besides this friendship, we also worked together. I curated three exhibitions with his work at various sites in Germany, and wrote many articles and publications about his work, including the Albertina Vienna Actionism catalogue of 2019. Also, I took part in his actions and was an actor for some time. Therefore, I know his work very well, from an academic as well as from an emotional perspective. After I finished my master’s thesis, I started with my PhD. I do research on how to exhibit performance arts, according to the example of Vienna Actionism. After Nitsch’s death, I became more involved with how to deal with the rest of his work, including his probation, and this is how we started discussing founding this museum. This is also the reason why I moved to Vienna.
Seems like this museum is like a passion project to you – you have a very personal relationship with this art movement! Looking at the first exhibition of the WAM, is there something that you would personally add to this and your vision of Vienna Actionism?
First of all, the current exhibition is a clear basis. Vienna Actionism is a very complex theme, it has many topics and diverse media, including films and photography. We decided to open this museum with an exhibition that gives a broad overview of the movement, so that visitors can dive deeper with every exhibition moving forward. Personally, I would like to add more works of other international artists from the 1960-70s, especially from female artists. But for now, I think that this exhibition is the perfect opening show!
Wiener Aktionismus Museum, 2024. Taken by Philipp Schulz Boxquadrat. Courtesy of Wiener Aktionismus Museum.
Vienna Actionism is about finding beauty within the ugliness and testing the limit of what may be considered art. Looking back at the time, was there a limit that may still have stopped them?
Vienna Actionism is pretty limitless, I would say. However, the artists all had their own, individual limits. In the 60s and early 70s, they aimed to shock society and to confront them with the taboos of human bodies. When honestly, this work simply showed the functions of a human body. By the mid-70s, the artists felt like they had to change their individual directions to develop their work further.
An example of a limit would be Günter Brus’ ‘Zerreißprobe’ (‘Stress Test’) in 1970, the main film installation of our opening exhibition. In his Stress Test, Brus aims to destroy his body as much as possible, by cutting his head and hurting himself in front of an audience. Brus told us that he reached his personal limit with this action; there was nothing left to be explored. The next step would be suicide, and Brus did not want to die.
Hermann Nitsch continuously worked on his ‘Orgies Mysteries Theatre’; it was a big project that started in the 50s. All of his work was a step forward in the direction of this concept. So, it was logical for him to move on after some time.
In 1973, Otto Muehl decided to turn his artistic life into a commune, in which he did not want to work with the classic instruments of art, such as paint on canvas. He wanted to use the human as an art form. The commune was a project of human art, in which he wanted to transform people into art works. In such context, the whole life is art.
Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Peter Weibel, Oswald Wiener, and others. Kunst und Revolution (Art and Revolution), 7th of June, 1968. Taken by Manuel Carreon Lopez. Courtesy of Wiener Aktionismus Museum.
This means that there is not only one concept of art in Vienna Actionism, but that it’s very diverse.
Yes! I think it’s very interesting to look at the provocations and to question our limits today. Is it still shocking to see Vienna Actionism today? Or is it not shocking any longer, how can we define this? The whole reception of this work is a development. In the 1960s, Nitsch was arrested for promoting blaspheme ideologies (an ideology that insults God or anything holy). He also got into trouble with animal protection services because he uses dead animals and their blood in his work. Today, blaspheme ideology is not a conflict anymore. But who knows? Maybe it could be problematised again in ten years.
If you look at our society today, I think that this art is still very provocative. Do you think Actionism has changed any taboos?
This is what my research is about; I don’t know yet! If we look at how museums and institutions exhibit Vienna Actionism, it’s always a political question. If the far-right parties rule Austria, the movement is usually not exhibited, because these parties have been fighting against it since the beginning. I often ask myself whether they impacted the 1980s. The 80s were freer; people were a bit more emancipated. Today, I think we have moved backwards, we have become more prude.
How so? What could be changed today?
Today, I feel like there is a problem with the naked female body in pictures and paintings. People miss historical contexts when they look at images, you have to look at things within their contexts. The Vienna actionists of the 1960s did not want to confirm the limits of the female body, they wanted to portray it to advocate for change. Today, it’s a bit sad to discuss art and the female body. When people see a naked female body, they say, “You cannot do that, this limits women to their bodies!” But I see it as a sign of power. For example, Helmut Newton photographed many naked women. Today, people think it’s crazy and say that Newton did not recognise the true value of women. I believe that he was showing how powerful women can be with their naked body and all the things they have! A lot has changed in the last 10 to 15 years. However, it’s also very good to have such discussions. We should discuss the differences between men and women, especially with regard to the work floor and power dynamics. But often, these discussions turn into black-and-white-thinking of what may be good and what is bad. It’s difficult to define such concepts; there are many aspects and complexities to take into account. I believe that beauty lays in-between the complexity.
Diverse work by Otto Muehl, exhibited in the “What is Vienna Actionism?” collection. Taken by Philipp Schulz Boxquadrat. Courtesy of Wiener Aktionismus Museum.
What does art mean to you, personally?
Art is a question; good artwork raises a lot of questions. Of course, the aesthetic is important: sometimes it’s beautiful, sometimes it’s ugly. There are points where I love the ugliness, which then makes a work beautiful. Either way, art is a question, not an answer.
What is your limit? Find out at the “What is Vienna Actionism?” exhibition in the Wiener Aktionismus Museum, Weihburggasse 26, 1010 Vienna. Opened from Tuesday to Friday, 11:00-18:00.