I blame my friend Mark for introducing this movement to me. I showed him the video of 2 girls 1 cup which I found hilarious so he showed me this clip on youtube.

Warning: So not suitable for weak stomachs, sissy boys, and the likes

I don’t get freaked out easily but the clip disturbed me. So I did some research about Viennese Actionism and this is what wikipedia says (If you can’t trust Wikipedia, what can you trust?):

The term Viennese Actionism describes a short and violent movement in 20th century art that can be regarded as part of the many independent efforts of the 1960s to develop “action art” (Fluxus, Happening, Performance, Body Art, etc.). Its main participants were Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. As “actionists”, they were active between 1960 and 1971. Most have continued their artistic work independently from the early 1970s onwards.

The work of the Viennese Actionists is probably best remembered for the wilful transgressiveness of its naked bodies, destructiveness and violence. Often, brief jail terms were served by participants for violations of decency laws, and their works were targets of moral outrage. In June 1968 Günter Brus began serving a six-month prison sentence for the crime of “degrading symbols of the state”, and later fled Austria to avoid a second arrest. Otto Mühl served a one month prison term after his participation in a public event, “Art and Revolution” in 1968. After his “Piss Action” before a Munich audience, Mühl became a fugitive from the West German police. Hermann Nitsch served a two week prison term in 1965 after his participation with Rudolph Schwarzkogler in the Festival of Psycho-Physical Naturalism. The “Destruction in Art Symposium”, held in London in 1966, marked the first encounter between members of Fluxus and Actionists. It was a landmark of international recognition for the work of Brus, Mühl and Nitsch.

So punk rock, eh? Basically, it involves a lot of nudity, violence, sex, bodily fluid, and the ability to offend as much as possible. I really shouldn’t be eating while writing this. Anyway, there aren’t much actionism clips on youtube but here’s another one.

If you can still take in some more of this sick shit, I recommend the following sites: The Vienna Actionists and UBUWEB. Damn freaky Viennese!

Tags: art, viennese actionism