In-action: Viennese Actionism and the Passivities of Performance Art

A novel approach to performance art and its history that revisits Viennese Actionism, one of the most controversial episodes of the 1960s.

Viennese Actionism represents a notorious case within art history, often cited but little studied, especially in the United States. By carefully looking at the unsettling performances that define this movement, Caroline Lillian Schopp offers a vital corrective to the narrative. Schopp observes that contrary to the reception of their graphic violence, ma...