The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt
The Vienna Action Group, known for their grotesque, iconoclastic, ritualistic, and sexual works, formed one of the most provocative art movements of the 1960s. This short-lived group—with participants including Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler— stirred shock and moral outrage as it produced a series of performance-based works that transformed the human body through violent and transgressive actions, often involving blood, semen, meat, and excreta. Defying the powers of the state and rejecting traditional commodifiable art practices, they enacted their art on the body, creating performances that live on in works of residue, photography, and film. 

The films of the Vienna Action Group—made both by members of the group and by collaborators such as Kurt Kren—form the essential records of their performances. The medium of film is intimately tied to their experiments in performance and material, and this book provides an essential focus on those films that reveal the obsessions, ambitions, and outrages of the Action Group. Their work constitutes a significant moment in twentieth-century art and continues to influence contemporary art today, and The Art of Destruction offers a comprehensive introduction to their radical works in film and performance. This new edition includes new photographs throughout along with updates on the lives and recent events of the Vienna Action Group. With copious illustrations, annotations, and an extensive filmography, this book will be a resource for students and scholars of film, art, and performance, and for those invested in questioning social and corporate cultures.
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The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt
The Vienna Action Group, known for their grotesque, iconoclastic, ritualistic, and sexual works, formed one of the most provocative art movements of the 1960s. This short-lived group—with participants including Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler— stirred shock and moral outrage as it produced a series of performance-based works that transformed the human body through violent and transgressive actions, often involving blood, semen, meat, and excreta. Defying the powers of the state and rejecting traditional commodifiable art practices, they enacted their art on the body, creating performances that live on in works of residue, photography, and film. 

The films of the Vienna Action Group—made both by members of the group and by collaborators such as Kurt Kren—form the essential records of their performances. The medium of film is intimately tied to their experiments in performance and material, and this book provides an essential focus on those films that reveal the obsessions, ambitions, and outrages of the Action Group. Their work constitutes a significant moment in twentieth-century art and continues to influence contemporary art today, and The Art of Destruction offers a comprehensive introduction to their radical works in film and performance. This new edition includes new photographs throughout along with updates on the lives and recent events of the Vienna Action Group. With copious illustrations, annotations, and an extensive filmography, this book will be a resource for students and scholars of film, art, and performance, and for those invested in questioning social and corporate cultures.
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The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt

The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt

by Stephen Barber
The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt

The Art of Destruction: The Vienna Action Group In Film, Performance & Revolt

by Stephen Barber

Overview

The Vienna Action Group, known for their grotesque, iconoclastic, ritualistic, and sexual works, formed one of the most provocative art movements of the 1960s. This short-lived group—with participants including Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler— stirred shock and moral outrage as it produced a series of performance-based works that transformed the human body through violent and transgressive actions, often involving blood, semen, meat, and excreta. Defying the powers of the state and rejecting traditional commodifiable art practices, they enacted their art on the body, creating performances that live on in works of residue, photography, and film. 

The films of the Vienna Action Group—made both by members of the group and by collaborators such as Kurt Kren—form the essential records of their performances. The medium of film is intimately tied to their experiments in performance and material, and this book provides an essential focus on those films that reveal the obsessions, ambitions, and outrages of the Action Group. Their work constitutes a significant moment in twentieth-century art and continues to influence contemporary art today, and The Art of Destruction offers a comprehensive introduction to their radical works in film and performance. This new edition includes new photographs throughout along with updates on the lives and recent events of the Vienna Action Group. With copious illustrations, annotations, and an extensive filmography, this book will be a resource for students and scholars of film, art, and performance, and for those invested in questioning social and corporate cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780983248019
Publisher: Solar Books
Publication date: 09/12/2020
Edition description: New edition
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Stephen Barber is professor at the Kingston School of Art, Kingston University, London, and a fellow of the Free University Berlin. His recent books include Berlin Bodies: Anatomizing the Streets of the City, White Noise Ballrooms, and Film’s Ghosts: Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh and the Transmutation of 1960s Japan.
 

Table of Contents

1. The Origins of the Vienna Action Group 5 2. Otto Muehl 13 3. Günter Brus 23 4. Hermann Nitsch 31 5. Rudolf Schwarzkogler 39 6. Art Crimes and Exile 45 7. The Films of the Vienna Action Group 51 8. Kurt Kren 59 9. Ernst Schmidt Jr 67 10. Performance/Film 73 11. 6/64 Mama und Papa 79 12. Wiener Spaziergang 87 13. Bodybuilding 93 14. Kunst und Revolution 99 15. Zerreissprobe 105 16. Blood Orgies and Art-Pornography 111 17. Sex and the Art of Destruction 119 18. The Detritus of the Vienna Action Group and Contemporary Art 125 An Essential Filmography 131 An Essential Bibliography 143
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