Blood, violence and torture: exploring the Viennese Actionism movement
When we talk about body horror and the act of transforming the human body into a site for transgressive political and philosophical statements, our minds inevitably wander to Frankenstein and the immense legacy it has left behind. Both within horror as well as sci-fi, depictions of the human body have gradually changed to mirror the absurdities of the world we have inherited.
David Cronenberg is usually cited as one of the primary pioneers of the genre and its translation to the cinematic medium, but he has several predecessors who have laid the groundwork in that domain. Among them, one of the most interesting bodies of work was produced by the short-lived but artistically bold movement often labelled as Viennese Actionism.
A reaction to the oppressive social and political conditions in post-war Austria, it emerged during the 1960s as experimental artists used their work to shock the population and shake them awake. Incorporating violence into their performance art and morphing the human body into unrecognisable shapes and forms, the movement sought to demolish the safe boundaries between increasingly commodified art and the dangerously complacent environments it facilitates.
While notable figures such as Günter Brus and Otto Mühl are often the first names that are associated with Viennese Actionism, the artistic corpus consisted of individual projects that shared similar politico-philosophical objectives. Dissatisfied with the limitations of the painting medium, they participated in extreme acts of self-mutilation and other ritualised forms of violence to make a statement about the fascist frameworks of contemporary Austrian society.
Mühl wrote a manifesto where he explored the theoretical background of the movement, stating why it was important to move beyond painting. He observed: “Material action is painting that has spread beyond the picture surface. The human body, a laid table or a room becomes the picture surface. Time is added to the dimension of the body and space.”
Due to these subversive artistic spectacles, it’s no wonder that the Actionists were routinely targeted by the state. Brus was thrown into prison after he covered himself in his own shit and sang the national anthem, while Hermann Nitsch was arrested for masturbating publicly during a performance. It became increasingly clear that the state had little to no tolerance for the Actionists, especially when their political attacks were so explicit.
During a conversation with The New York Times, Brus noted that the country existed in the shadow of its Nazi past at that time. He said: “Austria was not a police state, but close enough.” That’s exactly where the work of the Actionists fit in, trying to destroy the bourgeois institutions that had strengthened after the war. Brus added: “The aim was to break taboos. My art doesn’t just stink in the physical space but smells in the souls of the people.”
The Actionists weren’t a united group but a collection of diverse artistic expressions constructed by people who were deeply disturbed by the condition of the society they saw around them. In addition to their enormous impact on performance art and painting, Viennese Actionism also played a major role in shaping Austrian experimental cinema of the time.
Serving as vital precursors to the kind of body horror we are familiar with, the works of Kurt Kren not only documented the exigent protests of the Actionists but also challenged the conventional structures of filmmaking. One of the finest examples of this is Selbstverstümmelung (Self-Mutilation), the 1965 film depicting Brus performing his violent rituals but viewed through a fascinating cinematic lens.
Featuring plaster, razors, hair, scissors and other material objects with which the Actionists often tried to create their art, it perfectly encapsulates the raging soul of the movement. Watch the film below.
