Hermann Nitsch. The Gesamtkunstwerk of the Orgien Mysterien Theater (English)

The definitive monograph on the life’s work of Hermann Nitsch.

This book is the most comprehensive publication on Hermann Nitsch (1938–2022) and represents the authoritative reference work on his epochal oeuvre. It illuminates the full spectrum of his Orgien Mysterien Theater (Orgies Mysteries Theatre), which Nitsch conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) appealing to all five senses, wherein life itself becomes an aesthetically heightened celebration.

The publication is structured to provide a scholarly exploration of every facet of the Dionysian, excessive, and cathartic principles in Nitsch’s work:

• Actions: The focus lies on the actual event and the ecstasy of abreaction—a process that broke through the boundaries of the traditional canvas and escalated into direct reality.

• Painting: Ranging from early Action Painting, where paint is understood as a tangible substance hurled and smeared onto the canvas through the artist's gesture. Here, color is celebrated as "being, movement, light" and as "glorious excess."

• Music: The music of the O. M. Theater utilizes the natural sounds of the event as an acoustic-musical medium of transmission. It generates a maximum level of intense noise, grazing the threshold of pain, primarily through percussion and noise instruments of all kinds.

• Architecture and Relics: The volume documents Nitsch's architectural visions, manifested in drawings as plans for the physical realization of the theater, as well as the relics—the preserved tools and witnesses of the actions—which keep the presence of the event alive.

NITSCH. Das Gesamtkunstwerk is indispensable for collectors, museums, and scholars seeking a deep understanding of Hermann Nitsch’s influence on Viennese Actionism (Wiener Aktionismus) and the art history of the 20th and 21st centuries. It offers a unique synthesis of texts by the artist himself, scholarly analyses, and comprehensive visual documentation.

Hardcover, 967 pages

Editor: Michael Karrer

Publisher: Buchhandlung Walther König

Year: 2015

Language: English