Vergeblicher Versuch das Fliegen zu Erlernen: Manifeste des Wiener Aktionismus by Kalina Kupczynska (review)

Those of us old enough to remember the 1960s recall a time of extraordinary upheaval and rebellion in society, politics, and the arts. An end-point seemed upon us, a necessity for starting fresh by questioning every prevailing institution, custom, and principle. In all artistic domains, the modern and avant-garde were giving way to shock effects, extreme techniques and expressions, attacks on artistic institutions and practices, and defiance in the face of good taste and socially sanctioned behavior. A salient artistic movement of that explosive decade, so defined by the counterculture, was Wiener Aktionismus (1960–1970), a phenomenon introduced and explained in great detail in a 2012 study by Kalina Kupczynska. As the titles of the book’s four chapters show, its focus is on the manifestos of the four major Viennese actionists, Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. Kupczynska guides readers to a deeper understanding of these manifestos by supplying considerable contextual information on performances or actions and their reception (sometimes involving legal sanctions), cooperation and conflict between the artists, their individual development, the movement’s social and political implications, and the unfolding and demise of the movement.

The actionists are known for violent and vulgar displays, obscenity, and attacks on language and rationality itself. Brus publicly cut himself with a razor, drank his own urine, defecated, and forced himself to vomit. Muehl is known for a performance in which a pig was slaughtered and woman was smeared with bodily fluids to the sound of Christmas carols. Nitsch crucified and dismembered animals and staged mock human sacrifices. Schwarzkogler advocated “Klärung” and “Reinigung.” According to Kupczynska, “Dieses Prinzip erkennt man auch in fotografisch dokumentierten Aktionen Schwarzkoglers, deren Materialvokabular um solche Themen wie Kastration, medizinische Operation und Tod kreist” (222). In retrospect, it seems inevitable that such sensational expressions would in time lose their shock effect and become a part of history, that their nonverbal, visceral power would nevertheless be analyzed rationally in words like any other artistic development, and that, of course, is exactly what has happened.

The title of Kupczynska’s book reflects the youthful exuberance of the movement and its era as well as its insistent striving for extravagant, even impossible goals. Vergeblicher Versuch das Fliegen zu Erlernen: Manifeste des Wiener Aktionismus could suggest that Kupczynskas task of explaining the manifestos is impossible, but he meets the challenges involved, such as rebellion against and eccentric use of language. In a comprehensive study, based on his meticulous dissertation, Kupczynska explicates the actionists’ manifestos, interpreting these texts in light of other pertinent materials, including interviews, notes, diaries, announcements, posters, philosophical ideas, and previous scholarship on the artists.

In one manifesto, “Malerei-Selbstbemalung-Selbstverstümmelung,” Günter Brus emphasizes the centrality of the body in his drawing, painting, writing, and actions. He promotes the slogan, “MEIN KÖRPER IST DIE ABSICHT, MEIN KÖRPER IST DAS EREIGNIS, MEIN KÖRPER IST DAS ERGEBNIS” (19). Brus saw the body as a medium to protest artistic strictures and societal de-individualization. Acts of self-painting, often photographed or filmed, move away from intellectualism, language, and the individuals social background to emphasize the experiences and perceptions of the human body in the physical environment. His later manifestos expressed opposition to “ein Konglomerat aus Wissenschaft, Massenmedien und Staat” (35). He viewed the powers of psychiatry, medicine, and science itself as dehumanizing people through “Entindividualisierung und Verdinglichung, Segmentierung und Klassifizierung” (35). Self-inflicted pain is also an element of Brus’s actions, for “im körperlichen Schmerz wird der Mensch auf seine Kreatürlichkeit zurückgeworfen, er wird jenseits aller rationalen Kategorien an seine Leibhaftigkeit erinnert” (48). In his manifesto “Der Staat,” Brus attacks the authoritarian state and its use of language to control people and their perceptions of reality.

Like Brus, Otto Muehl promoted “direct art” that transcended literal and theoretical surfaces. Muehl was known for “die Gleichstellung der menschlichen Körper mit beliebigen Objekten...