Wiener Aktionisten

05.01–06.02.1977
de Appel, Brouwersgracht 196, Amsterdam

Invitation Hermann Nitsch

Invitation Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer: Photo's I

Arnulf Rainer: Photo's II

Invitation Otto Mühl

In order to finish a period focused mainly on body-art, from December 1976 through February 1977 De Appel presented photo's, drawings, objects, but mostly films by the main exponents of this trend in art: the Wiener Aktionisten. Also two lectures and a workshop were organized.

January 5, 1977: Hermann Nitsch lecture Zur theorie des O.M. Theaters

January 5 - 16, 1977: drawings, photo's and objects Arnulf Rainer

January 19, 1977, films and video's: - Verlegens und vergebliches (Selbstbeschäftigungen), 1974, 55 minutes - Doppeldruck - Selection, in coorporation with Diter Rot, 1975, 45 minutes - Duell im Schloß - Selektion, 1976, 50 minutes

January 19 - 30, 1977, photo's Otto Mühl

February 2, 1977: films from P.A.P. Kunstagentur, Munich: - Funebre, 1966, 7 minutes, with Günther Brus, camera Peter Weibel - Grimuid, 1967, 12 minutes, with Hermann Nitsch and Peter Weibel, camera Kromberger - Zock exercises, 12 minutes, camera Kromberger - Satisfaction, 1968, 12 minutes, with Günther Brus and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, camera Spermint - Fountain, 1971, 6 minutes, with Günther Brus, Kurt Kren and Buanano - SS Davidsstern, 1971, 8 minutes - Frühe Aktionen (Aktion 3, Turnstunde in Lebensmitteln, Penisaktion, Gehirnoperation, Astronaut, Kopf, Hinrichtung, Mühl in Aktion, Nahrungsmitteltest), 1964-'65, 22 minutes - Psychomotische Geräuschaktion, 1967, 22 minutes - Wehrertüchigung, 1967, 6 minutes - Mit Schwung ins neue Jahr, 1967, 5 minutes, with Günther Brus and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, camera Spermint - Amore, 1968, 3 minutes, camera Spermint - Sodoma (Episoden 1 Apollo, 2 Campagnereiterclub, 3 Satisfaction, 4 Fountain, 5 Libi 68, 6 Amore, 7 Scheißkerl), 1968-'70, 60 minutes - Der geile Wotan (1 Investmentfonds, 2 Manotest, 3 Manopsychotisches Ballett, 4 SS Davidsstern, 5 Der geile Wotan), 1970-'71, 60 minutes - O Sensibility, 1971, 18 minutes - Aktion Zürich, 1971, 15 minutes - 2 Aktionen, 1971-'72, 30 minutes

February 4, 1977: performance registrations/documentary: - Mama und Papa, 1964, 4 minutes - Leda und der Schwan, 1964, 3 minutes - O Tannenbaum, 1964, 3 minutes - Cosinus Alpha (4 films by Kurt Kren), 1966, 10 minutes - Stille Nacht, 1970, 7 minutes, camera Hans P. Kochenrath - O Sensibility, 1970-'71, 30 minutes, camera Schönherr and Kochenrath - Die AA Kommune, 1974, 60 minutes

February 5, 1977: documentary Die AA Kommune, 1974, 60 minutes

February 5 through 6, 1977: AA Kommune Kursus

Since 1972, Mühl has lived with other members of the Aktions Analyse Kommune in Friedrichshof, an old farm near Vienna. Every member of the commune has renounced individuality in favour of collectivity: property, sexuality, child-raising and work are all shared on an equal basis. The Aktions Analyse occupies a central place in their day-to-day life. The high point of this daily therapeutic session is the ‘Selbstdarstellung’ (self-exposition) in which the participants try to liberate themselves from childhood traumas, acquired in ‘Kleinfamiliengesellschaft’ (the ‘small family’ context), by self-expression. They shout, laugh and cry, often while naked, in order to eliminate all their frustrations and fears. Mühl and the other AA members (recognizable from their labourer’s clothing and crewcut hair) held one of their therapeutic sessions in De Appel. The participants, who had applied in advance and paid one hundred Guilders each (students eighty Guilders), were required to throw all reticence to the wind. Clothing, especially brassieres (‘bourgeois armour’ in the words of a female member of the commune), had to be removed on command and problems had to be revealed to the group. The AA Kommune regards these sessions and their lifestyle as art. They believe that spreading similar communes all around the world would result in a single, large ‘Weltgesamtkunstwerk’. By 1977, there were already ten other communes in Europe totalling some five hundred members.