Background:
He saw his life as a priesthood with an artistic articulation"- Heinz Cibulka about Schwarzkogler
- Rudolf Schwarzkogler was an Austrian performance artist closely associated with the Viennese Actionism group that included artists Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, and Hermann Nitsch.
- He is best known today for photographs depicting his series of closely controlled "Aktionen" featuring such iconography as a dead fish, a dead chicken, bare light bulbs, coloured liquids, bound objects, and a man wrapped in gauze. The enduring themes of Scwarzkogler's works involved experience of pain and mutilation, often in an incongruous clinical context, such as 3rd Aktion (1965) in which a patient's head enswathed in bandages is being pierced by what appears to be a corkscrew, producing a bloodstain under the bandages. They reflect a message of despair at the disappointments and hurtfulness of the world.
- There is a myth that Schwarzkogler died by slicing off his penis during a performance. (The castration themes in some of his aktions — for example, in Aktion 2 he posed with a sliced open fish covering his groin — may have helped to fuel this myth. Ironically, the protagonist of this aktion was not even Schwarzkogler himself but rather a friend and model by the name of Hans Cibulka.)
- In reality Schwarzkogler died when he either fell or leapt from a window, possibly with the desire to emulate Yves Klein's 'Leap into the Void'
- The Grand Guignol as a possibility? - From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, specialized in naturalistic horror shows. The name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment. –Since it is suggested that his works were not actual harm but more elaborate stage shows that were faked
- The theatre, who's actors were primarily homeless people, street criminals and prostitutes, specialised in recreating graphic scenes of disembowelment using nothing other than exceptionally well conducted live effects.
- The Grande Guignol closed its doors for the last time in 1962, shortly before Rudolf gained notoriety for his work. Also he himself visited it as a child and one scene bares remarkable resemblance to his works.
- The term Aktion Reinhard was the code name for the extermination of Polish Jewry in the Generalgouvernement during the years 1942 and 1943. It should be noted that there were many different variations of this term, including Einsatz Reinhardt, Sondereinsatz Reinhardt, and Aktion Reinhard.
- Rudolf himself sighted the holocaust as one of his primary influences.
- Along with Günter Brus and Hermann Nitsch, Schwarzkogler was among the leading artists associated with Vienna Actionism, a movement centred around anarchic, often violent and sexually charged performances that flouted the repressive socio-political conventions of post-war Austrian culture.
- Hochzeit, the first of Schwarzkogler's actions, was performed on February 6, 1965, for a handful of friends and the camera (all of his subsequent actions were performed exclusively for the camera).
- Standing before a table covered with a white tablecloth and accompanied by Gregorian chants, Schwarzkogler played the role of shaman/priest/alchemist, performing his private ritual with dead fish, a dead chicken, various animal organs, eggs, coloured liquids, a knife, and scissors.
Herman Nitsch’s background:
- In 1957, Hermann Nitsch’s idea for a radical theatre was conceived, which he called the Orgien Mysterien Theater. The O.M. Theatre took its shape from ideas about Aristotelian catharsis, Freudian psychology, conventional theatre, and Dionysic orgy. It is an attempt to create a Gesamtkunstwerk, a ’total art’, or mystical experience that involves all the senses.
- The first performances of the O. M. Theatre consisted of Hermann Nitsch and friends using animal carcasses, entrails, and blood in a ritualistic way. The cloths, bandages and other fabrics used in these performances introduced Nitsch to the idea of making paintings. 1960 saw the first exhibition of his 'Aktion' paintings in Vienna. In the mid-60's Nitsch’s theatre pieces were also performed in Vienna.
- Not only did Nitsch and Rudolf collaborate but also in the Vienna Actionists were Gunter Brus and Otto Muehl.
- This groups work all has the same shocking themes and even common styles can be seen between them. Between them they made movies and art and gave performances that were then photographed with those photo graphs becoming art in their own right.
- Gustav Metzger -led a movement in the 60's called the auto destructive art movement
- This could have been either as a result of / in inspiration to or just the same school of thought as Rudolf.
- They bare similar themes of destruction and although Metzger's work is not as shocking it carries the same destructive and anarchic feel.
- Roy Lichtenstein (October27, 1923 -September 29, 1997)
- A very light hearted artist, prolific with pop art and reflecting popular culture. Very outro-spective as opposed to the strong contrast of Rudolf’s work.
- The ‘New Age’ movement - characterized by an individual approach to spiritual practices and philosophies, and the rejection of religious doctrine and dogma.
- The Hippy movement –basically just expanded upon the new age movement turning it into a specific subculture.
- Psychedelic rock -is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among garage and folk rock bands in Britain and the United States.
- Chris Burden filmed himself being shot with his own gun.
- This work ties in with the aspect of the shocking destructive performance.
- Rudolf's work was influential to this.
- His work was, in the 1960’s, part of the Vienna actionist movement, and although he was the least publicised at the time, his work was just as interesting in the context of art then. The Americans were beginning to look at consumerist culture, commenting on the economy and broadening the spectrum of fine art into graphics, typography and illustration. His work, by contrast, is focused internally, on what it is to be human rather than what humans create around them.
- In the modern day Schzarzkogler’s pieces still invoke a sense of horror and invite you to recoil, but with Damien Hirst displaying dissected animals we are becoming accustomed to facing death and horror in contemporary artwork. Perhaps his work would not be as affective or controversial now, or maybe art has come full circle and now Artists like Hirst are finding new ways of furthering his concepts.
- When I first saw the pictures I was gripped. They are compelling a nasty way. The sort of ‘cant take your eyes off’ reaction of a car crash.
- Also it sickened me because originally we thought that he had actually done these things for real and taken pictures of them.
- Research however seems to indicate that it is staged which is both a relief and a let down.
- It takes away some of the shock factor that was at first so compelling for me. I still however think the images are very unsettling.
- Artists have defined the experience of Art as the ‘act of looking’, the emotional state induced by visual/auditory stimulus and the disruption seeded by causing debate and argument.
- Schwarzkogler’s work certainly encompasses all of these elements and as such is a good example of mid-late 20th century fine art. The experience of art work has changed since the early 90’s, leaving the gallery space and branching into our day-to-day lives; in some ways Schwarzkogler’s work pre-empts this.
- In all but his first performance piece he performed for no one but the camera, his environment totally controlled and only guessed at by the art critics and observers.
- He used this medium of presentation to limit the experience and focus the mind on the subject matter and the process instead of the locale of the work.
- This lends it a timeless and consistently ‘real’ feel that stimulates even the most placid mind that happens to gaze upon his explorations of masochism, death, brutality and morality within the human condition.
(This is the text and images from my groups presentation. I have left out some images and information I didn't deem apropriate however.)
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