Apart from the focus on music, the second version also remains true to Nitsch’s tradition with its round of performances. However, the zeitgeist has changed: what caused a scandal two decades ago is now part of the canon of post-war art.
Demonstrations by animal rights activists, an instruction from an FPÖ provincial councilor for immediate cessation, arrests under the Foreigners Employment Act: when Hermann Nitsch, at that time already one of the doyens of Viennese actionism, staged the “6-day play” in 1998 at his Prinzendorf Castle in Lower Austria one of the biggest art bangers of the late nineties the consequence.
Only the cockerel protested
In 2022 such reactions – at least in Austria – will be a thing of the past. There was no sign of a large police presence at Prinzendorf Castle on Saturday and a few private security men were only busy preventing unauthorized photography of Nitsch fans in the courtyard. Protests came only from the stables of the estate itself: without this being foreseen in the score, a rooster raised its voice repeatedly and loudly.
The actionist himself was of course missing in this setting, his foster son Leonhard Kopp and his longtime assistant Frank Gassner had taken over those shrill whistles for stage directions: the ex-assistant took care of marches in the courtyard of Nitsch’s baroque palace, a unique backdrop for this total work of art, the son was responsible for actions on people and slaughtered pigs on crosses. “My father said that I would continue to act in his spirit. And I’m trying to do that for the first time today – post mortem,” said Kopp on Saturday afternoon. So far it has been managed quite well, he summed up.
Sound carpets and pig carcasses
Central – and more important than in 1998 – is the soundtrack: an orchestra under the direction of conductor Andrea Cusumano transformed the artist’s compositions into wonderful carpets of sound, which also emphasized key scenes in the performances. The lasting quality of Nitsch’s “Orgy-Mysteries-Theater” was particularly evident on Saturday in these emotionally strong moments, in which the actors rubbed innards on pig carcasses in a highly exalted manner or poured blood or wine on crucified people. At these high points, all the musicians played loud, closely spaced tones, so-called clusters, and loud bells began ringing – an obvious indication of Nitsch’s Catholic socialization.
The actors, whose white clothes were increasingly turning red from the masses of spilled blood, also went on processions in the afternoon. Not far from the last resting place of the artist who was recently buried here, they marched through the castle park and to wine cellars in the neighborhood – the Czech brass band “Venkovanka”, which has been playing for Nitsch again and again since 1996, gave this part almost a folk festival character. The mood of the audience improved not only because of the obligatory enjoyment of wine. The heavy rain that characterized the morning subsided in the early afternoon.
Tomatoes, Grapes, Blood
The later afternoon hours on the 1st day turned out to be more dynamic than the morning, and new elements were used. For example, a woman with an empty monstrance posed in front of a cross, and at a table two veterans mixed tomatoes, grapes and blood until they were almost exhausted. “I’ve been involved since 1974, when I met Nitsch in a gallery in Naples,” explained Jasmin Baa, who was born in Croatia. Her partner in the specific episode, the Italian artist Giuseppe Zevola, told APA that he had appeared in performances by his Austrian colleague since an exhibition in Florence in 1976.
Of course, players from a much younger generation dominated on Saturday. It was “insanely cool”, commented the Austrian artist Pia Kober. “One forgets everything around and is only in this doing inside,” said Kober, who completed Nitsch’s master class at the Kolbermoor Academy of Fine Arts. It is a great honor that she can take part in the “6-Day Game”.
Source: Nachrichten
