My Body is the Event

From March 6, 2015, mumok is presenting its collection focus Vienna Actionism in the context of international developments in performance-based art. Whereas previous mumok shows always focused on the pictorial artifacts of Vienna Actionism, this exhibition will look closely at the performative aspects of their work. Actions by Günter Brus, Hermann Nitsch, Otto Muehl, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler will be contrasted with works by significant international practitioners of performance art, such as Marina Abramovic, Chris Burden, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Paul McCarthy, Ana Mendieta, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Gina Pane, Neša Paripovic, Ewa Partum, Carolee Schneemann, and VALIE EXPORT.

The exhibition will be divided into several thematic sections that look at questions that generally shaped a broad range of action art in the 1960s and 1970s. A comparison with parallel international movements will show that the Viennese artists were not only right up with the times but in many ways developed pioneering positions.