Hermann Nitsch (*1938 in Vienna) is a prominent pioneer of Viennese Actionism. He has been working since 1957 on a realization of his key work: the Orgien Mysterien Theater is a nonverbal dramatic epic for which the artist designed utopian architecture for the complete performance. In 1963, Nitsch began presenting crucial elements of the play he envisioned as a six-day-long ExistenzFest in numerous performances worldwide. In the nineties, he also staged classic opera literature on the stages of great opera houses in Vienna, Zurich, and Munich, and at the same time transferred the formal language of the Orgien Mysterien Theater to conventional stages. The publication accompanying an exhibition at the Theatermuseum in Vienna provides detailed insight into one of the most challenging works of contemporary art and how it is reflected in civic theater. Exhibition: Theatermuseum, Vienna 26.3.2015 - 11.1.2016 | Museum Villa Stuck, Munich

Text by: Herbert Blau, Adrian Daub, Johannes Gachnang, Frank Gassner, Hubert Klocker