SALZBURG.- For the first time, the Museum der Moderne Salzburg is devoting a special exhibition to artists and works from the collection associated with so-called Viennese Actionism: Günter Brus, Adolf Frohner, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, and Anestis Logothetis. In addition, one space exhibits works by women artists who introduce an entirely different concept of the body and a new image of women, while connecting it with a media critique: Renate Bertlmann, VALIE EXPORT, and Friederike Pezold.

Roughly 350 works in the media of photography, film, and music are being shown. This special focus on the Museum der Moderne Salzburg’s collection provides access to astonishing holdings; impressive in range and with hitherto rarely shown material. Thus its diversity makes us reading a history of the representation of bodybased art and its various articulations in the museum context during the past decades.

This exhibition takes place parallel to the retrospective of Ana Mendieta and in dialogue with her work. During her studies with Hans Breder at the Intermedia Program of the School of Art and Art History at the University of Iowa, USA, which Breder ran from 1968 for more than three decades, Mendieta came into contact with the work of artists such as Vito Acconci, Mary Beth Edelson, Hans Haacke, Allan Kaprow, and Robert Wilson, but also with the Viennese Actionists. Clear resonances are evident in Mendieta’s performances and artistic practice. A few of the connections that we are able to recognize today are—to name a few—the radical use of the body as artistic means, the precise selection of photographs assigned the task of mediating performance-based works in the gallery context, and the experimental use of concepts and disciplines.

Curators: Sabine Breitwieser, Director, with Barbara Herzog, Assistant Curator, Museum der Moderne Salzburg