hermann nitsch, artist from vienna, austria. photography © philipp schuster
please note: the text is written in lowercase at the kind request of the artist.
1.tell us what you do and your beginnings.
in the early 1960s i started to develop my theatre of orgies and mysteries. i was interested in a total work of art close to happenings, action and performance art. real events were staged. the participants in the performance should achieve an intense sensual experience. my action painting was the first stage in the realization of my work.
after performing all over the world, i managed to establish prinzendorf castle and the surrounding area as permanent place of my theatre project in (prinzendorf is my bayreuth). i was able to carry out many large performances in prinzendorf that lasted several days. in 1998 i succeeded performing an attempt to stage the 6-day game for the first time: material and documentation about the performances are available.
