Violence in Art 2, Viennese Actionism...

I'm looking at transgressive performance artists as part of my dissertation research, though obviously their is a huge amount of overlap between that and my studio practice. My practice is a painting & collage at the moment, not performance, but studying artists like the Viennese Actionists definitely helps inform my own work.

The Viennese Actionists were a group of four loosely associated artists working in Vienna & West Germany during the 1960's. Their work was a reaction against the political & social climate in 1960's Austria, which was never de-Nazified in the same way as West Germany was, and therefore the same political actors & bureaucrats who had been in charge of the Austrian regime under National Socialism remained in place after the war. Their work was a direct challenge to the status quo and saw them being arrested and jailed numerous times.





          



The Viennese Actionists  used simulated violence to shock their audiences out of complacency & bring about a cathartic realisation of their own nature & that of the society they are part of. For myself, researching the work of the Viennese Actionists has given me a greater understanding of both the effect of shock and disgust upon the viewer, and how that can be used to generate deeper contemplation of personal and wider issues, as well as an appreciation of the plastic nature of the body, and just how far a figurative representation can be distorted, yet retain its intrinsic corporeal qualities. This has allowed me to push the boundaries of my work much further, and create wildly distorted fleshy mounds, which are both impossible distortions of the human form, and at the same time instantly recognisable as bodies.