Kurt Kren and the Vienna Actionists Thursday 26th January 2012 22.30
The will to create a complete new definition of art, which revolts against values and dogmas of civil society and fights with their understanding of art – this is the basic principal of the Vienna Actionists.
At the end of the fifties, the artists Günter Brus, Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler went beyond the scope of the museum object of art by exposing their own body as an object of art. Their activities – a mixture of fine- and performing arts, body art and staging – stir annoyance at public authorities and cause numerous scandals in the public. During their actions Kurt Kren accompanied the Austrian artists with his camera. He took pictures that demonstrate a unique reference of artistic rebellion because of its violence and anger.
The thirteenth edition of the dresdner schmalfilmtage will dedicate a programme to the Vienna Actionists, which will show the development of this avant-garde for the first time to the Dresden audience; in the presence of the artist and cofounder Günter Brus.
