Finale from Bloody Nitsch-new performance in the Weinviertel-Diepresse.com
Shortly after his death in 2022 and in 2023, the first three days of the game listed in 1998 were repeated. Now the final is pending.
The Pentecost Monday, Prinzendorf Castle (Lower Austria) opens the gates for the last part of Hermann Nitsch’s “6-day game”. The multi -part art campaign, in which, among other things, intestines and blood claim the senses, saw the Viennese actionist as the main part of his total work of art, the « orgies mysteries theater ». Shortly after his death in 2022 and in 2023, the first three days of the game listed in 1998 were repeated. Now the final is pending.
Hermann Nitsch is considered one of the most important Austrian artists. But as much as his performance art fascinated, it met with resistance early on. The « 6-day game » resorted to Christian symbols such as the crucifixion and actors rolled ritually in animal interior-in the 90s, animal rights activists and clerics raised alarm, a Lower Austrian FPÖ state council wanted a ban on the play.
Nobody chanted on site against the posthumous performance almost three decades later. Instead, on the opening day 2025 – the fourth day in the game – mainly paying observers and guests of honor came to a large extent young or medium -age. According to Nitsch Foundation, more than 350 people were registered on Saturday for the show in the Prinzendorfer Castle in the Weinviertel.
Urgent sound for intensive image motifs
The second version of the « 6-day game » is said to have completed the painter and action artist shortly before his death in April 2022, including a detailed note. With this conductor Andrea Cusumano now created an impressive sound backdrop, which noticeably increased the intensity of the performance of 84 actors. Because immediately after entering the castle courtyard, not only the smell of innards, but also the 92-strong orchestra, which, depending on the demonstration of uncomfortable monotonous sounds, slowly increased into urgent noise. A siren -like sound in the courtyard also kept the clay level consistently high between the actions.
In the pictures, however, known motifs were used: actors with connected eyes get blood to drink via measuring cup, often on crosses while the red substance runs over white clothing. Naked men and women are placed on the body, other actors dismantle intestines and fruit under the direction of Nitsch-adoptive son Leonhard Kopp, who diligently lends his own hand. Crosses are carried around, with people bound to the wooden frames sometimes keep their motionless position on hours during breaks and with light rain.
Highlights before Whit Monday
A highlight of this interplay of acoustics and performance was the presentation on Saturday morning. Several actors first cut out fish, but then stuffed wildly moist offal into the open belly of a pig’s carada that was attached to the body of a man when the orchestra became more urgent. Incense mingled with the smell of blood that spread in the courtyard.
This turned into a scene in the castle pool in which the performers stamped on fruit, other players with blood released blood above them, while a thunderstorm from trumpets, drum and timpani strokes and bell noise took the farm and a woman was given blood to drink on a cross in front of the castle wall. Later, the orchestra passed into a thunderous thunderstorm during a procession presentation before a actress on the cross was finally carried into neighboring Rannersdorf on Zaya.
The latest start on Saturday was a bit tamer compared to past Nitsch campaigns. In the past, a beef was disassembled and skinned, similar slaughter and especially intimate meal orgies were now out. According to medical staff, there were no weaknesses or shocks to report due to the image motifs. For the final on Whit Monday, Promikoch Max Stiegl was hired for a sauté dance, in which all parts of a pig in the sense of sustainability including Sauskädel are to be distorted.
Future of the Nitsch performances uncertain
It is unclear how the « Orgien Mysterien Theater » will continue. In May, widow Rita Nitsch announced that another “6-day game” of his own pocket should no longer be possible. There are now negotiations on the future use of the castle in Prinzendorf, which Hermann Nitsch once renovated and made the center of his work. (APA)
