The Informative Public of Performance

A Study of Viennese Actionism, 1965–1970 Mechtild Widrich

The role of the audience in performance art has excited considerable discussion in recent years, particularly the question of whether and how the direct encounter between artist and audience might be “constitutive” of performance.1 The work of the Viennese Actionists illuminates a neglected but pivotal facet of this debate: the role of a performance audience once it is an audience of the past. What relationship does the live event have to its afterlife and to time? While recent emphasis on the mediation and careful orchestration of re-presented classic performance art works contributes to this discussion, I want to challenge a growing skepticism among scholars of performance about the possibility of singular live events.2 My interest here is not merely

1. The new book edited by Amelia Jones and Adrian Heathfield (2012) moves forward this discussion and reprints now classic essays such as Philip Auslander’s “The Performativity of Performance Documentation” (2006). 2. About Gina Pane’s and Chris Burden’s work, Auslander writes, “Rather, the events were staged to be documented at least as much as to be seen by an audience” (2006:3).

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138 Mechtild Widrich and art. was toachieve “direct art” (atermusedbyMuehlandBrus), understoodasthemergingoflife Schwarzkogler, andHermannNitsch “original” performance, but documented. Performancetheoryhasquestionedthepossibilityof “presence” orevenofany tial” audience, theaudiencethatexperiencesliveactionandoftenthemselvesendupbeing the oft-notedtensionbetweenactionanddocument, butveryparticularly, thefateof “ini-

Foundation, andtheNational of Art, Gallery Washington, DC. [email protected] has received fellowships from theFulbright Commission, theMax Planck Institute, the Woodrow Wilson (2011); andKrzysztof Wodiczko: City of Refuge (Black Dog, 2009;coeditorMark Jarzombek). She Abramović’s Record, Make It So? Repeated Outbreaks of VALIE EXPORT’s Genital Panic since1969,” inPerform, Repeat, publications are Ugliness: AReconsideration (Tauris, 2013; coeditorAndrei Pop); “Can Photographs Mechtild Widrich ispostdoctoralfellow intheArchitecture ETHZurich. Department, Her recent Hoffenreich; kunst stiftung ludwig wien) of mumok, museum moderner courtesy Figure 1. (previous page) Günter in Brus plays inthehistoricityofevent? films, relics, ormostrecently, re-performance?Oristhereaparticularrolethisfirstaudience place istakenbynewaudienceswhogainaccesstothepastperformancethroughphotographs, because theyareoutsidetheframeofperformancedocuments, orbecausetheirinterpretive have toassumethesameforlaterones. Doesthe “initial” audiencesimplydisappearfromview formance documentsaddresslateraudiences. Butifthefirstaudienceisinessential, wewould doubt thatitisdifficulttoplace “initial” audiencesinthehistoryofperformance, northatper and otherbodilyfluids, animalbloodandbodyparts, paint, andsharpobjects. that usedtheirownandcollaborators’bodiesas “material,” alongwithexcrement(theirown) formance asanentitywhosecontinuedlifeisthroughitsdocumentation” (2006:6). that thepresenceofthisinitialaudience[forliveevent]hasnorealimportancetoper ity” to “the audienceforthedocumentation, notfortheliveevent[...],” andfurther, “I submit cerned withtheissueofaudience. As Philip Auslander hasargued, artists “assume responsibil - 5. 4. 3. some of the Actionists also, Emmett participated; Williams and Daniel Spoerri visited the Wiener Gruppe (in other Fluxus were artists present at the Oswald Wiener), which had a significant influence on the Viennese Actionists. Al Hansen, Wolf Vostell, and cabarets” “literary poetry-oriented of the Wiener Gruppe (Friedrich Achleitner, Konrad Bayer, Gerhard Rühm, Fluxus, a group that the Actionists considered too theoretical. Fluxus was, however, to the conceptual crucial There are precedents international artistic for the Actionists, from action painting and Nouveau Réalisme to cussed. See my review in Actionists as “expanded painters” confirms my view, only partially as the relation to the action remains to be dis- anthology came (Badura-Triskaout while I was finishing this article and Klocker 2012). The emphasis on the Action Group). The classic publication remains Klocker’s anthology lication in the journal as Peter Weibel called it,” confirming Weibel’s claim (my translation; Roussel 1995:23). In their first joint pub- Weibel published in claims 1995, the BrusActionism,term as his own, speaks of “Viennese and in an interview in collaboration with VALIE EXPORT (Weibel and 1970), Export the title of which was “Wiener Aktionisten”The name (Viennese Actionists) came into existence with a book edited by Peter Weibel the total interaction.” sentence concludes, rather obscurely,This crucial by insisting that viewersare interested in “the artist’s work, not Viennese Actionism anditsfourmainprotagonists 4 eds. Amelia Jones andAdrian Heathfield (Intellect, 2012);“Process and Authority: Marina They becameknowninthe1960sthroughspectacularandoftenaggressiveactions Freeing theHorizon” inGrey Room (2012);“EXPORT’s Media Performances” inPAJ Le Marais in 1965, Muehl and Brus called themselves Wiener (Vienna Aktionsgruppe Art Journal (2012a). — and thismightbecharacteristic Destruction in Destruction Art symposium in London in September 1966, in which Wiener Spaziergang — make aparticularlyinterestingcase, astheirstatedaim — (Vienna Walk)(Vienna , 1965. (Photo by Ludwig Günter Brus, OttoMuehl, Rudolf Viennese Actionism 1960–71 (1989). A new — it hassofarbeenlittlecon- Wiener Aktionismus. 5 The insistence The 3 There isno

- - Viennese Actionism 139 - - The police interven 6 , 1965, print print 1965, , Walk) (Vienna Spaziergang Wiener and its mythology that it became an explicit and its mythology that Figure 2. Günter Brus in Günter 2. Figure number 1. (Photo by Ludwig Hoffenreich; courtesy moderner museum mumok, of Hoffenreich; Ludwig by (Photo 1. number wien) ludwig stiftung kunst - was his first performance in public space, after a series of actions after a series of in public space, was his first performance Walk Vienna

particular Gerhard Rühm) in Vienna in 1963. See the photograph in the garden of Schönbrunn palace (Weibel Schönbrunnof (Weibel palace garden the in photograph the See 1963. in Vienna in Rühm) particularGerhard 1971 in Cologne in event Fluxus und Happening the at presented was action last Muehl’s Otto 1997:733). Würthle (Schwarz Galerie the at 1961 July in Vienna in shown first was painting Action 1995:36). (Roussel particularly poetrythe Oswald of Group, Vienna importancethe the of acknowledges Nitsch While 1988:29). (Nitsch painting” from directly art developed happenings and “direct that insist Brus and Muehl Wiener, 1999:101). Braun 1990:162; Bild lebenden einem er, wollte so zweigeteilt, quasi Strich schwarzen einen durch nur und bemalt weiß “Völlig Polizisten einem von Metern wenigen nach allerdings wurde gehen, Stephansplatz zum Heldenplatz vom gleich, otherwise unless translations, All indi- verdonnert.” Geldbuße einer zu Ordnung öffentlichen der Störung wegen own. my are cated, Vienna The documentation of Vienna by Günter Brus (fig. 1), the art- the 1), Brus (fig. by Günter Walk or Vienna Spaziergang in the 1965 Wiener For example, , people who come to constitute the audience of a performance simply by to constitute the audience of a performance people who come uninformed, audience 6. Vienna Walk Walk intimately with Vienna tion is connected so In fact, part of the work itself. iconic it is one of the most Actionism, images of Viennese perhaps, merged in our minds, with detailed shots of genitals battered in paint and animals Blood, with bellies sliced open. These brute arrest: slaughter, physical components seem to require social reprisal in order to prove their force. reveals how the police Walk intervention became incorpo- The event rated into the work. was documented by friends, and a profes- collaborators, sional documentary photog- Ludwig Hoffenreich, rapher, who had been working for Actionists for several the the Museum of mumok, years. owns Modern Art in Vienna, pur 34 of Hoffenreich’s prints, chased directly from Brus, who chased directly from Brus,

being in a given location at a given time. Of course there were complications. As a recent news- complications. Of course there were at a given time. being in a given location “after a few meters, the event, of the artist’s 70th birthday retold paper article on the occasion 2008). (Schurian police and ordered to pay a fine” he was stopped by the mance that cannot be transmitted by documentation. Actionist photographs and films, however, however, and films, Actionist photographs by documentation. cannot be transmitted mance that obvious that the it becomes the footage, on examining and frequently shown; are numerous the the cooperation of usually with professionally documented, imaginatively and actions were themselves. performers a black stripe running down the with attire and soaked in white paint, ist is dressed in formal “liv- as a tourist center posing Vienna Brus meant to walk through the vertical axis of his body. The ing picture.” to address what we might call It was thus his first chance locations. in private and semi-private an on shock value and the emphasis on smell, taste, and touch make the case for a kind of perfor and touch make the taste, on smell, and the emphasis on shock value Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021 stiftung ludwig wien) Hoffenreich; kunst of mumok, museum moderner courtesy Walk), 1965, print number 15. (Photo by Ludwig Figure 3. Günter in Brus 140 Mechtild Widrich (number 23;fig. 5), whileonlookers, mostlyrecognizablefriends, waitoutsidethestationwith (fig. 4). Thetwowalksideby sideuntiltheyreachapolicestation. Brusisthenseeninside routine distrust. A conversationensues;Brusidentifieshimselfasthepolicemantakesnotes crosses astreet, whileontheothersideapolicemanregardshimwithconfusion, orperhaps him Hofburg, orImperialPalace, photographedfromfrontandrear, withasmall crowd following signed themontheverso. the annexationof Austria in1938(fig. 2). ter ofImperial Vienna, notoriouseventodayasthesiteof Adolf Hitler’svictoryspeechafter counterculturists inthelate1960s)onHeldenplatz(Heroes’Square), asquareinthecen- ately knownin Austria as “the duck,” aninexpensivecultobjectpopularamongstudentsand purposes. Hoffenreich’s shoot, these34printsarewhattheartistdecidedshouldbeusedforexhibition 8. 7. In thisofficialselection, weseeBrusexitingaprivatecar, notablyaCitroen2CV(affection- graphed (print nos. 8 and 9). Heldenplatz. Brus would thus be a soldier without an army suit might also be read parades and the swearing as soldiers a take uniform: place yearlyin onof new military native statue, ephemeral, defaced by the black stripe, and persecuted rather than officially venerated. The white fully chosen backdrop of the Imperial Palace, his figure as the counterimage to a hero, also serves an absurd alter- to illustrate that Bernhard was a manure in front of the Viennese Burgtheater during the premiere on 4 November 1988 by citizens conservative fascist tendencies The force of this association persists. Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard called his theatrical reckoning with approved prints. curator Matthias Michalka (Michalka 2008). My numbers refer to the mumok chronological sequence of the Brus gave permission for the photographs to be exhibited in any order and in any selection, according to mumok also took photographs, and Otto Muehl filmed the action. Though a clear narrative is legible in the photographs, of other prints in circulation, in different sizes, some differently cropped (Haaser 2008). Rudolf Schwarzkogler marked as an edition. According to the mumok registrar, Dr. Sophie Haaser, Brus owns the rights. She knows Hoffenreich did not sign the prints — mainly fellow Actionists andsomepuzzledonlookers. Inprintnumber15(fig. 3), Brus Wiener Spaziergang (Vienna Heldenplatz (1988). The play was met with outrage in Austria, notably the pouring of liquid 7 While themuseumalsoholdsseveralhundredcontactprintsfrom Nestbeschmutzer, “fouling his own nest” (Löffler 1988:298). GivenBrus’s care- — he is only credited in museum files. Nor are the prints numbered or 8 The artistwalksthroughtheopencourtyardof stiftung ludwig wien) Hoffenreich; kunst of mumok, museum moderner courtesy Walk), 1965, print number 18. (Photo by Ludwig Figure 4. Günter in Brus — but also a celebrity turning heads and being photo- Wiener Spaziergang (Vienna Viennese Actionism 141 - Wiener Spaziergang Spaziergang Wiener 9 Figure 6. From Günter Brus’s Brus’s Günter From 6. Figure Ludwig by (Photo 25. number print 1965, , (ViennaWalk) courtesymoderner museum mumok, of kunst Hoffenreich; wien) ludwig stiftung Wiener Spaziergang (Vienna (Vienna Spaziergang Wiener Brus explained his actions as an expansion of painting. Even then, he reflected Even then, of painting. Brus explained his actions as an expansion

“Die Bildfläche hat ihre Funktion als alleiniger Ausdrucksträger verloren. Sie wurde zu ihrem Ursprung, zur ihrem zu wurde Sie Ausdrucksträgerverloren. alleiniger als Funktion ihre hat Bildfläche “Die meines Einbeziehung die zurückgeführt. Durch Körper menschlichen zum Lebewesen, zum Objekt, zum Wand, der und festhält Kamera die Ablauf dessen Geschehen, ein Ergebnis als entsteht Ausdrucksträger als Körpers men- without catalog retrospective 1986 a in Weibel Peter by given is text 1965 The kann.” miterleben Zuschauer source. the of tion In early texts, It has been traced sole bearer of expression. The picture plane has lost its function as By the to the human body. to the living thing, object, to the to the wall, back to its origin, the a resulting event occurs whose duration inclusion of my body as bearer of expression, 1986:35) Weibel (in camera captures and the spectator can co-experience. 9.

The idiosyncratic language of this text reflects a particular theory of performance. In the a particular theory of performance. The idiosyncratic language of this text reflects the camera is mentioned first, note that in the enumeration of audiences, for example, excerpt, This text accompanied an action simply named after the new genre: before the live spectator. The action was performed in early 1965 in a private basement in (Selbstbemalung). Self-Painting As usual, Actionists. a group studio for the which functioned as called the Perinetkeller, Vienna And as we can see from the continuity of the black 8). it was documented by Hoffenreich (fig. does not work aggressively against the painterly element, the action line across body and canvas, mance. Are the photographs another layer of the “living picture” Brus performed? After all, he After all, Brus performed? “living picture” layer of the Are the photographs another mance. the prints. authorized them by signing the backs of as Brus called “Self-painting,” on the potential experiences of a later audience for his actions. as both spatial and to be understood “further” with “further development of painting,” was a it, temporal extension. some anxiety (number 25; fig. 6). A taxi arrives, a passenger gets out, and Brus gets in, laughing Brus gets in, and a passenger gets out, A taxi arrives, 6). some anxiety (number 25; fig. but the we can say that an encounter with the police took place, All in all, 7). (prints 26–33; fig. one pro- Was Did an arrest actually occur? clear. exact nature of the encounter is not entirely what contrived story And a knowing manner in the images? or only implied in simulated, voked, All of these the policeman to provoke the legal action? truly organizes the facts: did Brus follow relationship between the image-event and the perfor perfectly concrete ambiguities inform the , 1965, print number 23. (Photo by Ludwig Ludwig by (Photo 23. number print 1965, , Walk) courtesymoderner museum mumok, of kunst Hoffenreich; wien) ludwig stiftung Figure 5. Günter Brus in Günter 5. Figure Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021

142 Mechtild Widrich the Actionist, andarethusrelicsoftheperformanceinastrictsense. photographer’s style, butrathertheperformer’sstyle:theyreflectaestheticpreferencesof not beidentifiedasbelongingtothatparticularphotographer;is, theydonotrevealthe demonstration thatphotographstakenbythesamephotographerfordifferent Actionists can- 12. 11. 10. stiftung ludwig wien) Hoffenreich; kunst of mumok, museum moderner courtesy Walk), 1965, print number 32. (Photo by Ludwig Figure 7. Günter in Brus almost symbioticuseofthephotographsinBrus’sownaccountVienna Walk: photographs areboundtotheeventanddeniedaestheticautonomy. We findevidenceofthis authorial terms. What ispertinent, andrightlyemphasizedbyGorsen, ishowclosely Actionist Actionism’s goals. SoIdonotwishtojointhisdebate, rankingliveeventagainstphotographin Hoffenreich’s deferencetoBrusonmattersofauthorshiptheVienna Walk photos. time totime: “Oh goodness, thiswillendinprison orthemadhouse.” [...]Idecidedto my part. OttoMuehlhelpedpaintmefromheadtotoe. LudwigHoffenreichsighedfrom The preparationsofthisactionwereaccompaniedbymoreor lessintensenervousnesson However, theissueisnotwho insists: “In [...] film and photographycontrast alwaysto actual performance remain secondary” (1998:7). generations of viewers, discusses conflicts between filmmakers and Actionists, who generally had their way, and Similarly, Hanno Millesi, Nitsch’s former assistant, though acknowledging the necessity of photographs for later (Weibel 1966). Weibel early on read Muehl and Brus as fusing a MarcusianArtaudian antisociality artnonaffirmative with II (2005:92). See also Gorsen’s more recent reflections on the singularity of (2010). Actionist performance a trauma caused by a direct (in the case of Muehl, who was a soldier) or indirect experience of World War Peter Gorsen finds in a Actionist destruction healing, and even“cathartic, therapeutic effect,” addressed to that used in theatre to refer to one or another night’s performance. they were “so to performances,”say the only visitors of our art where the word for “performance,” und sozusagen die einzigen Besucherderten unserer Kunstvorführungen waren.” Brus literally says of the rats that “Oft denke ich an besondere Vorkommnisse in jenem wo KellerRatten über die Installationsrohre zurück, wan- Wiener Spaziergang (Vienna has authorialprimacy, buttheuseofphotostoestablish libidinal revolution. as performedinserviceofaMarcusian (if chauvinist)acts, whichareoftenread and practicetotheviolent, charismatic ments were “secondary” intheirtheory agree toasurprisingextentthatdocu- photographs. rats and, ofcourse, theviewersof ment ismadeplausiblebyGorsen’s tographers” (2005:120). The argu- little aboutthepersonalityofpho- they wantedittobeperceived, butsay into howtheysawtheirworkand Peter Gorsenargues, “give aninsight their documentation,” arthistorian photos approvedbythe Actionists for our onlyaudience” (2007:154). in thiscellar, where “the ratswere talgically recallstheactionsconducted recent autobiographicaltext, Brusnos- into oneobjectinthephotograph. Ina expect; rather, bodyandcanvasmerge nor doesitdestroyit, asonemight Scholars of VienneseScholars Actionism 12 This talliesupwellwith 11 “The published “The Vorführung, is 10 The Viennese Actionism 143 In a 13 , 1965. (Photo by Ludwig Hoffenreich; courtesy mumok, of Hoffenreich; Ludwig by (Photo 1965. , Selbstbemalung

An actionist self-consciously making art history as a “living picture” might sound odd, even more so when we when we so more even sound odd, might artmaking self-consciously actionist An history picture” “living a as the Was gallery. Vienna a in work his of opening an before evening the for scheduled was action the that learn - conven the in canvas the from discomfort removed been having body his at Brus’s of result the picture” “living doc- photographic show only to intended had he selection; the about discontent voiced Brus exhibition? tional thus may Schwarz,He paintings. including into talked was Dieter to according but, actions, his of umentation (Schwarzabandoned exhibition not had he Clearly 1988:69). “art” the to corrective a action his considered have (1986:33). Weibel also performance. into them transposed but See representation, of issues walk as a living picture through the inner city of Vienna, past numerous historically sig- Vienna, city of walk as a living picture through the inner My route was to for my stroll was the Heldenplatz. The starting point nificant buildings. (Brus 1999:33) Stephan’s Square. take me [...] finally to St. Actionist appears just after fellow sighing discouragingly, It is interesting that Hoffenreich, Muehl in the account of the event’s orchestration. Elsewhere, Brus ends this account with the Elsewhere, Muehl in the account of the event’s orchestration. (in Znaymer 2005). but I knew I was making art history” “I was quite nervous, sentence: 13. museum modernermuseum wien) ludwig stiftung kunst Figure 8. Günter Brus in Günter 8. Figure , Philip Ursprung, perhaps the first art historian to voice Philip Ursprung, , Walk perceptive analysis of the Vienna Actionists lies in their reception (by which the question of whether the real significance of the “‘saw’ which and “ideal audience,” the police as their regards he mainly means press reports), Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021

144 Mechtild Widrich ing astateofaffairsandaskingthatitbeseeninstrong, polarizinglight(Austin 1975:143). descriptive norapurelyperformativedocument, butoccupiesamiddlegroundbetweenreveal- public, which “makes itso,” inthe Austinian parlance. Morespecifically, thisisneitherapurely precise tosaythatthereisperformativecontentinthedocumentsdirectedatus, alater sion duringthattimein Austria, whichthephotographsbarelytouchupon. Instead, itismore be inahurrytoclaimthateverythingis “real” becauseoftheveryrealatmosphererepres- Walk (e.g., Idon’tdenythattherewasaconfrontationwiththepolice). Butwealsoshouldnot see, atleaststagedassuch. This doesnotmeanthatIattributeelementsoffictiontotheVienna public oftheperformancephotographischaracteristicallyanuninformedone, or, asweshall nect withouraccountofthelivespectator,.informative whomIearliercalleduninformed The imagined, ordocumented)audiences, andlater(anticipated)audiences, alsoallowsustorecon- pally occurred there. claim thattheintendedaudienceof Actionists extendedintothefutureandindeedprinci- cal, social, aesthetic) readers ofthework:informativeinsensethattheyaremadetoconveyacontext(histori- unwilling though theycertainlyplaythisroleintheextantphotographs. They areacollaborator are notanaudienceintheaestheticsenseofthinkingaboutorinterpretingperformance, publics, amongthemthe “judicial system” andthe “popular press” (147). However, thepolice tainly on thecontentoriconographyoftheirveryintricaterepresentationalart. Vienna Walk iscer psycho-political readingsof Actionism wouldnotbewhollywrongthen, butmerelyfocused and byUrsprung’saccountoftheartistslookinglike “actors enjoyingtheapplause” (147). The hypothesis issupportedbyBrus’sself-consciousdeclarationthathewasmaking “art history” of substantivepolitics, andconfirmingaviewofthe Actionistsasskilledconceptualists. The plaint ofacontemporarycriticthatthe Actionists’ famewasbasedsolelyonscandaldevoid not beingrecognizedbytheartworld. This isaconvincingpoint, turningonitsheadthecom- orate apastevent. authenticity, butitdoesmakeclearhowmostperformance documentationclaimstocommem- the fineBrushadtopaycanbevaluedasaperformancedocument. Thisdoesnotvouchforits later audiencestointerpretandimaginativelyperformthisevent. Ultimately, eventherecordof ‘reacted’ tothetransgression” (1999:146). 16. 15. 14. by Philip Auslander.by mance asundertakenisnotirrelevanttothedocument(andourreception), asvividlysuggested that weknowtookplace, thedocumentisnotasubstituteforperformance, andtheperfor event, andallowsustorecreatetheperformanceinourheads. Butsincewerecreateanevent entirely through the actionitself, andsoaconfrontationdoestakeplace, thoughneitherentirelypriortonor This temporalextensionofaudiences, whichisalsoatensionbetweenearlier(presumed, Auslander’s essentially takes place in the claim photograph. that performance Widrich (2008), expanded considerably in Jones and Heathfield (2012). In both essays I discuss in detail Philip in respect claims of performance on the I truth to elaborate the my document view and re-performance in ing, captured in “Performative/Constative,” a 1958 lecture originally delivered in French (Austin 1963). ofand performative factual usesThe of discussion language of is the a intertwining feature of Austin’s later think- world towards a strong in which Actionism curatorial model of homogenous art had no place. on the relevance of Otto Muehl’s (forgotten) work Ursprung concludes by finding the Actionists’ concerns rather local, if not provincial. See also (2009) Ursprung understanding of an ephemeral event in the spectator’s and historian’s memories?” (Ursprung 1999:143–44). “Or does the meaning of Actionism itself reside precisely in the process and (mis) of fragmentation, distortion, Brus confrontsthepolicethroughhisdocumentationofeventasmuch staged; andUrsprungisrighttoextendhismodel, attributingtothe Actionists multiple — in theperformance, presentedaswhatIwouldcallaninformative publicforfuture the documentation. The documentaimstoinvolveusimaginativelyinthepast 16 — Pastevent(towhateverdegreestaged)anddocumenttogether permit of which they are hardly aware 14 The arrest, Ursprungargues, is “compensation” for Manopsychotic Ballet as an indicator of the change in the art — to these future viewers. In that, I would — albeit - 15 -

Viennese Actionism 145 - - not —

In her 2011 consideration of the nature of perfor In her 2011 consideration 17 myth necessary to some performers’ self- is a “Presence” This is our question in another guise: How does the art- 18 19 (1967), which, as Frederic Jameson noted, anticipates deconstructionistanticipates noted, the to challenges Jameson Frederic as which, (1967), (1998) is by now a classic psychoanalytic-deconstructive account account classic psychoanalytic-deconstructive a now by is (1998) Subject the Performing Art: Body (Jones presence to objections her Present clarified Artist is The Jones exchange, email an In 2011a). - Ong thus acknowl its presumed audience. a world not so much of the text itself as of but their aesthetic distance from the event, an issue that the lively debate about that the lively debate an issue the event, distance from but their aesthetic

— — a status that we need not define more precisely than we do for other historical doc- we do for other historical more precisely than we need not define a status that

— of performance art. Strikingly, Jones had already taken a more skeptical stance on performance’s access to the real real the to access performance’s on stance skeptical more a taken already had Jones performanceof art. Strikingly, otherwise)or (Lacanian articlecontemporaneous a in (Jones out rounded recently more has Auslander 1997). that claim Gadamer’s Hans-Georg to appeal an with document the on insistence his down) toned perhaps (and truth. nondiscursive of kind artworksa inherit and retrospective ArtModern of Museum Abramović’s 2010 Marina certain a to rests on extent argument The performance, art and curators, critics, by historians language “mystifying the and part the on artists,” of “self-justification as all over partas to “gloss attempts of their art museums,” in of ‘live’ exhibition the justify to way easy an want who the of as performances,well as ‘original’ the (of situation the of specificities economic and political, social, the of (display)” and discourse critical of apparatuses 2011b). Jones city, the views bottom-up history, of emphasized who scholar Jesuit liberal another with drawn be could Parallels book, famous most his of title the from inferred be not should position Certeau.de Ong’s Michel literature: and Word of the Presence The oral-written dichotomy from nearly opposite premises (1974:176). premises opposite nearly from dichotomy oral-written The real problem with these documents is thus not their theoretical status as fact or fic- their theoretical status is thus not with these documents The real problem For this purpose, I will briefly look into the debate in literature during the early 1970s, in 1970s, I will briefly look into the debate in literature during the early For this purpose, Approaching the question of “presence” from a different angle: imagine the distance from a different “presence” of Approaching the question unmediated presence and documentation has barely touched. One problem with this debate lies with this debate One problem touched. has barely presence and documentation unmediated define. impossible to is opposed seems almost which the mediated to “real” that the in the fact for more than a decade. this difficult task thought through has most prominently Amelia Jones does not exist but is the ultimate ref- that “Real” she opted for a Lacanian In her earlier work, this position more than once, Jones has qualified seeks to reach. erent that symbolic action documentation an inev- an entry into the symbolic and in photographic seeing in performance meaning. itable shoring up of contingent tion uments Amelia Jones’s 17. Amelia Jones’s 18. 19. brushed) case of the written. The general question they and presence-oriented theorists both The general brushed) case of the written. the What is the relation of written to oral text? In the case of performance, try to answer is: do supposedly and how How are audiences addressed, question as I formulate it then becomes: audiences? I am con- “reading” work towards later, presence-driven artists like Brus orient their cases historically before hoping to understand what vinced that we need to examine particular or the myth thereof. “presence” constitutes and its mediated iteration (writing) is less sharply which the conflict between event (orality) charted the relation whose studies rigorously Ong, Walter The Jesuit literary theorist drawn. of how also addressed the question thinking, ship between written and oral literature and writers conceive of their audience. fashioning, yet nevertheless it collapses when faced with the misunderstanding, tedium, and rep- tedium, with the misunderstanding, when faced nevertheless it collapses yet fashioning, introduce into performance. etition that audiences This should be unprob- one. as that of a written text to an oral between event and audience a special (metaphysically air who insist that the oral is just lematic even to deconstructionists edges that audiences are empirically diffuse and certainly unavailable to the performer at the edges that audiences are empirically diffuse “a fiction” and he provocatively argues that the audience is always time of performance, ist bridge the distance? Ong’s bold answer, announced in the very title of his article, was: “The was: announced in the very title of his article, ist bridge the distance? Ong’s bold answer, there is no way of Ong argued, After all, (Ong 1975). writer’s audience is always a fiction” a particular nor of directing the writing towards knowing who will be in the future audience, the text must set up an imaginary audience and work to pull them into Rather, audience only. on the subway can enter a world unfamiliar to him in so that the office clerk reading the story, real life mance, Jones argues against any ascription of presence on the basis of her own disenchanted against any ascription of presence on the Jones argues mance, performance. experiences with live Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021

146 Mechtild Widrich through literarymeans. in thatitdoesnotexist, butratherthatitisbeingsetuptoassumeacertainframeofmind 21. 20. yet, itisplacedacrossfromaphotographofNitschinside thecellar, attackingalambwithwhat not haveanyaccesstotheaction, butonlytoitsdissolution bythepolice of thepublicationreports, watchingthepoliceintervention. Obviously, theaudienceheredoes shows acrowdof “ordinary” Austrians on thestreet 10 and11). The actionwasfamouslythefirstto beinterruptedbythepolice, andtheanthology in theprivatebasementspaceofPerinetkeller, theFestival ofPsycho-Physical Naturalism (figs. lic, thelattertwomoreorlessconverging. The samestrategyisusedforanearlyactionof1963 but ratherjustthecoreofperformanceasweknowit:Brus, thepolice, andahostilepub- tion; andBrusemergingfromthepolicestation(fig. 9). Nowalkthroughthecityisdepicted, ing Brus’spapers, whileanonlooker’sbackframesthephotographandsuggestspublicreac- display. Inthisanthology, Vienna Walk isrepresentedthroughtwoimages:thepolicemanstudy- performances, itisstrikinghowmuchofVienna Walk’s uninformedaudienceonthestreetis is pouredindiscriminately, muchofitinvertiginousclose-up. Giventheinsularityofcellar explicit andthevisceral. Genitalsofbothsexesaredisplayed, deadlambsarecutopenandpaint of the Vienna Group. notably, throughcomparisonwiththeanarchicbutmoreascetic, Fluxus-orientedHappenings the compendiumsketchesasocialandaestheticcontextthroughjuxtapositionofimages newspaper clipsinterspersed. The photographsbearnocaptions. of thebook(pages1–239)consistsimageswithonlyafewmanifestoesandfacsimiles sional immediacyofafanzineandthecool, drydesignofconceptualart. Morethantwothirds while thebook’saestheticisambiguous:itseemstostakeoutapositionbetweenunprofes- The textglorifiesthe Actioniststhemselvesasrevolutionaryoutcastsrattlinganossifiedsociety, framework forthereceptionof Actionism, whichitendowedwiththecanonical–ismofitstitle. images, andledtolegalactionagainsttheeditors, butitsucceededinsettingupahistorical Actionism andFilm). The bookwasascandalduetotheexplicitlysexualcontentofseveral Wien. Bildkompendium Wiener Aktionismus undFilm (Vienna. PictureCompendiumof Viennese in theanthologypublishedbyartistsPeter Weibel and VALIE EXPORT in1970, entitled its documentation?Strongevidenceoftheaudience’srolein Viennese Actionism canbefound question: To what extentdoesanaudienceparticipateinaperformance, inparticularthrough truth andfictionconspireinperformance. Thepersistentvisibilityoftheaudienceraisesanovel the performanceand, inturn, theirrepresentationindocuments, aflexibletoolforseeinghow ing asinformativeaudiencesforthebenefitoflaterreaders. ences intheperformancedocumentascontextualanchorsforinterpretingaction, function- Clearly manydo, asevidencedbyonestrategyfordoingsointheinclusionofuninformedaudi- any indicationthatperformanceartistsconstructtheirlateraudiencesthroughdocumentation? and early1970sthatintendedtoprovokecontemporarysociety? To bemoreprecise, isthere and audiences. Doesthisargumentapplytoperformanceart, particularlyactionsofthe1960s tion ofanevent, withoutlettinggooftheundeniablehistoricalencountersbetweendocuments The performancesofthecore Actionists arepresentedwithanemphasisonthesexually We havein thishistoricalmodelofearlyandlateaudiencestheirdegreeaccessto This claimnicelycapturestheconcernofperformancestudieswithallegedconstruc- pictures to see the actions again in the proffered political context. first bombarded by wordless pictures (and an occasional manifesto), then reads the explanations, returning to the of groups and events), and a chronology. It to the mechanics of reading is crucial the Pages 241–67 contain the missing captions, followed on pages 269–94 by a “synopsis” (biographies, description writer, e.g., Hemingway’s method of describing landscapes as if we already them. knew translated into English in 1978), but Ong is more specific in tracing how the reader is actually “cast” by the In Germany, reception theorist Wolfgang Iser had talked about the “implied” reader some years earlier (Iser 1972, 20 — supposedly, orsothecaptionatend 21 Dispensingwithparalleltext, Bildkompendium that one is — if eventhat. And — most Viennese Actionism 147 Wiener Wiener Bildkompendium Bildkompendium , 1965; from from 1965; , (ViennaWalk) Spaziergang Figure 9. Günter Brus emerging from the police station, police the Brusfrom emerging Günter 9. Figure Exportand 1970:58). (Weibel Film und Aktionismus Wiener and Weibel courtesy Peter of Widrich; Mechtild by scan (Photo EXPORT) VALIE - - - - photos, photos, crucial cues — 22

Of course ascriptions of intention are tricky, since the claim about the audience is made by Weibel and EXPORT EXPORT and Weibel by made is audience the about claim the since tricky, are intention of ascriptions course Of in reprisals official include to careful were Actionists the Brus, of case the in seen have we as But fact. the after performance.their in implication by and documentation, their I would like to review my claims on the historicity of performance in light of what might might I would like to review my claims on the historicity of performance in light of what - Performance photogra pret as the spatial and political environment from which the photograph is detached. then, The uninformed audience, guarantees reality even though And it gives it doesn’t supply it. us — Ong’s fictional audience photo- coming late to the text, or event graph, for contextualizing a narrative that may or may not be true (or is true to a degree): what we may of the audience is so effective in suggesting that an This presentation call a historical argument. it is often simply taken for proof of the direct politi- event has evoked a particular response that confrontations often seem more as editors, EXPORT and Weibel For cal force of performance. all incidents and the book contains an appendix that meticulously lists relevant than actions, The uninformed audience captured in the photographs plays a pivotal role in with the police. it. Actionism as we know positing a violent Actionism so desires a that “presence” Is the of performance. “skeptical theory” be called the Consider once again Brus’s necessary fiction? It all depends on what we mean by presence. “the wall,” in with its description of origins beyond the pictorial surface, “Self-Painting,” text Are these mythic origins or sources to be “the human body.” “the living thing,” “the object,” including as they They are heterogeneous, understood as anxious attempts to fix meaning? phy does not always capture all but it that comprises an event, does always permit us to imaginatively assign meaning to the performance in the time of its to what we inter enactment, 22. ated lamb. And so an audience And so ated lamb. us never nearly as ignorant as looks like a carpenter’s tool. For carpenter’s tool. looks like a outside (and who the people us, many actually saw knows how in the basement) are the action one that public, an informative through the we are expected, positioning of the two to connect with the actions to connect with the actions eviscer on the inside and the not so theless speaks volumes, Actionist per much about actual formance as about how that formance as about how performance was intended for posterity. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021

148 Mechtild Widrich 23. tenance)” (1971:328). which will remain a future now, and therefore in a now in general, in the transcendental form of nowness (main- cal nonpresence of the signer. But, it will be said, it also marks and retains his having-been present in a past now, Derrida writes on Austin’s of signatures: view “By definition, a written signature implies the actual or empiri- Austin’s metaphorisageometricalone, the “the source” ofanutterance(1971:328). But Derrida alsodescribesas “the present,” and precisely thisreferencetothe “origin,” which critique of Austin, JacquesDerridaattacks bal reference-co-ordinates” (1975:60). Inhis which isusedgenerallyinanysystemofver former, whomhecalls “the utterance-origin Austin’s aboutthephysicalroleofper origin ofmeaning. The pointisnotunlike the inclusionofbodyasonesuchrelative “arises astheresult” (entstehtalsErgebnis) of Brus entruststocameraandspectatoronly “event” or “Happening” (Geschehen) that things existingintimeandspace. And the crete referencesto imate matter, butinallcasestheyarecon- do humanandnonhuman, livingandinan- VALIE EXPORT) by Mechtild Widrich; of Peter courtesy Weibel and (Weibel and 1970:47–48). Export (Photo scans Bildkompendium Wiener Aktionismus und Film 1963. Fromwitness to the police interruption, Physical Naturalism, and a crowd of Austrians space of the Perinetkeller, the Actionists, in the private basement performed Figures 10 & 11. An early action by the Viennese and time. tion theveryexistenceofspace to criticizeitonehasques- location inspaceandtime, and It isastatementofcontext, of transcendent fountofmeaning. tem ofco-ordinates” andnota origin orcenterpointofa “sys- “imparting meaning to oneself” “imparting meaningtooneself” physical sensethatinvolves senses of “presence”: ameta- wall.” There arethusatleasttwo tion inBrus’s “origin...in the that thereisnosuchimplica- physical plenitude, itseemsclear unhappily evocativeofmeta- Even if Austin’s“origin”is Even historical situations, to 23

Festival of Psycho- -

Viennese Actionism 149 The 26 packaged who have — specific and specific and is by no means an endpoint is by no means — .” It is relational and and relational is It .” Walk Vienna Artists of the 1960s and 1970s 25 it seems we have to accept a rad- it seems we have to accept — The metaphysical sense is clearly false, and the rela- and the false, sense is clearly The metaphysical 24

after all, the photographs of these transgressions usually return to an institutional set- the photographs of these transgressions usually return to an institutional after all, for metaphysical plentitude some do hope though perhaps

— What implications do Brus’s narrative photographs have for performance in general? Do Brus’s narrative photographs have for performance What implications do This is the use found in a sentence like “Hoffenreich was present at Brus’s Brus’s present at was “Hoffenreich like sentence a in found use the is This only attacks she that out pointed Jones correspondence, email our In meaning. of origin transcendent no implies 2008:53. Widrich also See “presence.” of use metaphysical first, the specific irreducibly on insist to wrong not are Fischer-Lichte Erika and Phelan Peggy like scholars Performance performance to just not attaches historical specificity all to this but however representation, any to prior events another. to referring from event one prevent not does it and representations, including events, assures event an forthcominga performancearticle,a about communicating that were claim it if the make as In I (Widrich 2013). occurrence its In performance the past addresses us directly. But, against Auslander’s claim that the against But, In performance the past addresses us directly. — tional use can in fact help us see why: the significance of a single event is context- of a single event why: the significance can in fact help us see tional use thus will vary in determinate ways from subject to subject and from time to time. But the sec- But the to time. and from time from subject to subject in determinate ways thus will vary schol- performance artists and the one meant by which I posit is often “presence,” ond use of ars that we, that a text can set up so expectations” “horizon of the , talked of the Erwartungshorizont materialize and unknowable reader, unknown, the diffuse, to the certainly true of photographs, This is view of performance. contingent ically fictional, role to inhabit. extent that they give performance a narrative for investigation. In fact, it simply means a particular place and time, a historical context for a and time, it simply means a particular place fact, In for investigation. both in the audiences, in demonstrating the historicity of informative My point performance. nonmeta- endanger the second, is that documents do nothing to book, performance and the they have to at least implicitly if they are to be successful, indeed, physical sense of presence: of the events to which they refer. including the place and time context, sketch out the historical as do authors of literary later audiences through documentation, performance artists construct Hans Robert Jauss or German reception theorists such as texts? If we follow Ong were aware of photography’s power to point at the past while remaining legible in the pres- were aware of photography’s power to point of access recognition of the performative and fictional mechanisms as I have shown, But, ent. in any skeptical conclusions about the general to performances of the past should not result informed or I can go out and attend a performance tomorrow, unavailability of performance. come pre- but meaning will not meaning for me, The event may have some otherwise. and that for the simple reason that we generally grasp different meanings, with the event, generally concern historical significance. debates about meaning in performance theory real significance of the documentary dimension of performance is not one about fictionality but real significance of the documentary dimension performance to the past. about the relation of about historicity, performance through as we are only able to experience event does not matter, “authentic” recon- I instead propose that not only do we need the event in order to imaginatively images, audience but we often also need to be pointed towards the bodily presence of the struct it, institu- in this case of performing outside the to preserve the transgressive artistic gesture, tion because we between live and future reading audiences, thus must be able to distinguish We ting. “think” verbs I deliberately use the taken place. need to be able to think of the event as having references to for of course photographs do not always contain indexical here, “imagine” and and reflecting on the fact that to But taking these photographs as texts, what really happened. as the reading with as much of our own imaginative input look at such images is to read them, contrast to a book, in Of course, can be a starting point for unpacking the problem. of a book, performance we have more than just one document to in the case of with its emphasis on text, 24. 25. 26. in an act of self-creation, and a historical or contextual sense that only asserts the occurrence of asserts the occurrence sense that only a historical or contextual and self-creation, in an act of time. a particular place and an event in Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01October 2021

150 Mechtild Widrich images andnot directing thephotoshoot, bychoosingimagesforcirculation, bypublishingandsellingsome works indistincttemporalstages:bychoicesmadeatthetimeofperformance, bymoreorless pay attentionto, morethanonematerialsubstrateonwhichperformanceoperates. 28. 27. Jameson, Fredric. 1974. ThePrisonHouseofLanguage: A Critical Account ofStructuralism andRussian Iser, Wolfgang.1972. Haaser, Sophie. 2008. Interviewwithauthor, Vienna, 21 August. Gorsen, Peter. 2010. “Der Wiener Aktionismus. EineblaueBlumeimZeitalter dertechnischen Gorsen, Peter. 2005. “Viennese Actionism andPhotography.” InWiener Aktionismus. SammlungHummel, Derrida, Jacques. (1971)1982. “Signature EventContext.” InMarginsofPhilosophy, trans. Alan Bass, 307–30. Butt, Gavin. 2001 “Happenings inHistory, or, theEpistemologyofMemoir.”Journal 24, Oxford Art Brus, Günter. 2007. Dasgutealte Wien. Salzburg:JungandJung. Brus, Günter. 1999. “Remarks on Vienna Walk.” In Writings ofthe Vienna Actionists editedandtranslated by Braun, Kerstin. 1999. Der Wiener Aktionismus. Positionen undPrinzipien . Vienna:Böhlau. Bernhard, Thomas.1988. Badura-Triska, Eva, andHubertKlocker. 2012. Wiener Aktionismus. Kunstund Aufbruch im Wien der1960er Austin, JohnL. (1962)1963. “Performative-Constative.” InPhilosophy andOrdinaryLanguage, ed. Charles Austin, JohnL. (1962)1975. HowtoDo Things with Words, 2nded. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Auslander, Philip. 2006. “The PerformativityofPerformanceDocumentation.” PAJ: A Journal of References process, sodotheiraudiences, informedorotherwise. the documentstheyrelease, becomebothactorsandwritersoftheirownhistory. But, inthe its afterlifeinexhibitions, rumors, stories, interviews, andarthistorytexts. Performers, through tangled layersofresponsearethehistoricaleffectephemeralperformance:theyconstitute but representedandrepresentativeaudience, whatIcalledaninformativepublic. The resulting the bearerofactionintofuture. Inmycasestudy, thereadingaudienceidentifieswithareal neither exclusivelyontheforceofliveactionnordocumentation, butondocumentationas On the importance of performance for a new experience of the for audience, a see new ButtOn of performance the importance (2001). strange indeed if we were only concerned with the photograph. (where the text is rightfully the focus) as opposed to reading photograph, where a performance it would be revisions, author comments, and criticism. My point here is about the standard experience of reading a text Of course it is possible to think of books as “performances” in this sense too, taking into account various drafts, Formalism. Princeton, NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress. München: W.Fink. Kulturverlag Kadmos. Pädagogik, Psychoanalyse, ed. Torsten Meyer, Adrienne Crommelin, andManuelZahn, 105–10. Berlin: Reproduzierbarkeit desKunstwerks?” InSujetsupposé Wien, ed. JuliusHummel. Milan:Mazzotta. Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress. 2:113–26. Malcolm Green incollaboration withthe Artists , 33. London: Atlas Press. Jahre. Cologne: Walther König. inLaphilosophieanalytique , 271–304.“Performatif-Constatif” Paris:LesEditionsdeMinuit. Caton, trans. Geoffrey Warnock, 22–54. Urbana:UniversityofIllinoisPress. Originallyprintedas Press. and Art 28,Performance 3(PAJ 84):1–10. To summarize, thesocialeffectofperformance others, orevenbydeterminingwhoisintheaudienceforphotoshoot. Der ImpliziteLeser Heldenplatz. FrankfurtamMain:Suhrkamp. — Kommunikationsformen desRomansvonKommunikationsformen Bunyan bisBeckett. — savoir: ZumMomentderÜbertragung inKunst, the Austinian “making itso”

— 27 The artist The depends 28

Viennese Actionism 151 90, 1:9–21. PMLA 90, Aktionismus. Wien 1960–1965. Eine Chronologie von Dieter Eine Chronologie von 1960–1965. Wien Aktionismus. — . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis: University the Subject. Art: Performing Body , ed. Uta Daur, 147–67. Bielefeld: 147–67. Uta Daur, ed. , Manifestationen eines Paradoxes und kulturelle Künstlerische

55, 1 (T209):16–45. 55,

Zurich: Seedorn. Schwarz. 138–52. Andrew Stephenson, Jones and Amelia ed. , Text the Performing the Body, In Performing 1960s.” Routledge. New York: Etc. 15:56–61. am Main: Kohlkunstverlag. Jugend 34–43. Vienna: & Volk. Kunst der Kritik, Salzburg: Residenz. 33–49. Moderner Kunst, Springer. New York: of the Photographic The Critical Position and Politics: Poetry between Photography In 1969–2005.” , Panic Belgium: Leuven, 53–68. Westgeest, and Helen Hilde van Gelder ed. Art, Medium in Contemporary in Jones and Heathfield 2012. ed. Rev. Leuven University Press. . Wiederholung transcript. /782980/ (17 June 2011). 4:11–18. TDR Press. University Yale CT: Haven, . Klagenfurt: Ritter. . Gespräche Aktionismus und die Österreicher. Wiener Der 1995. Danièle. Roussel, 26 September. , Der Standard Striche und Streiche: Günter Brus.” “Wilde 2008. Andrea. Schurian, Aktionsmalerei 1988. ed. Dieter, Schwarz, Actionism in the Viennese Hurting and Healing the Body in “‘CatholicTastes:’ 1999. Philip. Ursprung, In Tate Ballet.” “More than the art world can tolerate: Otto Muehl’s Manopsychotic 2009. Philip. Ursprung, Frankfurt und Film. Aktionismus Wiener Bildkompendium Wien. 1970. EXPORT. VALIE with Peter, Weibel, In Kritik der Kunst. den Möglichkeiten einer nicht-affirmativen Kunst.” “Von (1966) 1973. Peter. Weibel, Museum ed. , der Überblick In Günter Brus, Aktionskunst von Günter Brus.” “Zur 1986. Peter. Weibel, Actions. and Works Visual The A Moment of Modernity 1954–1960: Group, Vienna The 1997. ed. Peter, Weibel, Genital EXPORT’s VALIE “Can Photographs Make It So? Several Outbreaks of 2008. Mechtild. Widrich, 4 (Winter):forthcoming. 71, Art Journal Action!.” Camera, “Lights, 2012a. Mechtild. Widrich, und In Authentizität Performance.” “Ge-Schichtete Präsenz und zeitgenössische 2013. Mechtild. Widrich, www.datum.at/0505/stories (May). Datum: Seiten der Zeit “Das Denken ist ein Unfall.” 2005. E. Znaymer, Jones, Amelia. 1997. “ 1997. .” Art as Documentation Experiencing Performance Absentia: Amelia. 56, ‘Presence’ in Journal Jones, Amelia. 1998. Jones, of Presence.” and the Impossibility Artistic Re-enactments “‘TheArtist is Present’: 2011a. Amelia. Jones, 23 March. Personal correspondence with author, 2011b. Amelia. Jones, Bristol: Intellect. Art in History . Live Record: Repeat, Perform, 2012. eds. Adrian Heathfield, and Amelia, Jones, Klagenfurt: Ritter. Actionism 2 vols. Viennese , 1960–71 1989. ed. Hubert, Klocker, 42 (17 October):298–301. Der Spiegel “Hinaus mit dem Schuft!” 1988. Sigrid. Löffler, August. 28 Vienna, with author. Interview 2008. Matthias. Michalka, Fluss. Wolkersdorf: Aktionismus. Wiener im Zur Fotografie 1998. Hanno. Millesi, Salzburg: Residenz. Vorträge. Aufträge, Manifeste, Theater. Das Orgien Mysterien 1990. Hermann. Nitsch, New Religious History and . for Cultural Some Prolegomena Word: of the The Presence 1967. J. Walter Ong, Audience Is Always Writer’s “The a 1975. Fiction.” J. Walter Ong, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00239 by guest on 01 October 2021