Essl's Nitsch exhibition: Art or Fade PowerPoint presentation?

Essl's Nitsch exhibition: Art or Fade PowerPoint presentation?

In the Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach, art lovers await: The inside of the "Mein Nitsch" exhibition, which is curated by Karlheinz Essl, runs from March 30 to November 30, 2025. Essl, a long -time companion and collector of the Viennese actionist Hermann Nitsch, offers a personal look at its impressive and controversial work.

The exhibition will present a selection of Nitsch's most important work from the Essl Collection, which is considered one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Austria. With his wife Agnes, Essl has been collecting work from Nitsch since the 1980s, creating a deep friendship between the two artists, which also includes travel and a lively exchange. The opening of the show will take place on March 29, 2025 at 6:00 p.m., and not only offers visitors insight into Nitsch's artistic worldview, but also addresses central questions about the origin, future and existence.

insights into the life's work of Hermann Nitsch

Nitsch, who was born in 1938 and died on April 18, 2022 at the age of 83, is known as one of the co -founders of Viennese actionism. With his painting campaigns and the orgia-mysteria theater, which he launched in the early 1960s, he caused a sensation and provoked not only the audience, but also the authorities, which brought him in prison for several weeks. From 1971 he lived in Prinzendorf Castle, where he implemented his extraordinary actions and musical ideas and regularly organized his "orgies-mysteries games".

The Nitsch Museum in Mistelbach is a place that is reminiscent of his often mystically inspired works and at the same time represents an extensive documentation center of its life's work. In the museum there is a special course with 14 stations, which is reminiscent of a church Way of the Cross. A large portrait of Nitsch is emblazoned on the front of the museum. Essl also had a purely white picture with the Bible quotation "At the beginning was the word" as an anchor for the course, which underlines the philosophical depth of Nitsch's work.

Curatorial design and visitor interaction

The presentation is controversial. Critics see the exhibition as excessively instructive. Essl has hung up some works at an angle, which affects the visual effect, and the large -format annotations can be perceived as didactically. The topics of orgies, mysteries and theaters, which are essential components of Nitsch's artistic work, do not seem to be adequately used in the current preparation.

A special room for silence offers the visitor: inside the opportunity to interact with a Nitsch picture in 15-minute time windows and to write down their own thoughts. However, the entire preparation is compared to a power point presentation in a seminar hotel, which questions the claim of the exhibition.

whether the exhibition adequately reflects the social and artistic heritage of Nitschs will surely be discussed by art critics and visitors in the coming months: inside. What is certain is that Karlheinz Essl, who, as an important collector and museum founder in the art history of Austria, makes an important contribution to dealing with one of the most polarizing actors in contemporary art. The Nitsch Museum remains a lively place of the artistic dialogue.