An exhibition of works by the Vienna Actionist Hermann Nitsch, which was abruptly cancelled by Mexico City’s Museo Jumex in February, is scheduled to open in Palermo this summer.
The Orgies Mysteries Theatre (10 July-20 September) is due to take place in Museo Zac ai Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, a former industrial space in the Sicilian capital. The show will include 40 canvases—including a 12-metre-long work on the floor—numerous photos, as well as videos documenting some of Nitsch’s most important actions over the past few decades. A multi-floor “Pharmacy” filled with fetish objects will also be on show.
Nitsch is best known for his performances involving animal cadavers that have often proved controversial. Although Museo Jumex gave no explanation for the sudden cancellation (the works were already in transit), local media linked the move to an online petition, which urged the museum to axe the show on grounds of animal cruelty. The museum denied the petition was behind the cancellation.
Nitsch said in a statement at the time: “Everybody who knows me, knows that I am an animal protector. From my point of view, factory farming is the biggest crime in our society.”
More recently, an action by Nitsch planned for the exhibition Vienna for Art’s Sake! (27 February-31 May) at the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene in Vienna was called off in the planning stage due to the “enormous cost of protecting the Baroque palace” said a spokeswoman for the artist’s studio. Instead, the score for the action, which would have been Nitsch’s 143rd performance, went on display.
