Otto Mühl, Aktionen 1966 - 1968, 1977, 1984, Photographs, print on paper, embossed clothbound box, 83 × 68 × 4 cm, Edition of 14 plus I AP
Courtesy of SAMMLUNG FRIEDRICHSHOF, Zurndorf
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Embossed clothbound portfolio case containing a print and six photographs of Aktionen [or performances] taken by Ludwig Hoffenreich.
  • Photographs, print on paper, embossed clothbound box
  • 83 × 68 × 4 cm
    (32 ⅝ × 26 ¾ × 1 ⅝ inches)
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  • Otto Mühl (1925 Mariasdorf, Austria – 2013 Moncarapacho, Portugal) was an Austrian artist, a participant in the Viennese Actionism movement, and founder of the controversial Aktionsanalytische Organisation (AAO), commonly known as the Friedrichshof Commune. Beginning in the 1960s, coinciding with the expanding influence of Fluxus events and Happenings, Mühl focused more on the human body as a new artistic and socio-political entity, extending beyond the surface of the pictorial image. He began presenting his “Aktionen,” explicit and impetuous performances, and staged photos breaking the taboos of the repressive and conformist Viennese society. His actions and those of his Viennese Actionism counterparts, such as Günter Brus, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler, are distinguished by a theatrical connotation and references to crude primordial rituals. The series of rare portfolios published by Edizioni Conz between 1984 and 1985 documents several of Mühl’s actions from the 1960s to the 1970s. Mühl's works were exhibited in two recent major retrospectives at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts (2004) and the Leopold Museum (2010), both in Vienna, and entered the collections of the mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien in Vienna and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.

Artworks (8)