On Stage. All the Art World’s a Stage
March 15, 2023 to January 14, 2024
The exhibition explores the various theatrical and stage-related forms of expression in art since the 1960s, when a neo-avant-garde critical of tradition began focusing on performative and Actionist art forms that endowed artists with a stage-like presence, often in front of an audience. Among these were the Orgies Mysteries Theater—a mode of performance used by Hermann Nitsch—as well as the appearances of the Vienna Group, whose literary revues stand firmly in the tradition of Dadaist theater, or the media crossovers of Fluxus. Alongside these male-dominated artforms, a feminist scene established itself that portrayed and challenged the effects of patriarchal social hierarchies on gender roles—as in the works of Geta Brătescu, VALIE EXPORT, Sanja Iveković or Gina Pane. They are the historical basis of a theatrical and performative art up to the present day.
The exhibition On Stage. All the Art World's a Stage shows 150 works and work series, most of which are culled from the holdings of the mumok collection.
Curated by Rainer Fuchs