The Nitsch Chapel

A space in the woods conceived of as a small chapel, the project for which gained the artist’s full satisfaction. In fact, Hermann Nitsch made himself available for the preparation and furnishing of the chapel with artworks and installations to be performed on site.

The Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch is the leading figure of Viennese Actionism, a philosopher, musician and painter. Since 1957, he has dedicated himself fo the concept of his “Orgien Mysterien Theater”(OMT): a complete art form that engages all five senses. For Nitsch, theater, the stage, music, architecture and nature are interconnected and essential to one another.

In his artworks, the dramatic aspect of a “hematic liturgy” is conceptually present throughout this painful sublimation process of “glorious blood”. The sacrifice becomes the central element of an identification-involvement process, which dismantles traditional behavioral schemes.

Nitsch’s work is recognized worldwide. Austria, and precisely Mistelbach, dedicated a personal museum to him; similarly, in 2008, the Fondazione Morra in Naples, Italy also dedicated a museum to him with his namesake. What’s more, his pieces are on view in some of the most important contemporary art institutions.