Two years after the death of painter and performance artist Hermann Nitsch, his widow, Rita Nitsch, organized a traditional Pentecost festival on Whit Sunday in association with the Argy Mystery Theater and the Nitsch Foundation.
Since 1973, the festival has been hosted by Hermann Nietzsche at Prinzendorf Castle, where the artist also lived. “Festival is a part of every culture and every religion. It was also an important part of my husband’s art,” Rita Nitsch told noe.ORF.at. People should sit together, eat, drink, talk to each other about the world and art, which is what her late husband wanted.
Photo series with 4 images
From 1971, Hermann Nitsch lived in Prinzendorf Castle in Weinviertel. He painted many pictures and performed many activities here. After his death on April 18, 2022, Rita Nietzsche hosted the first three days of Hermann Nietzsche’s 6-Day Game for the past two years. This year’s Pentecost festival opened the artist’s workspace to curious visitors.
A glass of wine at Nietzsche’s tomb
For the first time, works by other artists were also shown. Films by Katrin Sturm and Felix Vitipschlager, Johannes Ross’s “Stage Animal” and a live performance by Finnish artist Joseph Ka.
Kathryn Sturm has been a performer at the Archie Mystery Theater for 20 years. For her, Hermann Nitsch was a “man of the heart” and she owed him a lot. It is an honor to present his own pictures here at the castle.
Would the late Nitch have been right? Katrin Sturm: “I had a few drinks with him at his grave and asked his permission because he was a little jealous, nitch. But he loved it and is now happy that so many other arts are offered here.
Ready-to-eat live-size bull
An important symbol in Hermann Nietzsche’s art is the bull. In the “Reconstructed Reconstruction” exhibition, the artist and actor Johannes Ross showed a bull whose processed meat will be brought into the context of the whole organism especially for Pentecost 2024.
“It’s a very ephemeral work of art. You’re working against time. After a few hours, the flesh of the work of art is eaten into the public taste of the sculpture,” says Johannes Ross. In the surroundings of Hermann Nitsch’s smell and taste laboratory in the Bell Stable at Prinzersdorf Castle, the artist invites visitors to a conscious eating and sensory experience.
Finnish artist in the barn
Finnish artist Jossup Kaa performed live on Pentecost 2024 as a tribute to Hermann Nietzsche. “It’s my conversation with Hermann Nietzsche, and my conversation with the building. The special event represents the third floor of the castle, the granary,” Ka explained.
“Hermann Nitsch is a special artist and a special person. He was able to unite not only me, but different generations of artists and art lovers here in Prinzendorf,” said the performance artist.
