"Das 6 Tage-Spiel von Hermann Nitsch"

Prinzendorf

C-print on cardboard

signed (ink) and stamp on verso

On Monday, 3 August 1998, the six-day play by Viennese action artist Hermann Nitsch begins at sunrise in Prinzendorf Castle (Lower Austria). The artist uses the castle, which is situated in the middle of the idyllic landscape of the Weinviertel and which he has been living in since 1971, as the ideal location for his Orgien Mysterien Theater.
The six-day play is a festival lasting six days and six nights, which the artist wants to take place in the castle, gardens and surroundings. The plot, which is set out in detail in a score, is coordinated by the Munich director Alfred Gulden; the Salzburg composer Clemens Gadenstätter rehearses the 150-piece orchestra. In addition, brass bands, wine taverns and a choir will also take part. The rehearsals for the 150 participants of the events start in mid-July.
The organisation of the festival requires complex logistics, as catering for the 1,000 guests expected from all over the world will be provided for the entire duration of the festival. The preparations are in full swing.
The festival is the culmination of Hermann Nitsch's artistic work, which has its origins in happening art and actionism. The central concern is to sensitise and intensify all five sensory impressions and their synaesthetic combination. This also includes eating and drinking. Nitsch sees the festival as a total work of art in the tradition of Richard Wagner and Scriabin; actions with flesh and blood are connected to the myth-processing psychology of C.G.Jung. The artist's first ideas for the six-day festival date back to 1958.

Symphony in six days

"The Six-Day-Game is a composition of real events that can be experienced through all five senses", says Viennese action artist Hermann Nitsch about the design principle of his biggest action so far, which takes place in Prinzendorf Palace in early August. "The six days and six nights are comparable to a six-movement symphony in which dramatic and meditative movements alternate and complement each other.
Thus the first day and its dramatic exposition (bull slaughter) is to be followed by a quiet second day, on which two large painting actions are the focus of attention. "The third day is the day of Dionysus, the day of the required excess", Nitsch explains. "On this day, as in a scherzo, exuberance and tragedy are to mix".
On the fourth day there will be exhibitions and installations in all rooms and in the park of Prinzendorf Palace. The fifth day corresponds to the catastrophe of the classical drama, the "descent into basic excess", as Nitsch calls it: the slaughter of a bull is followed by actions with meat, intestines, fruit, vegetables and flowers. The last day, finally, the artist wants the music and processions to lead into the carefree atmosphere of a folk festival.
Hermann Nitsch, who since the 1960s has precisely defined all his actions in scores like a composer, compares the nights of his Orgien Mysterien Theatre with the meditative adagio of a symphony: "While a string quintet plays under the starry sky in the chestnut avenue at night, the listeners process their sensory impressions and try to find access to the whole.
(nitsch.org)