Mantua wants to prevent Hermann Nitsch exhibition at Palazzo Ducale: petitions and new controversy

Last April 1, the management of the Ducal Palace in Mantua confirmed that a solo exhibition of Hermann Nitsch, the father ofViennese Actionism, scheduled for late spring and titled Katharsis, will be organized: thus, the controversy that had been ignited at the beginning of the year when news of the exhibition was given. The confirmation has again stirred the spirits of those who do not tolerate the ways of the Austrian artist, who is used to working with the blood of animals in his performances.

In order to prevent the realization of the exhibition, which should be held between May and June (official dates have not yet been announced), two petitions launched by animal rights activists have started in recent days, one promoted by Elisa Righi and directed to the minister of cultural heritage, Alberto Bonisoli, and the other promoted by Cristina Spagna and directed to the director of the Doge’s Palace, Peter Assmann. In the first case, the promoter considers it “unacceptable that a public place of excellence such as the museum complex of Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, which has among its aims the enhancement of the artistic heritage, particularly of the Renaissance period, hosts a performance that has nothing to do neither with art, nor with the Renaissance, nor with beauty.” Emphasizing its “dismay” at Director Assmann’s choice and calling Nitsch an “alleged artist,” the petition calls for “public money to be used for the preservation and promotion of art and not the pseudo-art of an exalted person.” Along the same lines is the other text, the one addressed to Director Assmann: “We wish to OBJECT such an exhibition,” the text reads, “by virtue of the past of this terrible person who claims to love animals.”

The Lombardy region’s councillor for culture, Stefano Galli, also reiterated his opposition and let it be known that the region will not grant institutional support to the initiative: “I find it disgraceful and disgusting,” the councillor said, “and I am deeply disconcerted by Assmann’s decision to set up an exhibition that focuses on a macabre desecration of man and religion, and abounds in gruesome images: a bloody and mortifying provocation. The exhibition will not receive any kind of recognition from the Lombardy Region.” However, the petitions seem to have had no important effect: Assmann declared that the exhibition will go ahead, and urged everyone to thoroughly evaluate Nitsch’s work before making judgments.

Pictured: Hermann Nitsch in a moment of the performance 128. Aktion on October 22, 2009. Ph. Credit Roland Rudolph for Nitsch Foundation.

Mantua wants to prevent Hermann Nitsch exhibition at Palazzo Ducale: petitions and new controversy

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