Podiumsdiskussion „Das Mythisch-Kultische im Werk von Asger Jorn und Hermann Nitsch"

The mythical-cultic in the work of Asger Jorn and Hermann Nitsch - Protestant north meets Catholic-baroque Weinviertel

On 7 September at 6 p.m., a high-calibre panel discussion will shed light on the Gesamtkunstwerke of the two international artists Asger Jorn and Hermann Nitsch from an artistic, theological, psychological and mythological perspective.

Discussing
* Lucas Haberkorn (chief curator at Museum Jorn, curator of the "Hermann Nitsch" exhibition in Silkeborg)
* Florian Steininger (Artistic Director of the Kunsthalle Krems, curator of the exhibition "Jorn - Nitsch")
* Rita Nitsch (psychologist, wife of Hermann Nitsch)
* Friedhelm Mennekes (theologian and art historian)
* Elisabeth von Samsonow (artist and art theorist)
moderated by Judith Weissenböck.

Admission free
Registration requested: anmeldung@nitschmuseum.at

The greatest similarities between the two artists can be found in the mythical-cultic and the gestural-material aspects of painting.  Jorn is the artist of the North, of pre-cultural savagery. The "barbaric" culture of Northern Europe from the Bronze Age onwards, especially the Scandinavian countries, stands in contrast to the Western culture of classical antiquity in the Mediterranean region. Asger Jorn thematises Nordic culture, the "vandalic", in the form of archaic paintings, drawings and sculptures. Jorn's artistic exploration of the Celtic in the northern European cultural sphere of prehistory forms a bridge to the neighbouring MAMUZ Museum Mistelbach. Nitsch immerses himself in the spiritual-Dionysian world of intoxication, ecstasy, eroticism, pain, annihilation and ultimately resurrection. (Florian Steininger)

cult refers to the overall concept of the effort of religious endeavour, which is often expressed through ritual. ritual is a particularly intensive effort to experience the senses. form is used to intensify perception. we find ritual first and foremost in cult, in religious performance. but also in art. theology has made the deepest use of depth psychology, psychology and mysticism for the practice of religion in the vegetative development of the claim to faith. the ritual tears the experience out of its unconsciousness, out of its semi-consciousness into the light of consciousness. the litanical causes a fascination, impresses, inspires, "narcotises", leads into the mystery, into the comprehension of the mystery, into enlightenment. (Hermann Nitsch)

The exhibition JORN - NITSCH

The nitsch museum Mistelbach is currently hosting the first exhibition in which Hermann Nitsch's artistic work is juxtaposed with a second position, that of the Danish artist Asger Jorn. JORN -NITSCH can be seen until 24 November 2024.

"The opportunity to contextualise the work of other national and international artists with that of Hermann Nitsch and to identify influences, parallels and significant differences will open up new perspectives on the artist's work," says Michael Karrer, artistic director of the nitsch museum.

The monumental hall of the nitsch museum uses a grey partition wall to create two meeting zones for two chapters of post-war art history. Graphic works and sketches by the artists are shown along the dividing wall, while the large paintings are displayed along the walls of the exhibition hall. A third area is dedicated to the painting shirts.

Sensual vigour, physical commitment and materiality

Jorn's and Nitsch's paintings are characterised by sensual power, physical commitment and materiality. With his action paintings and Schüttbilder from the early 1960s onwards, the Viennese actionist had decisively expanded the panel painting and defined it as a preliminary stage to his Orgien Mysterien theatre. Above all, his late painterly work is filled with gestural discharges in impasto materiality and strong colouring. Jorn draws from the unconscious beyond the rational world and creates hybrid-organic form wildness that dissolves into an abstract painting substance.

A further parallel can be found in the use of drawing and the primacy of the line, whether Jorn's archaic-childlike cephalopods and human-animal creations or Nitsch's anatomically and organically characterised architectural notations in his graphic work.