Nitsch [Films in Progress]

Between the early 1960s through the 1990s, the Viennese Actionist artist Hermann Nitsch staged nearly 100 live action performances with his irreverent group, the Orgy Mystery Theater. These ritualistic, multi-sensory bacchanals often involved nudity, crucifixion, sadomasochism, animal sacrifice, blood, flesh, entrails, food, and semi-religious paraphernalia. Lassnig captures one such performance in New York’s Mercer Arts Center in all its glory (...).

With her own footage of Nitsch’s performance as a point of reference, Lassnig contrived her own staged actions: a man (Roger, her neighbor) is filmed in stiff repose, echoing iconic images of martyrdom like Hans Holbein’s The Body of The...