Otto Muehl (b. June 16, 1925, at Grodnau, Burgenland, Austria) is one of the co-founders, and an important member, of Wiener Aktionismus or Viennese Actionism. In 1943, Otto Muehl served in the German Army and was sent to the Front. After the war, and escaping Soviet captivity, he studied German and History, and Pedagogy of Art at the Wiener Akademie der Bildenden Künste.
In the sixties he began to paint, or rather 'to overcome painting on canvas through staging the process of its destruction'. He made rhizomatic structures with scrap iron (Gerümpelplastiken), but soon proceeded to the Aktion in the vein of the New Yorker Happenings. In 1962, the first Aktion, Die Blutorgel, was performed in Muehl's atelier in the Perinetgasse by Muehl himself, Adolf Frohner and Hermann Nitsch. The Fest des psycho-physischen Naturalismus and Versumpfung einer Venus followed in 1963. From 1964 to 1966 many Malaktionen were filmed by Kurt Kren and photographed by Ludwig Hoffenreich. In 1966 a new concept of Aktion was developed with Günter Brus: instead of the canvas, the body became the scene of action. In 1968, Muehl, Brus and Oswald Wiener organised an Aktionsveranstaltung Kunst und Revolution in the University of Vienna, which caused a scandal in the press; Brus was arrested and emigrated to Berlin.
Gradually, Muehl began to distance himself from Aktion. He regarded the 'happening as a bourgeois art form, mere art'. The 'transition from art to life' resulted in the founding of the commune Friedrichshof in 1972, as a kind of anti-society. Inspired by Wilhelm Reich, all members submitted to the so-called 'Aktionsanalyse'. The declared aim was the destruction of bourgeois marriage and private property, free love, and collective education of the children. In 1974 he played a small role as a member of an anarchic/therapy commune in Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie. In the eighties, tensions within the commune increased until they culminated in a revolt under the direction of Altenberg. When, on top of that, Muehl was sentenced for sexual abuse of children in 1991, the commune fell apart. He was released after 7 years and moved to Faro, Portugal, to start a new commune experiment. Despite suffering from Parkinson disease, Muehl continued his art work, and in 2002 developed Electric painting films, a new technique in which he paints digital photos from actions using a computer tablet and pen and edits the process into films.
http://www.ubu.com/sound/muehl.html
In the sixties he began to paint, or rather 'to overcome painting on canvas through staging the process of its destruction'. He made rhizomatic structures with scrap iron (Gerümpelplastiken), but soon proceeded to the Aktion in the vein of the New Yorker Happenings. In 1962, the first Aktion, Die Blutorgel, was performed in Muehl's atelier in the Perinetgasse by Muehl himself, Adolf Frohner and Hermann Nitsch. The Fest des psycho-physischen Naturalismus and Versumpfung einer Venus followed in 1963. From 1964 to 1966 many Malaktionen were filmed by Kurt Kren and photographed by Ludwig Hoffenreich. In 1966 a new concept of Aktion was developed with Günter Brus: instead of the canvas, the body became the scene of action. In 1968, Muehl, Brus and Oswald Wiener organised an Aktionsveranstaltung Kunst und Revolution in the University of Vienna, which caused a scandal in the press; Brus was arrested and emigrated to Berlin.
Gradually, Muehl began to distance himself from Aktion. He regarded the 'happening as a bourgeois art form, mere art'. The 'transition from art to life' resulted in the founding of the commune Friedrichshof in 1972, as a kind of anti-society. Inspired by Wilhelm Reich, all members submitted to the so-called 'Aktionsanalyse'. The declared aim was the destruction of bourgeois marriage and private property, free love, and collective education of the children. In 1974 he played a small role as a member of an anarchic/therapy commune in Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie. In the eighties, tensions within the commune increased until they culminated in a revolt under the direction of Altenberg. When, on top of that, Muehl was sentenced for sexual abuse of children in 1991, the commune fell apart. He was released after 7 years and moved to Faro, Portugal, to start a new commune experiment. Despite suffering from Parkinson disease, Muehl continued his art work, and in 2002 developed Electric painting films, a new technique in which he paints digital photos from actions using a computer tablet and pen and edits the process into films.
http://www.ubu.com/sound/muehl.html
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