ENTSUMPFUNG
ENTSUMPFUNG is a one-year excavation project of the "Perinetkeller", the former studio of Otto Mühl (1925-2013) and the venue of Vienna Actionism (VA). Several actions by Otto Mühl, Günther Brus, Hermann Nitsch, and Rudolf Schwarzkogler took place between 1962-1967, many of them filmed by Kurt Kren –– e.g. 6/64 Mama und Papa (1964), 9/64 O Tannenbaum (1964), 7/64 Leda und der Schwan (1964), 10/65 Selbstverstümmelung (1965). In 2013, the studio had been an abandoned basement in Vienna's Perinetgasse #1 for many years with one or two tenants using it and rendering the walls after the VAs had left it. I decided to restore the studio and bring it back to its original state from the time of the VAs. The images and video document parts of this process. The title ENTSUMPFUNG means the opposite of "Versumpfung" and is a reference to Otto Mühl's "Materialaktion Nr.1, Versumpfung eines weiblichen Körpers-Versumpfung einer Venus/Enmiring of Venus", September 1963.
