Nitsch was one of the Actionist artists of Vienna, a loose 1960s group that staged transgressive performances in defiance of social mores. His goal in the series of events he titled Orgien Mysterien [O.M.] Theatre (Orgies-mysteries theatre) was an overwhelming drama of the senses, a gory bacchanalia. This sheet, for example, was covered with pig's blood before being printed with a rendering of the imagined theater.

Gallery label from

Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities, July 30–November 10, 2008.

Medium Etching with pig blood additions
Dimensions plate: 15 11/16 x 11 11/16" (39.8 x 29.7 cm); composition (irreg.): 29 11/16 x 21 3/16" (75.4 x 53.8 cm); sheet (irreg.): 29 11/16 x 21 3/16" (75.4 x 53.8 cm)
Publisher Edition Krinzinger Verlags GMBH, Vienna
Printer Kurt Zein, Vienna
Edition 50
Credit The Philip and Lynn Straus Foundation Fund
Object number 682.1993
Department Drawings and Prints

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