Harry´s Blog

Herbert Kuhner

A contorted “manikin piss,” with the stream directed orally, symbolizes man’s capacity for self-nourishment. It was set up at the Salzburg Festival as art, but its practicality belies that categorization. And the act depicted is not an innovation; Gunter Brus, the actionist, has been doing precisely that for decades.

A platinum skull studded with diamonds - the materials alone valued at 12 million - is another matter. Although the object is modestly estimated at a hundred million, it has been termed extravagant junk by some. They are wrong!

It will be worth every penny of its final price, whatever that may be.

Since cans of Campbell’s tomato soup and comic strips have been declared art, art has been moribund, and now it has been in its last throes.

The diamond-studded skull is its last gasp and symbolizes the death of it.

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Shenanigans in the Secession and “Freedom of Art”

In February of 2010, the hallowed halls of the Secession were transformed into a Swingers’ Club with audience participation. This is complementary to an exhibit by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel, which includes models exercising in sado-masochistic contraptions.

Yes, ladies and gents, that’s the state of art today.

Gerald Matt, Director of the Vienna “Kunsthalle,” answers the critics of the exhibit: “That’s exactly what was said about the Actionists in the Nineteen-Sixties, and Actionism has long since been established as art.”

I cannot prove that the Swinger Club and the works o Büchel are not art, and Gerald Matt cannot prove they are. Gauging art has always been a matter of opinion - it is not a mathematical formula.

Unlike Director Matt, I am not an admirer of Actionism. I would say that aside from the question of artistic merit, violent Actionism borders on the criminal and has been known to transgress that border.

Engaging in sexual relations, including voluntary sado-masochism, in one of the leading galleries in Vienna, cannot be considered to be beyond the law.

I would, however, venture to say that art, or non-art, if you will, has hit rock bottom in that prestigious venue. However, hitting such a surface does not mean that its descent has been halted.

As for “freedom of art” Fritz Kleibel, Webmaster of Harry’s Blog, and I can sing an endless duet on the subject, and there are many who would join in.