HERMANN NITSCH. KATHARSIS ON VIEW AT DUCAL PALACE OF MANTUA

Hermann Nitsch. Katharsis opens at Ducal Palace of Mantua, the solo show is dedicated to Viennese Actionism master, curated by Peter Assmann, Director of Ducal Palace Museum Complex in Mantua, together with Beatrice Benedetti, artistic director of Boxart Gallery of Verona, in collaboration with Moz-Art Cultural Association. 

The artworks exhibited range from silkscreens print on “original relic” to artworks on canvas, offering to the visitor a comprehensive approach of the artist's work, that is put together with the ancient treasures from the 14th century preserved inside Sale di Guastalla, in the medieval Palazzo del Capitano.

The title “Katharsis” refers to Greek theater (“...the starting point of my art has always been the theater, and in particular the Greek tragedy”) and is linked to the long history of Christian iconography. The solo exhibition focuses on the significance of the experience gained by direct participation in the dramatic event, that creates indeed the katharsis of the title. A note explains: “Nitsch's art is the Dionysian event towards a gushing and cathartic explosion of creative force with an outcome now deeply spiritual, now effectively vitalistic”.

“In short Hermann Nitsch's work – sums up the co-curator Beatrice Benedetti – is nothing other than what is indicated by the three letters OMT: a new form of theater that represents life without the power of speech. It may be added that this im-mediate dramaturgy, giving up on the medium of language, takes the spectator through the simultaneous stimulation of all five senses, in order to display and represent the human existence in all its aspects, from the most physical, ancestral, Dionysian aspect to the most spiritual, mysterious, Apollonian and infinite one”.

Hermann Nitsch
Hermann Nitsch. Katharsis
curated by Peter Assmann and Beatrice Benedetti
Complesso Museale Palazzo Ducale
Piazza Sordello, 40
46100 Mantua
30 April 2019 – 30 June 2019
Opening hours: from Thursday to Sunday 8.15 – 19.15 
Info: 0376-224832
pal-mn@beniculturali.it