Mantua, harsh controversy against Hermann Nitsch exhibition at Ducal Palace: animal rights activists start mail bombing

Controversy is flaring up in Mantua around the Hermann Nitsch (Vienna, 1938) exhibition scheduled to be held at the Ducal Palace between May and June. Twenty-seven animal-rights associations, united in a committee called “Unity is Strength,” would in fact like to prevent the holding of the exhibition that will feature the Austrian artist, the father ofViennese Actionism and among the most important names in 20th-century art: Nitsch is in fact known for using animal blood in his performances, and for this reason the animal-rights activists are asking the Superintendency not to authorize the exhibition.

In protest, they set off a mail bombing (i.e., a mass mailing) to the addresses of the organizers, the Superintendency, and the local government. Calling Nitsch an “alleged artist,” the animal rights activists write, “It seems to us absurd and totally unacceptable that initiatives that are based on the suffering of others should be publicized and supported, and we would like to hope that the city authority in charge will prohibit this infamy. We ask the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage to cancel or not to authorize the exhibition and we also ask for a serious and irrevocably opposed position from Mr. Mayor, the recipients of this open letter and the city of Mantua. We would like to remind you that Law 189/2004, in Articles 544 bis/ter and quater prohibits, respectively, the killing, mistreatment and exploitation of animals for shows. In this case they are all present.”

The protests have already had an initial effect, since the Curia of Mantua has withdrawn its patronage of the exhibition, which was desired by the director of the Ducal Palace, Peter Assmann. In fact, the exhibition will have religious references since Mantua is home to the relic of the “most precious blood of Christ,” or, according to Christian tradition, the blood that St. Longinus, the centurion on guard during the crucifixion, is said to have brought to the Lombard city, the place where he suffered martyrdom. Palazzo Ducale’s response, however, was not long in coming: the museum’s press office, reached by Repubblica, let it be known that in their opinion the animal rights activists’ polemics seem superficial and simplistic, that the exhibition will be held, that Nitsch is an established artist, and above all that he does not “kill any animals for his works, but uses carcasses that have already been slaughtered to convey a strong and shocking message with his performances.” This is a position that Nitsch, after all, has reiterated many times, since his exhibitions are often the subject of attacks and boycotts.

Pictured: Hermann Nitsch in a moment of the performance 128. Aktion on October 22, 2009. Ph. Credit Roland Rudolph for Nitsch Foundation.

Mantua, harsh controversy against Hermann Nitsch exhibition at Ducal Palace: animal rights activists start mail bombing

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