Versumpfung Einer Venus 7 1963

Editor: Here we have Otto Muehl’s "Versumpfung Einer Venus 7" from 1963. It’s a photograph documenting a performance. It's really intense; the monochrome palette emphasizes the raw physicality of it all. What strikes you when you look at this? Curator: The sheer materiality overwhelms me. We see bodies submerged in what looks like paint or some other viscous substance. Muehl's practice often blurred the line between painting and performance, turning the human body into a canvas and the act of creation into a messy, visceral ritual. What do you make of the performative aspect itself? Editor: It feels…transgressive. Like a rejection of traditional art forms. The abject nature of the scene is almost confrontational, playing with the nude. Curator: Exactly. Think about post-war Vienna. This Actionist art directly challenged social norms. The materials themselves—whatever they are—become active agents in dismantling idealized representations of the body, especially the female body. This wasn't about beauty, but about using material excess to provoke reaction. Editor: So, it’s less about the *what* and more about the *how* it's made and what it *does*? The material action, as much as the image itself? Curator: Precisely. Muehl is interested in how these materials—and the labour involved in their application—impact both the performer and the viewer, forcing a reckoning with the physicality and the potential violence inherent in artistic creation. It’s a visceral attack on bourgeois sensibilities. Editor: I never really considered how the act of *doing* can be the core message, overshadowing any symbolic reading. Curator: Artmaking as physical struggle and direct intervention, laying bare the materials and the labour…that’s really where the meaning lies with this type of art. Editor: Thanks, seeing it through that lens definitely shifts the focus for me!