ACCIONISMO

Mexico City, July 24 – August 15, 1997

Artists: Günter Brus, Hermann Nitsch, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, SEMEFO (Arturo Angulo, Juan Luis García Zavaleta, Carlos López, Teresa Margolles)

Accionismo presents the work of the most important members and cofounders of Viennese Actionism, as well as a site-specific installation by SEMEFO, a Mexican artist group founded in 1990 in Mexico City. Eighteen large black and white and color photographs document different movements of the sixth action (1966) by Schwarzkogler, a self-destructive action by Brus (Selbstbemalung II, 1965) and a performance of the Orgien-Mysterien-Theater by Nitsch. SEMEFO presents eight recycled oil-drums covered with a greasy substance. These drums were once used to cook and burn corpses at the Mexican Forensic Institute for scientific reasons. The drums are placed in a direct line crossing symmetrically all three gallery rooms. They can be seen as perfectly shaped, minimalist sculptures in the white cube, with a very strong content: death. In several interviews, founding member Teresa Margolles confirms the strong influence of Viennese Actionism on the work of SEMEFO. The equation of art with reality and vice versa, the ritualistic staging of their performances and the sensual, expressive and even baroque design of their installations recall the art of Brus, Nitsch and Schwarzkogler.