Hermann Nitsch Exhibition in Palermo Sparks Censorship Debate

A major exhibition of Hermann Nitsch's work opened at ZAC in Palermo in 2015, despite a petition with thousands of signatures calling for its cancellation. The show features 40 large black canvases from Nitsch's 40th painting action (1997), created as a mausoleum to his mother, along with photographs and documentation videos. No live performances or animal carcasses are included. The controversy was fueled by animal rights activists, political opportunists, and public moralism, but the exhibition proceeded thanks to culture assessor Andrea Cusumano and Ruber Art Contemporanea. Nitsch, a founder of Viennese Actionism, discussed his philosophy: his work is a 'theatre of cruelty' in the tradition of Antonin Artaud, using already-dead animals from slaughterhouses to explore themes of sacrifice, ritual, and the limits of language. He sees art as a religion, with repetition as its method. The exhibition also highlights Nitsch's musical collaborations with Cusumano, who has directed the Orgien Mysterien Theatre orchestra for 15 years. Nitsch criticized contemporary art as 'tepid' and overly market-driven, contrasting it with the intensity of the 1960s avant-garde. The show runs at ZAC in Palermo, a city he considers perfectly suited to his tragic aesthetic.