Otto Muehl on Art, Prison, and the Actionnist Legacy

In an interview with artpress, Otto Muehl discusses his controversial career, the principles of Viennese Actionism, and his community experiments. Muehl explains that radicalism was essential for creating powerful art, influenced by Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich. He describes Actionism as a 'Big Bang' that allowed him to reject inherited social norms, using materials like food, excrement, and language. The human body became a material in material action. Muehl invented 'art direct' in Cologne in 1970. He reflects on his Friedrichshof community in Austria, which grew to 700 people, and its eventual dissolution due to internal conflicts and legal issues, including his conviction for sexual relations with adolescents. He now lives in Portugal with a small group, running an 'art-life academy' focused on creative education. Muehl notes that art is never free, citing historical persecution of artists, and feels at home in the Louvre exhibition 'Painting as Crime.'