1981

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steirischer herbst ’81 opened with Alban Berg’s Lulu under the musical direction of Friedrich Cerha at the Opera. Another of the numerous steirischer herbst scandals was triggered by the Hermann Nitsch exhibition and his Orgien-Mysterien-Theater (Orgy Mystery Theater) at the Kulturhaus, whose reception is not entirely irrelevant to the further history of the festival. Unlike in 1988, when art was presented in the public space of the city to illuminate its Nazi past, the press initially spurred on the displeasure in this case, before the public’s agitation was expressed with a wheelbarrow of manure dumped in front of the Kulturhaus.

The disparaging statements of the mayor, Alexander Götz (Freedom Party of Austria, or FPÖ), first vice president of steirischer herbst until 1974, and the cultural advisor Heinz Pammer (Austrian People’s Party, or ÖVP), first vice president from 1974 to 1984—who did not call for an immediate closing, as demanded by federal councilor Eduard Pumpernig (ÖVP), but did describe the show as “unappetizing and sickening,” as “crap,” and Nitsch as a “disturbed individual”—would have long-term consequences.1 They continued to be felt until Peter Vujica officially took over as artistic director on January 1, 1982, and even later.

Vujica himself stated to the regional daily newspaper Kleine Zeitung that he had already spoken with Nitsch prior to the opening about participating in steirischer herbst ’83 and felt “more vindicated than intimidated” by the most recent incidents at the Kunsthaus.2 In the end, Nitsch did not participate in the festival in 1983.

1

Christine Resch, Kunst als Skandal: Der steirische herbst und die öffentliche Erregung (Vienna: Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, 1994), p. 74.

2

Ibid, p. 75.

Program