DAS WAM - WAM-Wiener Aktionismus Museum

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THE WAM

The museum

The Vienna Actionism Museum (WAM) is the result of a private initiative by several collectors with the aim of giving Viennese Actionism the necessary and deserved attention at the place where it was active. As one of the most important art movements of the 20th century, the WAM is intended to give Viennese Actionism a representative platform that will anchor it both nationally and internationally.

The museum is home to the world’s largest collection of the main exponents Günter Brus (1938-2024), Hermann Nitsch (1938-2022), Otto Muehl (1925-2013) and Rudolf Schwarzkogler (1940-1969) from the early 1960s and 1970s.

This makes the WAM the only international centre that permanently presents Viennese Actionism and its development.

The responsibility

The WAM sees it as its responsibility to make Viennese Actionism accessible to the public in all its complexity. In doing so, the WAM can draw on a comprehensive collection consisting of action photographs and films, sketches, graphics and documentary material such as visual works by the artists.

In addition, the WAM addresses the influence of Viennese Actionism on the current art scene by presenting contemporary positions in an artistic dialogue with Viennese Actionism in regular special exhibitions.

The future

The WAM sees itself as a place of discourse and continuous dialogue. With a wide range of activities, the WAM will span the arc from the heyday of Viennese Actionism in the 1960s and 1970s to contemporary works. The field of tension in which Viennese Actionism operated back then is more explosive than ever due to current socio-political developments. In addition, the WAM aims to develop innovative methods of communication between visitors and works of art: the museum as a place where art can be experienced in a new and individual way. As a lively place that moves and inspires.