On the occasion of the 30th anniversary and reinstallation of the installation “Einen Augenblick Zeit” by Hofstetter Kurt in the Vienna subway station Schottentor/University.

Actionism as an art practice is not a name for the simple process of life in the dynamics of waking and sleeping, of building and tearing down, of hunger and satiety, of hiding and finding. Artistic actionism is oriented towards the question: Is it possible to specifically determine effect in interpersonal action?

Since 1957, Duchamp’s answer has been that no artist can actually clearly specify what effect his work should have, because the works actually achieve what was not intended. But what does it mean to work if you can’t achieve what you want to achieve anyway or if the effect of your own work even contradicts your artistic intention? This irritation can be avoided either through the self-reflective effect of action on the performer – the hardest way is through self-mutilation – or through the strict separation of reality and reality, i.e. submission to the dictates of timetables, work schedules or time clocks and the subject’s autonomy to determine their own world view as reality, as can be experienced in Hofstetterkurt’s installation “A Moment of Time”.

For 140 years, these questions have been in the focus of one of the most important modernity movements, the so-called Lebensreform. Vienna was the European center of this movement. At present, a new perspective is developing on Vienna Actionism of the 1950s and 1960s as one of the most important carriers of the Lebensreform.

The event begins and ends with the “Fanfare für die Denker” by Hofstetterkurt, duration: 1 min

Franz Hautzinger: trumpet
Konrad Höpflinger: bass trumpet
Robert Puhr: tuba
Burkhard Stangl: electric guitar
Bernhard Hadriga: electric guitar
Jakob Schneidewind: electric bass