ACADEMIA Letters

Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970)

stephen carruthers, Technological University Dublin

Hermann Nitsch (b.1938) was a member of the Viennese actionists consisting of Günter
Brus (b.1938), Adolf Frohner (1934-2007), Otto Muehl (1925-2013), Alfons Schilling (1934-
2013), and Rudolf Schwarzkogler (1940-1969). On December 8 1969, He performed his
31st Material Action Maria Empfängnis (The Conception of Mary), in the studio of the Mu-
nich painter Hans Peter Zimmer assisted by Heinz Cibulka, Günter Brus, Franz Kaltenbäck,
Hanel Koeck, and Günter Sarée, photographed by Ludwig Hoffenreich and Knut Nievers, and
filmed by Peter Kubelka (Klocker 387-88).1 This was followed by a second performance, his
32ndMaterial Action, 7. Abreaktionsspiel, planned for 27 February 1970 in Aktionsraum 1
at Goetheplatz, Waltherstraße 25, Munich. However, because of police intervention, the ac-
tion took place the following day, preceded by a five-minute performance (Pyschdramalett) by
Günter Brus (Dreher).The 7. Abreaktionsspiel was filmed on 16mm in black and white (silent)
by Irm and Ed Sommer and by Peter Gorsen for Hessischer Rundfunk (16mm, colour, sound,
ca. 35mins) and Badisches Fernsehen (b/w, sound). The principal performers were Nitsch,
Franz Kaltenbäck and Hanel Koeck, assisted by Heinz Cibulka, Günter Brus, Günter Sarée,
and others. The performance was photographed by Stefan Moses (color), Peter Nemetschek
(b/w, colour),R. Stocker (b/w), and Knut Nievers (b/w). The performance was accompanied
by a ten-piece string orchestra and fifteen-piece orchestra conducted by R. Stocker (Badura-
Triska and Millautz 344).
Material Action no. 32 was the seventh Abreaktionsspiel performed by Nitsch. The first
three Abreaktionsspiel were planned on paper (Nitsch, Abreaktionsspiel 1-31) but not per-
formed , the fourth was performed on 16 June 1966 in the Galerie Josef Dvorak in Vienna
(32-48), the fifth at St Bride Institute in London on 16 September 1966 during the DIAS (De-
1
For an analysis of Nitsch’s Action Mariä Empfägnis see Peter Gorsen, Sexualästhetik: Zur bürgerlichen
Rezeption von Obszönität und Pornographie, Rowohlt, 1972, p. 180.

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.

1
struction in Art Festival) (144-48), the sixth on 4 April 1968 in the Great Hall of the University
of Cincinnati, and the eighth, an acoustic abreactionsspiele, on 12 March 1972 in Cologne for
the Westdeutscher Rundfunk.2
The use of the term “abreaction” or, in German, Abreagierung, had been first used in a
therapeutic context by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Josef Breuer (1842- 1925) in their
joint work published in 1893 “On the Psychical Mechanism of Hysterical Phenomena: Pre-
liminary Communication.”
The injured person’s reaction to the trauma only exercises a completely ‘cathartic’ effect
if it is an adequate reaction—as, for instance, revenge. But language serves as a substitute for
action; by its help, an affect can be ‘abreacted’ almost as effectively.3 In other cases speaking
is itself the adequate reflex, when, for instance, it is a lamentation or giving utterance to a
tormenting secret, e.g. a confession. If there is no such reaction, whether in deeds or words,
or in the mildest cases in tears, any recollection of the event retains its affective tone to begin
with. (8)
Freud was later to distance himself from the use of traumatic aetiology and hypnosis as a
therapeutic tool in favour of free association. Jung in his 1921 article The Therapeutic Value
of Abreaction, rejected the general application of the trauma theory of neurosis as a valid ana-
lytical method, outside of the specific cases of neurosis originating specifically in war trauma
(129-30). Jung defined abreaction as, “the dramatic rehearsal of the traumatic moment, its
emotional recapitulation in the waking or in the hypnotic state” (131). In a modern therapeu-
tic context, the abreaction-catharsis nexus has been defined as: “So, in modern psychotherapy
the term ‘abreaction’ describes an emotional outburst consistent with a traumatic memory, ex-
perienced when an individual relives that trauma. It is usually thought of as accompanied by,
or followed by, a ’catharsis’ or psychological ‘cleansing’ … (Jemmer 30). The American
Psychiatric Association defines Abreaction as, “the therapeutic process of bringing forgotten
or inhibited material (i.e., experiences, memories) from the unconscious into consciousness,
with concurrent emotional release and discharge of tension and anxiety.” Abreaction-catharsis
became influential in the 1960s and 1970s through the Human Potential Movement and New
Age therapies, such as “Gestalt, Neo-reichian bodywork, Neuro-linguistic programming, Pri-
mal therapy, Psychodrama, Rebirthing and Transactional analysis” (Jenner 31). However, in
a modern clinical setting, the value of such a therapeutic approach in treating trauma is con-
2
For a chronological list of Nitsch’s actions, see Hermann Nitsch: Das Orgien Mysteien Theater: Actions:
www.nitsch.org/en/action_type/action-en/
3
“[‘Catharsis’ and ‘abreaction’ made their first published appearance in this passage. Freud had used the term
‘abreaction’ previously (June 28, 1892), in a letter to Fliess referring to the present paper (Freud, 1950a, Letter
9).]” (fn.8 )

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.

2
tested: “Given these technical advances in the treatment of trauma in MPD, it is noteworthy
that theoretical understanding lags well behind. It is exemplified by the persisting use of the
controversial and, in the authors’ view, outmoded concepts of abreaction and repression with
regard to the treatment (including hypnotic) of traumatic memories” (Hart 126-27).
In his employment of the term abreaction, Nitsch draws on the wider historical antecedents
of purification rites and catharsis.4 He explained the psychological function of the abreak-
tionsspiel as follows:
In Abreaktionsspiel through the production of disinhibiting states of ecstasy abreaction
happenings are constructed and experienced. A concentrated transfer back into humans’ un-
conscious psychic states releases the original values of tragedy, the naked existentially in-
grained state of arousal, that in scream lies beneath the word. The use of the scream in human
history predates that of the word developed from the mating cry. (Abreaktionsspiel 2; my
trans.)
In the text for abreaktionsspiel 1, Nitsch sets out key concepts underpinning the perfor-
mances which can be traced to both Jung’s concept of a collective psyche and Nitzsche’s the-
ory of Dionysian ecstasy (Brucher 36; Barnick-Braun 68). Nitsch states that “the ‘Dionysian’
is another word for abreaction instict” (Abreaktionsspiel 8), my trans.) and links it to the
life-affirming function of religious rituals:
Every fulfillment is heightened in religious festival. (Life-affirming abreaction, fertility
cults, veneration of phallic symbols, the sacramanentalising of sexual intercourse, the orgy
as the ultimate form of existential worship,5 religious service, abreaction in religious dress,
communication with the “deity”, with the unconscious). … The excesses of the orgy (sacred
festival) are the summit and abreaction form of Dionysian life affirmation, which always op-
poses the restricting pressure of reality, hence the extreme form of fulfillment, liberation and
cleansing of blocked instincts. (8, my trans.)
In combining abreaction with the word “spiel,”6 Nitsch reinvigorated the psychoanalytic
technique by turning into a therapeutic spectacle rooted in myth. “I will make effective abre-
action into a performance event. Disinhibition will become a theatrical happening, a dramatic
therapy. By means of abreaction realized dramatically I would like to stir up the deep lying
roots of certain mythical forms” (Abreaktionsspiel 68) Instead of the therapist as communi-
cations partner, the performers played to an audience, to create catharsis not an individual
but a collective level: “His [Nitsch] posited emotional manipulation of the audience also has
4
For an historical overview of these concepts, see Jemmer at pp. 27-28.
5
The German text reads “seinsanbetungsform”.
6
The Deutsche Universalwörterbuch (Duden) defines ‘Spiel’ in a literary context as: “in a dramatic work in
the form of a theater performance incorporated dramatic action or scenes” (Dudenverlag, 1983, p. 1184). Nitsch
on occasion refers to “abreaktionstheater” (Abreaktionsspiel 69).

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.

3
distinctly therapeutic traits in the sense of a consciousness-raising acting-out of deep layers of
repression” (Brucher 36). The use of music and choral singing further strengthened this col-
lective catharsis and would culminate in Nitsch’s Orgies Mysteries Theater, performed since
1975 in Schloss Prinzendorf (Badura-Triska, Herman Nitsch’s Orgies Mysteries Theater 33;
Marschall 34) .
In the symbolic language of Hermann Nitsch’s Orgien Mysterien Theater, religious sacri-
fices from various ritualistic contexts play a role in bringing about “abreaction experiences.”
If, in the 1960s, crucifixions had initially taken place only with the corpses of lambs, in the
31st and 32nd actions Nitsch used a human and, pointedly, a female body for this purpose.
The animal victim thus becomes a human victim in a ritual. In both of these actions, the artist
also for the first time wears a chasuble, a liturgical vestment from the Catholic tradition; and
he also uses a monstrance and various other religious objects. The woman is portrayed as
bride; animal intestines are laid on her body and blood is poured onto her; and in addition a
sex act is performed with a dildo. (Badura-Triska “Exhibition Booklet”)
Nitsch’s 7. Abreaktionsspiel, together with his preceding 31st Material Action Maria
Empfängnis (The Conception of Mary), brings together in heightened form many of the themes
central to his vision of using performance to effect therapeutic change. In Maria Empfängnis
and the 7. Abreaktionsspiel Nitsch,’s focus was not only on the liberating abreaction effect
that the performance had on the participants but also on the audience through the use, for
the first time in Maria Empfängnis (Klockner 199), of religious ritual combined with the ec-
static sensualism of a Dionysian festival intensified by the sacrificial slitting open of a lamb
and spreading its offal over the human body. The extent to which Nitsch’s Abreaktionsspiel
achieved his goal of liberating repressed instincts in his audience, raising the question of the
legitimate boundary between art and therapy, is unverifiable.7 After 1971, Nitsch increasingly
focused on the staging of the Orgien Mysterien Theater and in this context Maria Empfäng-
nis and the 7. Abreaktionsspiel can be seen as the culmination of Nitsch’s participation in
Viennese Actionism.

References
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Badura Triska, Eva. “Hermann Nitsch’s Orgies Mysteries Theater.” Vienna Actionism, 33.
7
A boundary Otto Muehl crossed with the founding of the AAO commune at Friederichshof in 1973 (Falck-
enberg 197-201).

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.

4
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Nitsch, Hermann. 32 Action, 7. Abreaktionsspiel. Filmed by Irm Sommer and Ed Sommer,

1969. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns2p-FGF6qs

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.

5
—. 1.2.3.u5. ABREAKTIONSPIEL (urfassungen) polizeiberichte-gerichtssachen. Edizioni
morra, 1976.

Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: stephen carruthers, stephen.carruthers@tudublin.ie

Citation: Carruthers, S. (2021). Hermann Nitsch: 7. Abreaktionsspiel (1970). Academia Letters, Article 2584.
https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2584.