''Eignblunzn'' (also known as Viennese Factionism: Eignblunzn or auto blood sausage) is a 2003
performance
A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Performance has evolved glo ...
by Austrian art theory group
monochrom
Monochrom (stylised as monochrom) is an international art-technology-philosophy group, publishing house and film production company. It was founded in 1993, and defines itself as "an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop att ...
and is considered an important work in the group's history and Austrian art history in the 2000s. The group's members
Johannes Grenzfurthner
Johannes Grenzfurthner (; born 1975 in Vienna) is an Austrian artist, filmmaker, writer, actor, curator, theatre director, performer and lecturer. Grenzfurthner is the founder, conceiver and artistic director of ''monochrom'', an international ar ...
, Evelyn Fürlinger and Harald Homolka-List staged a classic Austrian
Heuriger
In eastern Austria, a ''Heuriger'' (; Austrian dialect pronunciation: Heiriga, Hungarian language, Hungarian: Kurta kocsma) is a tavern where local winemakers serve their new wine under a special licence in alternating months during the growing ...
(wine tavern) in a room at
Museumsquartier Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, and consumed Austrian-style
blood sausage
A blood sausage is a sausage filled with blood that is cooked or dried and mixed with a filler until it is thick enough to solidify when cooled. Most commonly, the blood of pigs, sheep, lamb, cow, chicken, or goose is used.
In Europe and the ...
made out of their own blood. Volunteers were invited to take part. German author Johannes Ullmaier and Austrian journalist Gerlinde Lang of radio station
FM4 joined the procedure and reported about it. The performance was accompanied by political essays about the 'auto-cannibalistic' tendencies of the global economy. The event also can be interpreted as a critical statement about art, art history, the art market, and martialism in performance art (see:
Viennese Actionism
Viennese Actionism was a short-lived art movement in the late 20th-century that spanned the 1960s into the 1970s. It is regarded as part of the independent efforts made during the 1960s to develop the issues of performance art, Fluxus, happening, a ...
).
The performance was adapted and re-staged: in 2018 at Urania Kino in Vienna; in 2023 at
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas, focused on fantasy, horror, sci-fi, action and cult films, the largest genre festival in the United States. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse.
Lisa Dreyer ...
in Austin, Texas.
Influence
The performance influenced other art and media projects, for example a 2017 TV show by
Joko Winterscheidt
Joachim "Joko" Winterscheidt (born 13 January 1979) is a German television host, producer and actor. He became known as part of the duo ''Joko & Klaas'' alongside Klaas Heufer-Umlauf in TV programs like ''Circus HalliGalli''.
Winterscheidt grew ...
and
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (born 22 September 1983 in Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Oldenburg) is a German television host, producer, actor and singer. He is best known as part of the duo Joko & Klaas, alongside Joko Winterscheidt.
Biography
Heufer-Umlauf i ...
featuring monochrom member Günther Friesinger,
Bibliography
*''Auto-Cannibalism Between the Destruction of Heroes and the Deconstruction of Myths. Paralipomena on the monochrom performance Eigenblunzn''. Thomas Ballhausen in the reader "Context Hacking", 2013.
External links
monochrom's Viennese Factionism project page
References
{{performance art
Performances
2003 works
2003 in art
Body art
Monochrom