After Viral Venice Pavilion, Florentina Holzinger Brings a 9-Hour Body-Art Spectacle to Vienna
Performance artist and choreographer Florentina Holzinger followed her widely discussed Austria Pavilion presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a one-time, nine-hour performance titled Pfingstspiel (Pentecost Play) on May 23 at Hermann Nitsch’s castle in Prinzendorf an der Zaya near Vienna. Created with the Wiener Festwochen festival and the Nitsch Foundation, the work was positioned as a complement to her Venice project “Seaworld Venice,” which staged an underwater-dystopia scenario addressing ecological catastrophe and turbo-tourism. Holzinger, who has built a reputation over the past decade for large-scale endurance-based spectacle, discussed her relationship to Viennese Actionism—associated with Nitsch, who died in 2022—in comments reported by the New York Times. ARTnews also notes that dealer Thaddaeus Ropac began representing Holzinger earlier in 2026.
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This story was covered in Boycotts, Closures, and the Museum Loot Legacy