The Holy Spirit in an ecstasy of pain Florentina Holzinger’s ‘Pfingstspiel’

A marathon of performances you won’t soon forget.

The Holy Spirit runs down the facade of Vienna’s Intercontinental Hotel. At a dizzying height, one of Florentina Holzinger’s performers, stark naked, lowers herself down twelve storeys on a rope. The stunt is part of Holzinger’s spectacular ‘Pfingstspiel’, a performance lasting several hours, taking place this Whitsun weekend in Austria as a satellite event to her contribution to the Venice Biennale. What makes it special is that the ‘Pfingstspiel’ will be performed only today as part of the Wiener Festwochen in front of a total of 700 guests. A unique happening that, in terms of brutality, uncompromising nature and endurance, will surpass anything previously seen on stage.

The performance is divided into two parts. The first part takes place on the grounds of the Vienna Skating Club. Where people would normally be happily skating in winter, there is now a vast, barren concrete expanse. A large rectangle has been cordoned off on the site; spectators gather around it, fanning themselves for relief, rubbing sunblock on their sunburned backs. It is 27 degrees, the heat is stifling, and there is no shade.

The prologue in Vienna is entirely devoted to the biblical story of Pentecost. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, a black car skids at top speed across a thin layer of water. The passenger door opens, smoke billows out, Holzinger herself climbs out and onto the roof, standing upright, holding on only to a taut rope secured to the car’s roof. She stands there like an Amazon or a fearless rodeo rider, the reins firmly in her grasp.