Whitsun with Florentina Holzinger: Witches’ Dances and a Monster Truck

With an orchestra, needles and plenty of stunts. The Holy Spirit arrived by parachute. Oh, and Nitsch was there too!

On this Pentecost Saturday, the audience found themselves looking up at the sky on several occasions. To kick off their Pentecost performance, Florentina Holzinger and her troupe of sisters invited the public to the Vienna Ice Skating Club, where they warmed up, so to speak, for the seven-hour event. To the sound of a harp, a performer, secured only by a harness, descended vertically down the facade of the Intercontinental Hotel in slow motion. She literally descended to the disciples, both male and female, who had gathered there full of anticipation.

As a stark contrast to this poetic scene, a lowered car then began to drift right in the middle of the ice rink. The roar of the engine mingled with rapid drumbeats. Holzinger herself eventually climbed out of the car as it circled the rink – having, incidentally, had an arrow driven through her cheeks beforehand, with sparks flying from its tip. Standing upright on the car like an Amazon, she held it by the reins. The metaphor of showcasing and subduing stereotypical masculinity was unmistakable. The stunt: edgy, cool and over in a flash.

Ten coaches parked at the side honked their horns in unison, bringing around 700 guests to Prinzendorf in the Weinviertel region, to Hermann Nitsch’s Schloss. The performance, which took place as part of the Wiener Festwochen, was one of several satellite events for the Venice Biennale. Thanks to their contribution Seaworld Venice in the Austrian Pavilion, Holzinger and her team of around 25 have recently become one of the most sought-after art groups around.