Florentina Holzinger’s 9-Hour Spectacle Pushes the Limits of Body Art

The choreographer-provocateur followed a hit show at the Venice Biennale with one in Vienna. “Violence is something we’re used to,” she said.

By Valeriya Safronova

As golden hour descended over the Austrian countryside, several dozen people gathered on the edge of a cornfield to watch a paraglider wearing a bird costume head soar down from the sky. Kicking up dust, the performer, Fibi Eyewalker, landed and skidded to a halt. After a quick exchange with her tandem pilot, Eyewalker pulled down her white jumpsuit, revealing her naked, tattooed body, and crouched over the dirt.

“Peace on earth!” Eyewalker shouted toward the crowd as she urinated.

Task completed, Eyewalker led the crowd into the courtyard of an 18th-century castle belonging to Rita Nitsch, the widow of one of Austria’s best known performance artists, Hermann Nitsch. There, Eyewalker climbed on top of a truck and swallowed a sword.

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The Viennese-born Holzinger has made a name for herself in recent years as a choreographer, director and performance artist who pushes boundaries with shows that feature self-harm, live piercings, violence, nudity, and bodily fluids like urine and blood.

People tend to love or hate Holzinger’s work; sometimes, they feel both at once. Though she is controversial, her shows have been produced by major institutions, and she is currently representing Austria at the Venice Biennale. Her presentation “Seaworld Venice,” which she created for the Austria Pavilion, was one of the Biennale’s most talked-about exhibitions during the preview week earlier this month. (It will come to Amant, a nonprofit cultural space in Brooklyn, in 2028.)