Paul McCarthy & Theo Altenberg

Rebel Dabble Babble Berlin (Paul & Damon McCarthy) & Existenz Palast - Körper Schreie Sensationen (Theo Altenberg)

The American performance artist Paul McCarthy and the protagonists of Vienna Actionism strongly influenced the themes, methods and aesthetics of 20th-century and contemporary art. Fifty years since the debut of their first works, the American and European pioneers of the neo-avant-garde were reunited for the first time at the Volksbühne in Berlin. As the kick-off production of Frank Castorf’s final season as general theatre director, the Volksbühne presented McCarthy’s works for the first time in a theatrical venue. Together with his son Damon, he created a complex of works titled “Rebel Dabble Babble Berlin” – a melange of walk-through installation and film, performance, music and painting. At the same time, various cross-genre events based on the motto “Existenz Palast” highlighted the themes and works of Vienna Actionism. Theo Altenberg directed the project. By engaging both artists in intensive collaboration, the project tried to explore how the fine arts and theatre mutually influence one another and to generate synergistic effects for both genres through new aesthetic inspiration from the fine arts – with the aim of exploring the political relevance of art utopias of the 1960s in our current socio-political situation.

Artistic director: Henning Nass
Artists: Paul McCarthy (US), Theo Altenberg, Günter Brus (AT), Harald Falckenberg, Jörg Heiser, Barbara T. Smith (US), Jaki Liebezeit, Burnt Friedman, Bernhard Schütz, Michel Blanscubé (FR), Malcolm Green (GB) Attila Muehl (AT), Charly Roussel (AT) and others