Atelier

	IMPRESSIONS
	"mattressbutcher". damned to lock themselves into the cellar- without women, without wine. "sexmurder in the forest", work of a shoefetishist. friend of free poetry, enemy of ritual butchery. not the man who whistles in the opera. the taxi driving artist. red as expression of beauty, black as good as all colors at the same time. marked by a national catholic parental home. conservative, a good word. "the bloodorgan". riesling and veltliner, a never-ending struggle. green meat to catch students. policemen to get meat and beer. an expert on legends, an artist. backbags lie on his bed.
		Dorian Waller Florian Biebl
	VIDEOCLIPS
	A video was taken at the visit in the studio with Adolf Frohner on April 19th, 1999 . Some short sequences can be loaded here.
	A VISIT AT ADOLF FROHNER`S
	On Monday, 19.04.1999, we visited Adolf Frohner in his studio. He told us a few things about ‘Viennese Actionism’ and we got the chance to have a close look at some of his work. The deputy rector of the College for Applied Art in Vienna told us about his experiences and adventures with Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch at the beginning of the 60s. One funny anecdote was: they wanted to slaughter a lamb to do paintings with the blood when policemen came and accused them of abusing drugs and of playing loud music and of indecent exposure which they hadn´t done. Since they didn´t have a lamb either the happening almost didn´t take place. The event then was saved by a government animal protector who provided the artists with a lamb.
		Kamelia Kazemi
	About their personal preferences Frohner told us the following:
	[O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 You could call Muehl a magician who likes to pee into corners in rooms. Nitsch on the other hand has the urge to tear lambs into pieces. He would really like to be Jesus Christ without being crucified.
	He describes himself as a matress-fetishist and argues that matresses experience all situations of human life. Starting with birth over making love until death.
	His favorite colors are blue and especially red because of their differences. About red he especially likes the diversity of shades.
	Frohner made a strong impression on us. He seems to be wise because his face is similar to Socrates´. And because of his pleasent aura and his gift of imparting knowledge in a way that makes it interesting. It would be easy for him to give us an understanding of art, more than books could ever give us.
	He also showed his generosity by giving us each a coffee-table book about his work which he also signed and made a painting on.
		Ursula Schilly Olivia Smoljan
	IN THE STUDIO
	It is not the "dirtstudio" but a "showstudio" with finished work only. The "dirtstudio" itself is located in the College for Applied Art in Vienna where Frohner is deputy rector.
	He started his narration at the beginning of actionism which he lived and survived together with Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch. The most thrilling story probably was the one where the three of them let themselves wall in for three days to resurrect after a period of artistic creation. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999
	Adolf Frohner sees actionism as an episode in his artistic development whereas his two friends still carry on. Otto Mühl founded a commune where young girls were raped. Therefore he was imprisoned for seven years. Nitsch still catches attention with his slaughter actions.
	Various things have significant meaning for Adolf Frohner. For example the colors red and blue because they don´t belong together for others. For him red is especially complex with a spectrum with a range from warm to cold tones. Also matress´, especially used and thrown away ones are very interesting for him: he sees in them the whole course of life. We give birth to, love, sleep, fall ill, sweat,... and die on them. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 Frohner is also fascinated by the bible and he refers to it in his work.
	On us he made the impression of being a very interesting person. Normally there is a philosopher in every good artist and that´s definitely the case with Adolf Frohner as one can see in his interpretation of paintings or in his careful choice of words.
		Markus Latzke David Leidinger
	THE COLOR RED
	After we had heard and read a lot about Adolf Frohner it was really a great experience to meet the artist himself in his studio in the Radetzkygasse where he told us more about his life.
	For three days he let himself wall in together with Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch. They all shared the opinion that the past had to be reappraised because after the war that "ate" humans like rats there was no longer a place for "beautiful" art. As announced in a manifest Nitsch wanted to slaughter a lamb which was provided by a legate of a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. During this action the artists were guarded by the police. When a little later a girl was murdered near the operahouse the artists were suspected of having committed this crime. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999
	For Frohner the color red symbolizes beauty and in Russian there is hardly any difference between the words "red" (krasnij) and "beautiful" (krasiwi).
	And one more thing tells Frohner apart from other Austrian artists. He finds some of the materials that he needs for his work at the dumpster.
		Matthias Miksch Mehriar Seifi Mario Töpelt
	KILLED LIKE RATS
	We really enjoyed meeting Adolf Frohner finally, after we had already read so much about him.
	At the beginning of our visit he told us some things about the bloodorgan where he, together with Otto Mühl and Hermann Nitsch wrote a manifest before they let themselves wall in the cellar. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 They wanted to signal that, after a war where humans were killed like rats, there was no longer a place for beautiful art and that the past had to be worked up. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 During three days of being walled in Frohner, Mühl and Nitsch were accused several times of doing immoral things ("Artists simply do immoral things!") and were also visited by policemen. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 The first thing the policemen asked was: "Where are the women?". Because in the manifest they had announced that Nitsch would slaughter a lamb a man from a society for animalprotection came by but since they didn´t have a lamb he even provided them with a carcass. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 With that action they started ‘Viennese Actionism’. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999
	After some time Frohner dissociated from his two colleagues because the actions of the two started to bore him. [O-voice] Adolf Frohner, 1999 He only once visited the Friedrichshof (Mühl´s commune) but didn´t like it.
	What Frohner kept of actionism is that he still doesn´t always use traditional, normal materials (canvas, standard formats,...) which he finds at the dumpster. He is also fascinated by matresses especially by used ones full of inner life: for him they symbolize all of human existence. One is born on a mattress and one sleeps, sweats, loves, gives birth to children and dies on it.
	For Frohner also colors have a big meaning, especially red. Red can be used in various tones starting with dark sad ones ranging to light lively ones. The older he gets, Frohner says, the livelier his red is. In Russian "red" (krasnij) and "beautiful" (krasiwi) are very similar words. Another dominant color is black which combines all colors in it, whereas Frohner leaves green to nature.
	With his students he has a relaxed relationship. At least once a month he organizes a party with wine for them so they stay away from other drugs. They are taught the difference between Veltliner and Riesling to develop a sensitivity for art.
		Ursula Schilly Olivia Smoljan
	DISGUST AND AESTHETICS
	The artist received us friendly in his studio. He told us a lot about interesting things and his jokes made us laugh. His language was well chosen, however sometimes he becomes colloquial, "Nitsch slaughters an animal while Muehl pisses into the corner".
	Frohner's favourite colour is red, the most beautiful colour. He likes black too, because it is the sum of all colours for him. Therefore, the painter does not see this colour as a symbol of grief. White is a better symbol of grief in his opinion.
	A good object to work on is an often used mattress. It symbolizes life. People sleep on a mattress, people sweat, weep, make love on it - the mattres accompanies us through life. Afterwards it is disposed of as trash. So it becomes a disgusting object for everybody - but at that moment it becomes interesting for Frohner. He uses disgust - to create beauty as a final object.
	We found out that Frohner is an expert and authority in wine. He requires his students to recognize the differences between Veltliner and Riesling. If they are sensitive enough to taste this difference, they are able to paint good pictures too.
	For us it was a fabulous time with the artist and it was exciting to personally contact one of the most famous Austrian artists. He is a very friendly man, cordial and straight in his opinions. We learned what he thinks about taxi-drivers, other colleagues and critics.
		Matthias Miksch Mehriar Seifi Mario Töpelt
	NO VISIT
	Although we couldn´t participate in the excursion to Adolf Frohner´s studio we got to hear a lot about the visit in school.
	We had already occupied ourselves with his work for some time, interpreted poetry and prose texts about his paintings and tried, for us to find connections and to find out what he wanted to express with them. The outcome: For us Frohner seems to be an outstanding extroverted artist. Some of his paintings made an enormous impression on us, not to say they scared us.
	We learned by reading in his book (we had also got one though we didn´t participate) that Frohner is very integrated and esteemed in the Austrian art-scene. Among his friends are: Otto Mühl, Hermann Nitsch and Erich Fried.
		Markus Latzke David Leidinger