Vienna Actionism Museum to End Its Exhibitions After 2027

The Vienna Actionism Museum in Austria will stop running exhibitions in 2027 and become a research institution, ArtNews reported.

Vienna Actionism is an Austrian art movement that emerged in the 1960s. Its artists worked with performance and the body. The museum, which is privately owned, opened in 2024. After 2027 it will be open to the public by appointment only.

The museum's fall exhibition, "Otto Muehl: Art at the Abyss," is dedicated to Otto Muehl, an Austrian artist linked to the movement. It opened on September 10 and will be on view through January 10, 2027. Klaus Albrecht Schroeder, the museum's director, is also the curator of the show.

Muehl's life also includes a criminal case. He was convicted in 1991 of crimes including sexual abuse of minors. The abuse took place in a commune he led in the 1970s and 1980s. He was released from prison in 1997 and died in 2014.

After his release, Muehl received exhibitions at the Museum of Applied Arts, the Leopold Museum and the gallery W&K – Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, according to ArtNews.

The exhibition has also drawn protest. In September, protesters organised under the name Mathilda gathered outside the museum. Their banners read "Pedophile criminal and cult leader" and "Perpetrator's museum."

For visitors, the change means that after 2027 the museum's collection and research material will be reached by booking, rather than through a regular programme of shows. The current exhibition remains open until January 10, 2027.