Career
His aggressively presented actionism intentionally disregarded conventions and taboos with the intent of shocking the viewer. Sentenced to 6 months in prison after the Kunst und Revolution event at the University of Vienna in 1968, he fled to Berlin with his family and returned to Austria in 1976. Brus urinated into a glass then proceeded to cover his body in his own excrement, and ended the piece by drinking his own urine.
During the performance Brus also sang the Austrian National Anthem while masturbating.
Brus ended the piece by vomiting and was subsequently arrested. Through this piece and his other performance works, Brus hoped to reveal the still fascist essence of the nation.
Brus also was editor of the Schastrommel (author"s edition) from 1969 on. He was involved into the November!Art movement.
The Joanneum now houses a permanent gallery, called the Bruseum, featuring the work of Brus and fellow Viennese Actionists.
The Digital Video Disc further features a 2004 52-minutes television documentary film about Brus called Schrecklich verletzlich – Günter Brus directed by Peter Kasperak, Anita Natmessnig, and Adam Wallisch as well as many slide shows of Actionism photography by such luminaries as Ludwig Hoffenreich. The boxset also sports a 100-pages book with photos and texts by Peter Weibel and Theo Altenberg.
