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Auto-Perforations-Artistik is a specific form of action art that emerged in the GDR (German Democratic Republic). Under this name, between 1982 and 1991, mainly subversive performances with variable compositions were created, but the practice also included photography, installations, films, objects, texts, drawings, and painting.
It developed in opposition to the state-imposed dominant culture and to artistic production inspired by GDR Socialist Realism. The group Auto-Perforatsion-Artisten was formed in Dresden during studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and included: Else Gabriel (born 1962), Micha Brendel (born 1959), Rainer Görß (born 1960), and Via Lewandowsky (born 1963).
The performances of the Auto-Perforatsion-Artisten show similarities with the visceral and theatrical actions of the Viennese Actionists, although the former were not fully aware of the latter’s work. The actions of both groups have roots in annual, usually winter, festivals or carnivals organized by artistic institutions. Most of the Auto-Perforatsion-Artisten performances took place in theaters, galleries, or during carnival events, as was the case with their first performance, Die Spitze des Fleischbergs (The Tip of the Meat Mountain) in 1986. The following year, they presented Herz Horn Haut Schrein (Heart Horn Skin Reliquary) in Dresden as part of their diploma work, the final project required to complete their studies in scenography.
Before the actions—spontaneously performed in galleries in Dresden and East Berlin—it was never known what would happen. Cultural inspectors and the Stasi, the secret police, could not read any program in advance: there was no “script.” However, state supervisors perceived the improvisation as scandalous and diligently noted how the four would tie themselves to poles in wild costumes, smear themselves naked with paint, throw dough at each other, torture themselves with tools and water, provoke bruises, and submit themselves to electric shocks for their circuit mythologies.