Austrian avant-garde artist Hermann Nitsch dies at 83

BERLIN (AP) — Austrian avant-garde artist Hermann Nitsch has died at age 83. He was known among other things for works in which he used blood and animal entrails. Nitsch’s wife said Tuesday that Nitsch died at a hospital in the Austrian town of Mistelbach on Monday after a serious illness. Nitsch was versatile with performance art, painting, sculpting and composing among his activities. He was a co-founder of Viennese Actionism and best known for his Theater of Orgies and Mysteries. It was conceived as a visceral synthesis of the arts which peaked with a “6-day Play” in 1998. It featured 13,000 liters (more than 3,400 gallons) of wine, hundreds of liters of blood, kilograms of grapes and tomatoes, several animal carcasses and musical accompaniment.