»Material action is painting that has spread beyond the picture surface. The human body, a laid table or a room becomes the picture surface. Time is added to the dimensions of the body and space.
The material action works with symbols (its difference from theatre), which in themselves constitute the storyline, a consecutive series and mingling of symbols as self-existing realities. They do not aim to explain anything, they are what they appear to be, a reality that transpires on its own terms. slicing a cucumber over a human body means nothing more than what occurs, requires no explanation and speaks for itself. The fact that one will think one's own thoughts is understandable. Performing any normal occurrence before an audience voids the occurrence of purpose, transforms it into a material action.
A person is not treated in the material action as a person but as a body. The body, things, are not viewed as a objects for our purposes, but have all purpose radically removed from them. Everything is understood as form. The human being is not seen as a human being, a person, but as a body with certain properties. Material action extends reality.«
Otto Muehl, Material Action Manifesto, 1964
The material action works with symbols (its difference from theatre), which in themselves constitute the storyline, a consecutive series and mingling of symbols as self-existing realities. They do not aim to explain anything, they are what they appear to be, a reality that transpires on its own terms. slicing a cucumber over a human body means nothing more than what occurs, requires no explanation and speaks for itself. The fact that one will think one's own thoughts is understandable. Performing any normal occurrence before an audience voids the occurrence of purpose, transforms it into a material action.
A person is not treated in the material action as a person but as a body. The body, things, are not viewed as a objects for our purposes, but have all purpose radically removed from them. Everything is understood as form. The human being is not seen as a human being, a person, but as a body with certain properties. Material action extends reality.«
Otto Muehl, Material Action Manifesto, 1964