Schlingensief’s Containers. Uncompromising Exposure of the Face of the Far Right

The study deals with the re-enactment of the multimedia installation Bitte liebt Öster­ reich [Please Love Austria], realised by Christoph Schlingensief at the Wiener Festwochen festival in 2000. The theoretical starting point of the analysis is the post-colonial theory of Achille Mbembe, who deals with the notion of nanoracism. Schlingensief’s social sculpture on the border between actionism and installationism was a direct response to the Austrian parliamentary elections, in which the far-right party Freiheitliche Partai Österreichs (FPÖ) attempted to enter parliament. In particular, the study examines the degree of performativity, the media structure, and the themes of racism and xenophobia. The focus of the study is on the use of compositional practices and their intersections of type, genre and media. In summarising Schlingensief’s work, whether theatre or cinematic, the author also attempts to capture the artist’s ability to use the medium within and through art forms with respect to the speed of information