= Published to accompany the exhibition Günter Brus in the Arentshouse, Bruges from 12 September - 7 December 2008. Günter Brus (born 27 September 1938, Ardning, Styria, Austria) is an Austrian painter, performance artist, graphic artist, experimental filmmaker and writer. He was a co-founder in 1964 of Viennese Actionism (Wiener Aktionismus) with Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. His aggressively presented actionism intentionally disregarded conventions and taboos, with the intent of shocking the viewer. At the Kunst und Revolution event at the University of Vienna in 1968, Brus urinated into a glass then proceeded to cover his body in his own excrement, and during the performance Brus also sang the Austrian National Anthem while masturbating. Brus ended the piece by drinking his own urine and inducing vomiting, and was subsequently arrested. Through this piece and his other performance works, Brus hoped to reveal the still fascist essence of the nation. This performance created a public outrage at the time and the participants were dubbed by the media as uniferkel or "University Piggies." Sentenced to 6 months in prison after the event and subsequent public reactions, he fled to Berlin with his family and returned to Austria in 1976. Brus also was editor of the Die Schastrommel (author's edition) from 1969 on. He was involved in the No!Art movement. In 1966 he participated in the Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS) in London with fellow artists Gustav Metzler, Otto Muehl, Wolf Vostell, Yoko Ono, and others. Brus was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize in 1996. Most of his works are shocking and controversial. The Johanneum now houses a permanent gallery, called the Bruseum, featuring the work of Brus and fellow Viennese Actionists. (source: wikipdia).