Rudolf Schwarzkogler (Austrian, 1940-1969) was a performance artist closely associated with the Viennese Actionism group. Born in Vienna, he attended the Graphic Teaching Institute there and later enrolled at the University of Applied Arts. His artistic work consists of paintings, montages, drawings and textual works. Actions were also part of his oeuvre, mostly documented photographically and performed without an audience. From the mid-1960s on, he created many of his works and collaborations within the framework of Viennese Actionism (Wiener Aktionismus) as one of the co-founders of the movement. The works often had a ritual, spiritual character. They dealt with medical as well as psychological themes, for which clinical utensils were used.