View of Manfred Deix in studio completing the Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind for Luna Luna park 1987.

Manfred Deix

Manfred Deix’s contribution to the 1987 Luna Luna park was the Façade for a Pavilion with Performers Passing Wind

Manfred Deix designed the façade for a pavilion and performance space where a troupe of specialist performers farted on stage.

Artist

Manfred Deix

Attraction

Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind

Born

1949, Austria

Achieved lasting fame in Austria through the cartoons he published in Der Spiegel, Pardon, Titanic, Playboy, Profil, Stern, and Trend, among other publications.

Deixfigur, a term derived from Deix’s name, is in an Austrian German dictionary.

His Luna Luna contribution continues his interest in the grotesque.

Fairground view: Manfred Deix, Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, June-July, 1987.
Fairground view: Manfred Deix, Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind. Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, June-July, 1987.

His work is so central to what several sources have called the “Austrian soul” that the term Deixfigur (“Deix Figure”) was added to an Austrian German dictionary.

Austrian cartoonist Manfred Deix (born 1949, St. Pölten, Austria; died 2016, Klosterneuburg, Austria) created wonderfully inappropriate caricatures of taboo sex acts, scatological incidents, and ridiculous politicians including the far-right figure Jörg Haider, who Deix depicted repeatedly. His work is so central to what several sources have called the “Austrian soul” that the term Deixfigur (“Deix Figure”) was added to an Austrian German dictionary. Deix’s figures are physically sturdy and in many cases the antithesis of conventional beauty standards. They often appear in duos or groups, allowing characters to play off one another in outrageous situations, such as a reclining man holding a knife to the throat of the dental hygienist probing his mouth.

Manfred Deix.
Manfred Deix, Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind, exhibited 1987.

Deix designed the façade for a concept formulated by André Heller and Walter Navratil. Absurd scenes play out on the exterior archway: a bent-over man’s fart sends a woman’s hair flying; the mouthpiece of a saxophone is inserted into a man’s anus; and a woman’s wind threatens to blow out candles on two men’s heads. Palace of the Winds extends Deix’s inquiry into mixing the banal with the grotesque in order to make visitors laugh with glee and discomfort. Inside, specialist performers farted into microphones accompanied by classical music before a live audience.

Manfred Deix, Façade for a pavilion with performers passing wind, exhibited 1987.
Presentation of instruments inside pavilion with façade by Manfred Deix. The text above reads, “Farting all through the night and always with a good crack.” Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, June-July, 1987.
Performance of the "Radetzky March" by Johann Strauss I inside pavilion with façade by Manfred Deix. The text above reads, “Farting all through the night and always with a good crack.” Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, June-July, 1987.

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In the original Luna Luna book, translated and reissued for the first time since 1987.