Florentina Holzinger, an Austrian dancer and choreographer known for provocative, physically extreme performances, is representing Austria at the Venice Biennale with a new work titled *Seaworld Venice*. The piece features naked performers on a barge in the lagoon, including a woman suspended upside down inside a cast-iron bell hoisted by a crane, a guitarist rocking at a vertiginous height, and a vocalist screaming like Yoko Ono. Holzinger’s previous opera *Sancta* included a climbing wall, nuns on roller skates, and a pregnant pope on a robot arm, and has toured European opera houses for two years.
Holzinger’s work matters because it pushes the boundaries of performance art, blending circus, opera, and feminist provocation to challenge audiences on nudity, pain, and religious iconography. Her inclusion at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious art events, signals a continued institutional embrace of radical, body-centered performance. The piece also highlights the logistical risks of staging extreme art outside traditional theaters, as the company performs eight hours daily in all weathers at the Austrian pavilion.