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Production shows how little the female body is still allowed to do.
While she is currently being celebrated in Venice, choreographer Florentina Holzinger has just caused a scandal in Hanover. This shows how urgently such productions are still needed.
Naked female skaters on a halfpipe in Hanover – that can only be a Florentina Holzinger production ! Nudity is central to her choreography; female bodies interact with bodily fluids and sexual simulation. Provocation is Holzinger’s trademark; it has long since become socially acceptable and generally only causes mild irritation. Not so in Hanover. There, at the end of March, the Austrian-born “superstar choreographer,” who is currently thrilling Biennale audiences with her performances in the Austrian Pavilion, seemingly caused another scandal. Letters to the editor and comments accuse Holzinger of “humiliation” and “exploitation of women.” “Naked women let themselves be stared at on the ramp” and “Why do the women have to be naked? Why not naked men?”
Can nudity shock again? When did societal enlightenment regress so drastically to the idea of the naked body? This debate makes it clear that since nudity began to act autonomously and move beyond the confines of institutional spaces. Florentina Holzinger dared to show naked women in public spaces: self-determined, unvarnished, and beyond passive stereotypes. How else can one explain that two weeks later, people were queuing up in Berlin to see Marina Abramović’s performers naked in her exhibition “Balkan Erotic Epic” at the Gropius Bau ? Granted, men are also featured there. Nevertheless, the comparison clearly shows that Abramović operates within an indoor setting. Florentina Holzinger’s past productions also took place within institutional contexts. According to the Braunschweiger Zeitung , their guest performance in Hanover at the “Theaterformen” festival in June 2025 disturbed and agitated, but was not described as a scandal, being called a “feminist stage orgy at the Hanover Playhouse”.
Outrage over Florentina Holzinger’s “CRASH PIPE” in Hanover. The situation is different with “CRASH PIPE,” the eight-ton steel sculpture on Sophienstrasse in Hanover, designed for skaters to ride on. Discarded cars serve as supports for the ramp, stacked on top of each other like car wrecks. It forms a striking contrast in the heart of a city that is a major center of automobile production. And, as Christoph Platz-Gallus, director of the Kunstverein Hannover, explained in an interview with the “Hannoversche Allgemeine,” it connects to a Hanoverian tradition. “Hanover has the highest density of public art in all of Germany. Of course, these works are often sculptures—objects with which one doesn’t interact much.” He sees Holzinger’s work as a kind of usable sculpture.
This sculpture now blocks Sophienstrasse for the duration of the exhibition – a
circumstance that certainly contributed to the discontent surrounding Holzinger’s opening performance. And: it’s located outdoors. No protective institutional roof, no door to close if you don’t want to look. The three naked skaters and Holzinger herself, who also performed, are in the same space as us; they don’t occupy a stage in the traditional sense. There’s no separation between them and the audience; they are in public space and are temporarily interacting with it. The performance was announced in advance; it wasn’t a flash mob, a spontaneous action where unsuspecting citizens were abruptly confronted with naked bodies. No nudism, no exhibitionism. And actually, not a scandal either. The real scandal in this matter is the flood of outraged letters to the editor. Because they reveal a socio-political weakness.
The reactions to Holzinger’s “CRASH PIPE” are a prime example of bourgeois arrogance. Nudity? Yes, please! But only if it conforms to our ideals: passive, lascivious, young, and beautiful. Anything that doesn’t fit this mold should remain covered up. It’s considered unacceptable when bodies that are “normal” are exposed. The performances of the German artist Sophia Süssmilch also regularly provoke public outrage. Why? Because Süssmilch and her performers also make autonomous decisions about their bodies and the form of nudity. Because they create images of female bodies that don’t fit into the canon of passive female nudity.
“Nudity? Yes, please! But only if it corresponds to our ideals: passive, lascivious, young and beautiful. Anything that doesn’t fit this mold should remain appropriately covered up.”
“Nudity is a reliable way to attract audiences; for any cultural manager who dreams of packed venues, it’s the ultimate highlight,” Claudia Christophersen remarked on NDR. Museums don’t have to contend with accusations of sexism, as outraged citizens of Hanover perceive it in Holzinger’s case. But what exactly is sexist here? Sexism means the “devaluation, discrimination, or oppression of people based on their gender,” according to the website of the Alliance Against Sexism . None of this applies to Holzinger’s performance. She and her fellow performers are, in fact, defying the sexist gaze, taking control of the interpretation of their own bodies, and deciding for themselves how they want to present themselves.
The letters from readers reveal a sense of incomprehension and a bourgeois neo-prudishness that is truly chilling. They conflate issues that have absolutely nothing to do with each other. One reader writes: “For days, there have been reports about sexualized violence against women online – and then naked women voluntarily make themselves available to the public as an art project. The photos mainly show men smiling and holding up their cell phones. What will happen to these photos? Why do women present themselves this way? Why not men or mixed groups?”
Why self-determined nudity has nothing to do with sexism
Seriously? How can you connect sexualized digital violence perpetrated against a woman by a man with women who fight against all forms of oppression, precisely by taking control over their own bodies? Do we all have to cover up now, showing no skin at all? So that the patriarchy doesn’t get the idea of victimizing women? One reader, however, proclaims: What is this supposed to express? Why do the women have to be naked? Why not naked men? What am I supposed to make of this? Does public space belong to naked women on inline skates? Weird? No, it’s completely absurd! The real absurdity lies in the fact that there’s such a fuss about naked women. One would think that by 2026, the feminism of the last 60 years and the pursuit of body positivity would have led to greater equality between bodies. The Holzinger case clearly demonstrates that this isn’t the case.
The world apparently needs more debate, more education, more actions like Florentina Holzinger’s right now. To counter these voices: The core of the problem isn’t that a street in Hanover was closed so that naked women could skate – which, incidentally, they only did for the opening. Afterwards, the ramp was open to all citizens. It’s much more about the reactions to this action. Florentina Holzinger held a mirror up to Hanover. With her performance, she wrote a lesson in societal double standards.
“Crash Pipe” can be seen on Sophienstraße in front of the Künstlerhaus Hannover until March 31st. Afterwards, the eight-ton halfpipe structure will move to Raschplatz.
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