Having mentioned this so much, I may as well explain further. It was an art movement that belonged to a group of Austrians who grew up with the memory of WW2; their work was a reaction against the political oppresion and socail hypocrasy of their country at the time. The main participants were Gunter Brus (below), Otto Muhl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler.
They loved nakedness, violence, destruction and general degredation. Their work does differ visually, but there are distinct aesthetic and thematic trends between them. To explain this, Otto Muhl said, "...material action is painting that has spread beyond the picture surface. The human body, a laid table or a room becomes the picture surface. Time is added to the dimension of the body and space."
A strange bunch really...
(2nd image - Robert Schwarzkogler, 3rd image - Otto Muhl)
There's an intersting article about them here.
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