very vienna screen
TRANSCRIPT
Very iennaV Viennese Culture and LifestyleBeyond its Clichées
Power in TranquilityThe Chinese Diaspora in Vienna
Hands On, Minds On, Hearts On!Vienna’s Approach to Children’s Culture
One Night in ViennaThe City’s Vibrant and Unique Club and Bar Scene
Step by StepDiscovering Viennese Dancing Tradition
VeryVienna 3
Dear Readers,
Thank you for picking up this magazine and for your
interest. In connection with the May 2010 Austria-Day
at Shanghai’s World Expo, we are happy to send a
special greeting from Vienna, the capital city of
Austria, to every single reader. You may agree that
Vienna is famous for classical music, theatre, opera,
and for its wonderful imperial architecture. And, of
course, we are happy that you enjoy and admire all of
this. The world’s interest and admiration has given
Vienna got the reputation of being city of living
history. Having a good image is an asset, but being
nothing more than that which an image presents
would be bad for a city’s vital identity.
That is why we would also like you to know that
Vienna is more than just its history. On the founda-
tions of history, a culture of reflexion, of presence, and
also of openness to the future is flourishing. One might
forget that beyond the clichés and stereotypes, the
gorgeous art, a marvellous show can only be realistic
and credible if there is an intrinsically autochthonous
and authentic side to it: the “Very Vienna” side.
You may know that Vienna feeds from its local genius.
That, however, you may not know well: the dialectic
attitude in facing everyday life and wrestling with its
contradictions. This is called the ‘Viennese Mentality’
and it is a blend of opposites: humour and sadness, will
to live and desire to die, astonishing beauty and
triumphant mediocrity, open and wide horizons and
small minds, belief and scepticism, overpowering
sorrow and sometimes negligent carelessness, easily-
offended criticism and irrational empathy and warmth.
All this, and so much more, embody the psychology of
an urban society characterized by rich social and
cultural history, different cultural traditions, religious
programs, and worlds of knowledge. Freud himself
could not explain it.
In order to give you an insight into Vienna as it is for
itself and through itself, the students of the Depart-
ment of Communication at he Faculty of Social
Sciences at the University of Vienna tried to portray
Vienna as it is not shown in worldwide mainstream
media: as a space for creative art with a particular life
style. We also wanted to portrait the city as a place of
science and knowledge, but because there is only so
much space in this magazine, we had to restrict our-
selves to some small examples –those should, at least,
show that creativity also matters in science.
However, there are big differences between Vienna
and Shanghai, but there is at least one similarity:
Better City, Better Life!
Enjoy the magazine,
Warm Regards,
Dr. Thomas A. Bauer, University Professor at the
Department of Communication / University of Vienna
Very iennaVPage Content
4 Power in TranquillityThe Chinese Diaspora in Vienna
7 Chinese New Year’s Concertin Vienna
8 The First Chinese Lantern Festivalin Vienna
9 Step by stepDiscovering Vienna’ Dancing
Tradition
12 Light, Shadows and Motion Vienna’s Unique Cinema
Landscape
14 “Hands, on, Minds on,Hearts On!”Vienna’s Approach to Children’s
Culture
18 Poems, Enzi’s and Tomatoes Traces of Contemporary Art
in Public Space
19 An Urban InterventionSoho Festival at Vienna’s
Brunnenmarkt
22 One Night in ViennaThe City’s Vibrant and Unique
Club and Bar Scene
25 Falafel, Sauerkraut and DumplingsVienna´s Exotic and Lively Inner
City Market
26 Problems? No, Creatives Seize the OpportunityCreative People Giving &
Benefitting in a City Filled with
Possibilities
28 Richness of the 100 Voices100 Communities on TV to Show
Their Insights and Interests
30 Architecture Macchiato:Garnishing ArchitectureYoung Architecture Contributing
to a Vital Cityscape
34 The Baron and His HarnessAboard one of Vienna’s Famous
Fiaker Carriages
37 Death Must Be VienneseEurope’s Biggest Cemetry and
a Sepultural Museum
IMPRINTVery Vienna.Department of Communication,University of ViennaSchopenhauerstrasse 32,1180 Vienna, Austria
Editor-in-ChiefThomas A. [email protected]+43 4277 49336
Executive EditorAxel [email protected]+43 4277 49375
EditorsLaura BakmannJelena GucaninEdith HammerFabian KretschmerJosef LadenhaufJudith ListKatharina OkeAndreas RainerAmelie SpringerMichael Zita
English ProofreadingIphigenia Moraitini
Chinese TranslationsCelia Tsui
Graphic-DesignKarl-Heinz Maireder
The Magazine Very Vienna was produced
by students of the Department of Commu-
nication of the university of Vienna. The
department is the largest communication
education institution in the German-
speaking countries in Europe in terms of
students. Up to 6000 students are studying
in Bachelor, Master or PhD programmes,
each year about 1000 young people start an
undergraduate programme. Fields of study
include journalism, advertising, public
relations, media management, communi-
cation politics, media paedagogy, media
psychology, communication research and
much more.
The Department runs an exchange
programme with the Shanghai-based
Fudan University, Faculty of Journalism.
Each year, a dozen of Austrian students go
to Shanghai for a semester within the
Media Communication Master programme
MCM. In return, up to twenty students from
Shanghai stay in Vienna and Salzburg for a
couple of months.
Viennese Culture and Lifestyle Beyond its Clichées
4 VeryVienna
Power in ranquillity The Chinese Diaspora
in Vienna
25,000 Chinese live in Austria – most of them in Vienna.Four of them tell us how they live and why they think clocks are ticking slower in Vienna.By Jelena Gucanin
owner. “I’ve always loved food and cook-
ing.” The 47-year-old man was born in
Hangzhou, capital city of the Chinese
province of Zheijang. By the end of 1988,
he followed his sister Xie Fei Ru to
Austria.
According to “Statistik Austria” (2009)
there are about 10,000 Chinese people
living in Austria. “We definitely know
that there are about 25, 000. Most of
them live in Vienna”, counters professor
Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik of the
“Shall I put on my Chinese cap?” Simon
asks with a smile, before the camera
clicks. It’s 4 pm. At this hour there’s not
much going on here. The noises behind
the bar cover the room and the waiters
are chatting in Chinese. Neither dragons
nor golden ornaments decorate the
walls, dark red and white are the domi-
nant hues in the Chinese “On”-
Restaurant in the fifth Viennese district.
“I somehow slipped into gastronomy by
accident”, recounts Simon Xie Hong, the
T
VeryVienna 5
Sinology department of the University of
Vienna. “In professional jargon we call
them ‘sojourners’. They are people, who
have a more or less defined migrant-sta-
tus.” Many people do not call themselves
migrants, because they intend to some-
day return to China. Most Chinese immi-
grants hail from a few specific, once-poor
regions. In the case of Austria, this is
mainly the province of Zheijang.
As a successful restaurant-owner, Simon
doesn’t want to return: “Back then I got
the travel bug, I wanted to get to know
the world.” After he had finished his med-
icine degree, he worked at the university
hospital for one year, before making the
last-minute decision to move to Austria.
“I only knew Vienna from books. I read a
lot about its great musicians and writers.
It also happened that I read Freud in
Chinese, his works were considered to be
very elitist. That was Vienna to me.”
New home Simon isn’t the only one who owns a
restaurant in Vienna. “There are about
480 Chinese restaurants in Vienna”, says
the expert. “The Chinese locate them-
selves according to a pattern. At first they
work in a Chinese restaurant. With the
money they save they start their own. If
it works well, they aim to set up an im-
port-export business. They foster a close
tie to China by doing so.” Through the use
of global networks they contribute to
both the Chinese and the Austrian eco-
nomic development.
Simon Xie Hong (47),a successful restaurant-owner:“Just because Vienna is slow doesn’t mean it’s sleeping.”Jelena Gucanin
Liu Xiu Ming (53), a painter:“I love arts and Vienna is full of it.Also, the tranquillity is inspiring.”Jelena Gucanin
Lesheng Chen (24),a student of sinology:“I love the Viennese coffeeculture. If I have some free time, I enjoy itin coffee houses.”Jelena Gucanin
But success doesn’t allow Simon to have
a lot of spare time. He works seven days a
week: “Before, I used to work five days a
week. At the time when I couldn’t speak
German, I used to go to the cinema and
watch a lot of television. Not long ago I
met Karin Resetarits [a famous TV host
A/N] and said to her: ‘You were my first
German teacher.’ Back then I didn’t
understand a word, but her television
programme fascinated me so much that
my eyes were glued to the screen.”
Simon came to Vienna in the 1980s. “In
the 1970s and early 1980s, Austria
opened up to immigration”, explains
Weigelin-Schwiedrzik. “Chinese mainly
came as guest workers, but there were
students and people from international
companies, too.” Another wave of
migrants was caused by Austria’s entry
into the European Union: “For many
Chinese, Austria became a rest stop
before moving on into other European
countries.” Economic factors are still de-
cisive in migration today. Furthermore, a
lot of students come to Vienna in order to
study.
6 VeryVienna
Otherwise living here would be point-
less.”
An Invisible Minority?For Xie Fei Ru, all could have ended differ-
ently. “My life is full of lucky coinci-
dences”, she smiles. She came to Vienna
in 1986: “I worked at a friend’s restaurant.
The start wasn’t very difficult for me, be-
cause I instantly felt comfortable”, says
the confident 55-year-old woman. Later
she ran her own restaurant in Mistelbach
near Vienna – including a hotel and a
cinema. She successfully paid off the
debts of the former owner. “I enjoy being
able to make my own decisions”, notes
Xie. Today, she runs the “Association of
Chinese Women” in Vienna – a club, in
which Chinese women can organize
their spare time.
The organised functioning of the com-
munity is in some ways one of the rea-
sons for which it functions a little like an
“invisible” minority, according to profes-
sor Weigelin-Schwiedrzik: “Chinese don’t
attract attention in public, because they
have a tradition of self-organization and
make no political claims.” In contrast to
other big cities, there is no Chinatown in
Vienna. Locally seen, the centre of the
Chinese community is situated around
the Naschmarkt, the large farmer’s mar-
ket in Vienna’s fourth district. “In Vienna
you could solely eat in Chinese restau-
rants, buy in Chinese shops, read Chinese
newspaper and go to Chinese events –
and you wouldn’t have to meet any
Austrians at all”, the professor smiles.
“We don’t need any Chinatown in
Vienna”, Simon insists. It’s 5 pm. It’s get-
ting dark outside and the restaurant is
gradually filling up with people. Simon is
getting up several times in order to greet
his guests. Most of them know him by
his name. “Cultural exchange is impor-
tant”, he says. “I’ve lived here for such a
long time, people here are kind, friendly
and honest. We are all widely scattered
and that’s good. Why should we build a
fortress?”
One of them is Lesheng Chen. “I’ve been
in Vienna since 2001”, says the 24-year-
old student. At first glance she seems to
be very shy, but this is a false impression.
Her knowledge German is good, yet she
says, that she still has a lot to learn:
“Unfortunately nobody speaks English in
Austria ”, Lesheng laughs. She comes
from Qingdao and belongs to the new
middle class that emerged in China over
the course of the last decade. Her parents
sent her to Vienna to give her a competi-
tive advantage on the Chinese job mar-
ket. “Vienna is very musical and a little
bit old fashioned, too. That’s why my par-
ents chose Austria for me.” In addition to
her study she works as a waitress. She
hopes to graduate from university soon:
“I’m a bit lazy. I could still do more. But
that’s what I like about Vienna: I’m al-
lowed to take it slow.”
So does the painter Liu Xiu Ming. For her,
the clocks in Vienna are ticking slower,
too: “In Vienna I can work calmly. In
China there’s so much motion every day,
it’s so exhausting sometimes.” At her
bright studio, which is full of books and
CDs, the 53-year-old woman admits that
her beginnings in Vienna haven’t always
been easy. In 1987, she came to Vienna on
the invitation of a married couple. She
studied at the University for Applied Arts
with Maria Lassning and later obtained
her Master’s degree at the Academy of
Fine Arts in Vienna, with Arik Brauer: “At
the beginning, not everybody was
friendly to me. Added to this, I had diffi-
culties with the language. However, it
happened that Maria Lassnig showed my
paintings in front of the whole master
class. From then on, I was respected”, she
remembers smilingly. Because of her
cheerful manner and of the leopard-print
blouse she wears, she looks about twenty
years younger than she really is. Drinking
Chinese tea, she reflects about Vienna:
“Vienna is full of arts and culture. In older
times, many Chinese thought Vienna
was in Australia”, she laughs. “However,
it’s very important to make use of the
many advantages this city has to offer.
S
VeryVienna 7
A hot cup of plum wine, blooming jas-
mine flowers and a fish tank with beauti-
ful koi-goldfish are the first things an
Austrian listener visualises, when the
Orchestra sets in for their first song.
Except for those, who have really experi-
enced China, all find themselves back in
the last Chinese restaurant they visited.
People who have been to the “Middle
Kingdom” might hear the whispering
wind in the cherry trees of Hángzhou
along with the gentle sound of the flutes,
visualise Guizhou’s Huangguoshu
Waterfall while listening to the beats of
the kettledrum and let the rhythmic
melodies evoke the paddle stroke of a
dugout canoe gliding through a rice
field, with the Great Wall curling over
hills in the background.
On the 12th of February 2010, the great
ABBA-Show is scheduled to take place in
auditorium D of Vienna’s town hall. And
even though a couple of Chinese fans,
known as karaoke lovers and fans of
ABBA might be attending that, most of
Vienna’s Chinese would head for hall F,
where a very special event was taking
place on that same evening: The annual
Chinese New Year’s Concert with splen-
did costumes, traditional music, original
instruments and more than eighty musi-
cians. This event became a remarkable
success shortly after it was first held in
1998. Back then, China’s Traditional
Broadcast Orchestra had performed on
the premises of the famous Musikverein
Wien, where the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra performs the annual Austrian
New Year‘s Concert. Since then, the Great
Chinese New Year‘s Concert has become
a tradition in Austria.
The well-filled -but not crowded- hall
was decorated with simple black and red
designs, whose only elements were four
chains, each carrying three lit lampions
that shone gold and red lights. The reper-
toire balanced Chinese traditional and
folk songs as well as contemporary
Chinese music. Between great sym-
phonic pieces, the significantly different
tones of diverse instruments shine
through, next to breathtaking percussion
solos. Many different nationalities and a
history spanning several thousand years
of tradition in music are the origin of
these amazing melodies and broad vari-
ety of styles.
Chinese listeners are coming every year
to attend the New Year’s Concert of the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and
some might already have tried Austrian
food in the Österreicher-Haus in
Shanghai as well. Echoing this, fans of
Chinese cuisine may in turn come to the
Chinese New Year’s Concert next year as
well.
with theChina’s Traditional Broadcast OrchestraBy Josef C. Ladenhauf
S tartingthe Year of the Tiger
The Grand Chinese New Year ConcertWu Promotion
8 VeryVienna
When the Confucius Institute invites all
students and friends to welcome the Year
of the Tiger, the ballroom of the
University of Vienna is crowded and
even the last seat is taken. More than 300
guests want to attend the multifaceted
performance of the 18 young artists, all
students of the Heilongjiang University
of Chinese Medicine.
After a warm welcome address by Wu
Ken, the Chinese ambassador to Austria,
the colourfully dressed performers pres-
ent traditional dances, different styles of
Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Wu Shu, a Beijing-
Opera Rap and a performance of the
Huangmei-Opera. When the artists offer
a short practical introduction of Qi Gong
the stage is immediately filled with
guests, all eager to stretch their legs and
arms in all directions,.
After a brilliant two-hour show, a tasting
of gourmet Chinese food is scheduled.
The guests had the opportunity to try, for
instance, the traditional sweet rice balls
known as ‘Yuanxiao’. The Confucius
Institute’s first Chinese Lantern Festival
ends with a relaxing glass of wine. It has
been truly an evening to remember and
repeat.
The FirstChinese
antern Festival in ViennaBy Judith ListL Traditional dances and
martial arts at the Chineselantern festival in Vienna.Judith List
VeryVienna 9
them seem quite nervous. Maybe it is the
first time they are opening a ball. Either
way, they have been practising for this
moment for weeks. The choreography
has been rehearsed many times, the
forms have been elevated to perfection,
and every movement was practice, so as
to be executed at the exact same time. All
eyes are on them and as soon as the mu-
The ballroom is illuminated, the guests
are looking fabulous and everybody is
tensely waiting for the opening cere-
mony. No matter if it is a less formal High
School ball or a traditional event, this pic-
ture is quite common for most Viennese
balls. More than a hundred ‘debutants’
are standing at the entrance, ready to
launch another wonderful night. Some of
tep by StepS Discovering Vienna’s Dancing Tradition
Looking at the tradition of dancing and balls in Vienna, some mightonly see a decadent way for the elites to spend money. And yet, withsuch a wide variety of events, there is room for every Viennese todance a night away in one of the many ballrooms.By Judith List
The debutants have to practice their stepsmany times. Sometimes weeks in advance of the ball-evening. Stefan Bugovsky
10 VeryVienna
Then, 19 years ago, Vienna’s gay commu-
nity founded the “Rosenball” (Rose-ball)
and appointed this day for it, establish-
ing a new tradition. While at the State
Opera, selected guests always dressed
“black tie”, with formal tuxedos and ex-
pensive floor-length ball gowns, the
guests at the Rose-Ball participate in a
huge unconventional party, which every-
one is invited to join. Aside from the Life
Ball, this is a colourful benchmark of the
annual calendar of gay events. Catharina,
who opened the last Viennese Opera Ball
as a ‘debutante’ has already made an ap-
pointment to visit the Rose Ball next
year. Contrasting with the traditional
white ball gown she is planning some-
thing different. ”I won’t wear jeans or
anything ‘normal’, although that is also
accepted. I still want to stick with ‘spe-
cial’, so I will definitely wear something
freaky, including hairdo and make-up”,
she says.
“Everybody can dance!”The many dancing possibilities may also
be why many Viennese learn to dance
early in their lives. There are almost 30
dancing schools in Vienna, offering ball-
room dancing courses for all age groups.
“People coming to our dancing school are
between 14 and 84 years old”, states
Georg, dancing teacher at the “Kopetzky”
dancing school, established in 1878. It is
now the second oldest dancing school in
Vienna. “It is important for dancers to
have fun and have the opportunity to
meet and connect with other people
sharing the same interests”, he says.
Meanwhile, a dancing course for seniors
is being held in one of their studios. “Back
– step – Cha Cha Cha” shouts the teacher,
and although the steps are far from be-
ing perfect, the senior dancers seem to be
having lots of fun. “Dancing is a hobby
we love”, a 75 year old participant states.
sic starts playing, they are marching in
step, parading into the huge ballroom.
The official Vienna Ball Season starts on
the same day as ‘Fasching’ (Carnival),
which is the 11th of November. It ends af-
ter ‘Faschingsdienstag’ (also known as
‘Shrove Tuesday’ or ‘Mardi Gras’). From
countless formal balls, for instance by
High Schools or professional groups, to
rarer, gigantic charity events like the “Life
Ball”, the season is a mixture of very dif-
ferent events. Carnival is when most tra-
ditional balls happen, although some
large events can occur during the rest of
the year.
Many of those are steeped in their own
long tradition. The “Wiener Opernball”
(Viennese Opera Ball) always takes place
on the last Thursday of the season.
Possibly the most famous world-wide
and thus the one that makes the most
imitations, it has already been copied
and exported to New York, Dubai, Zagreb
and Kuala Lumpur. Many High School
balls also claim specific dates and loca-
tions as “theirs”. Their annual balls are
usually organised there, coordinated by
the institution’s senior students.
Ball-tradition meets differentlifestylesThe Opera ball’s history can be traced
back to the 19th century and has always
been a highlight of the season for a spe-
cific segment of Viennese society. It is,
however, not the only event that makes
Vienna’s ball tradition so very special. It
is the diversity of the offerings that does
that. These grant all of Viennese society
nights of entertainment and were tradi-
tionally organised by various ethnic and
professional groups (the latter are the
successors of the ‘guilds’). For a long time,
Viennese Opera Ball was the only event
scheduled to take place specifically on
the last Thursday of the carnival season.
Everything but ordinary – the life ballannounces a new theme every year and many guests follow. Stefan Bugovsky
Even if the ball is intercultural, the sweets –the “Krapfen”, a kind of doughnut – are still a Viennese tradition. Stefan Bugovsky
VeryVienna 11
“We live next door and no matter what
the weather is like, we are here every
Friday. We also love going to balls. In fact,
you can never dance all the steps you
learned in class there, it is too crowded.
But still, it is fun and as long as we can
dance, we will.”
Everyone can dance, and there is no need
to be perfect. “In the past, it might have
been something of a requirement for a
specific social class. These days, our
courses have participants from all the
walks of life”, Georg remarks. “The tradi-
tion of dancing schools is about to
change. In the past century, the focus was
on etiquette; now, it is much more impor-
tant to create an area in which to spend
one’s rare spare time away from the
stress of daily life,.” He adds that dancing
might be the perfect opposite to the on-
line-world, in which the younger dancers
attending courses for teens are “living”.
“Nowadays, meeting new people some-
where, in bars or clubs, is very difficult.
This is why we want our dancing school
to be a colloquial place”. Incidentally, that
is how his parents met – in a dancing
course at “Kopetzky”. Looking at Viennese
dancing schools, it seems much easier to
find a life partner there than anywhere
else, and this irrespective of one’s age
group. Courses for singles are usually
booked out and quite often lead to more
personal pairings.
Many teenagers visit a dancing school
because their parents want them to. “My
parents took me to a ball once and when I
was unable to dance I decided it was time
to learn”, Catharina states and then
demonstrates her dancing skills.
Although she quit taking lessons after a
while, she loves going to balls now.
According to her, being a ‘Debutante’
“was a lot of fun and also has some sig-
nificant benefits. Firstly, since you go
with your dancing partner, you will al-
ways have somebody to dance with.
Second, you can debut at balls you would
otherwise never afford regular tickets
for.” Although there are several expenses
associated with attending a ball, she
thinks that everybody can do it if they
want. “There are some balls where you
need neither expensive gown nor tuxedo,
and for some events tickets cost ten
Euros. Going out to a club is sometimes
more expensive than that.”
Celebrating variety:wearing a “Dirndl”, a ball-gown or a costumeLooking at the annually published official
Viennese ball calendar this might be true.
The beginning of the 20th century fea-
tured the “Laundresses’ Ball” or the
“Coachmen’s Ball”. Today, professional
groups still have balls. While subway
drivers have their own ball at the town
hall, chimneysweeps celebrate at the
Parkhotel Schönbrunn and the pharma-
cists at the Hofburg. School balls or the
balls of several Universities are the stu-
dents’ number one choice. Very often, the
dress code requires a ball gown, but the
younger crowd also occasionally attends
in a cocktail dress or even the “Dirndl”, a
traditional Austrian costume. Strolling
through the crowd at the “Inte-
grationsball” (Integration Ball) one might
even spot guests wearing jeans and T-
shirts. Everyone can find his niche in the
Viennese dancing scene.
Tourists are very welcome to join the
Viennese ball scene as well. One might
most often identify them at the bigger
and very exclusive balls at the Hofburg.
Wandering through the vaulted rooms,
looking at the pomp that characterises
these dignified premises, dancing a
Viennese Waltz in one of the countless
ballrooms they probably decide it is
worth visiting again.
At the “Bonbon Ball”(sweetmeat ball) thevisitors might meeta lot of differenttraditional Austriancandies in person.Stefan Bugovsky
Dancing teacher Georg is working 80 hours a week to fulfil his dream of a dancingschool for everyone. Judith List
Stanek Dancing School Stefan Bugovsky
12 VeryVienna
A normal Saturday evening at the Apollo
Kino, one of Vienna’s modern multiplex
cinemas: outside, huge placards advertise
the newest blockbusters; inside, there are
long queues at the cash box. To get to the
high-end cinema hall, one must traverse
a labyrinth. At the end, a mostly young
audience loiters, noisily eating popcorn
and sipping soda.
That is why Alex Schindler, a 24 year old
former film student, sometimes passes a
Saturday evening with a different cine-
ma experience. “For me, there is too
much claptrap inside multiplex cinemas.
It sometimes feels like a circus; that mis-
ses the point. In an arthouse cinema, it is
simply about watching a special film and
enjoying a more familiar atmosphere.”
Founded in 1905, the Breitenseer Licht-
spiele is only one of Vienna’s countless
arthouse movie theatres; but is stands
out as the oldest of its kind in Austria and
in the world. Today, it shows a different
kind of cinema. A normal Saturday
evening goes somewhat like this: Anna
Nitsch-Fitz, the 72 year old owner, sits be-
hind the little cash box by herself. On the
wall there is old film memorabilia –
super-8 cameras and posters – all of
which predate the 1970s. Inside the little
cinema hall, a handful of people are
sitting on wooden seats, staring at a
small screen, which has the look of the
original, the one that was set up when
the old, tented mobile cinema was made
permanent in 1909.
ight, Shadowsand Motion
Vienna’s unique Cinema Landscape
With roughly 40 cinemas, Vienna is one of Europe’s main film capitals.The cinema landscape is diverse: alongside modern multiplexes, Viennahas many unique and prestigious arthouse cinemas, as well as theoldest movie theatre in the world.By Fabian Kretschmer
The worldwide oldest cinemastill in useAnna Nitsch-Fitz’s relationship with the
cinema is a family affair. Her own grand-
mother owned one. When, in 1969, she
had the opportunity to take over the
Breitenseer Lichtspiele, she did not think
twice. “I bought the cinema at a time
when it would clearly not make much
economic sense. Television was increas-
ingly competing and audiences stayed at
home more and more. But for me, it was
like a childhood memory,” says Nitsch-
Fitz.
Another unique arthouse cinema is the
Stadtkino. Seen from the outside, it looks
a little bit plain. People on the street
might just pass by without noticing it.
But this impression is worn,g since the
Stadtkino is one of Vienna’s most remark-
able arthouse cinemas and the oldest of
it’s kind in Austria.
It was founded in 1981 as a communally
financed cinema. “The goal was not only
to show ambitious cinematic art, in its
original language with German subtitles,
L
The filmmuseum,where exhibitions“take place at thescreen”filmmuseum
VeryVienna 13
but also to provide it permanently to
society. We archive every one of our
films, acquire the rights and distribute
them to all of Austria,” says Claus Philipp,
the manager.
“We try to screen innovative new movies
which would not have the chance to be
shown elsewhere.” Claus Philipp’s profes-
sional philosophy is to realize his cine-
matic vision without any compromise,
which is of course not the best way to
turn a profit. “Two thirds of our films fail
to be profitable. But still we attract inter-
est. I would immediately quit my job if I
had to show movies which I think are so-
cially irrelevant” states Philipp who
started started out as a film critic.
Nevertheless, he does not regard the
Stadtkino as an elitist institution:
“Actually, every movie that we show
ought to concern everybody in this coun-
try”. The program of the Stadtkino in-
cludes international arthouse movies
from international directors such as Jim
Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki and Chris
Marker, as well as locals like Michael
Haneke, winner of the 2009 Cannes
Festival Golden Palm award.
The cinema as a film museumJust a stone’s throw away from the
Stadtkino, in the basement of the famous
Albertina, lies the filmmuseum, Austria’s
only museum of cinematic art. Unlike
other film museums, it does not exhibit
cameras, costumes or other film related
item but the films themselves. The slo-
gan next to the entrance should be taken
seriously: “The filmmuseum is a cine-
matheque. The exhibitions take place on
the screen”.
Nonetheless, the filmmuseum is much
more than “just” a cinema: “For the pub-
lic, it is not so obvious that a great deal of
our work goes into our archive. We
steadily collect and restore films, particu-
larly focussing on the avant-garde, Soviet
revolutionary cinema and German-
speaking exile cinema” says Alexander
Horwath who has been operating the
filmmuseum since 2002.
His goal is to provide a large outline of in-
ternational film history, so that every
generation of cinephiles might get in
touch with it. The exhibits take place in
the so called “invisible cinema”, a room
which is entirely black, except for the
screen. “We purposely abandoned every
decor that attracts attention. Nothing
should distract the viewer from the im-
ages” says Horwath.
He does not only curate film programs.
Indeed Alexander Horwath is truly an
allrounder: He holds lectures about cin-
ema for universities and schools and
publishes books and DVDs. Even interna-
tionally, the filmmuseum is absolutely
unique. Martin Scorsese obviously appre-
ciates this as well: In 2005, he gladly took
up the position of president emeritus of
the filmmuseum.
And yet, this Saturday evening, arthouse
fan Alex Schindler nevertheless decided
to visit the Apollo multiplex. “If you want
to watch the latest blockbuster with your
friends, you definitely should avoid art-
house cinemas” says the 24 year old. He
smiles and adds: “In most of them it is
even forbidden to eat popcorn and drink
a coke!”
AlexanderHorwarth,
director of thefilmmuseum
filmmuseum
The Stadtkino,Viennaís mostfamous art-house cinemaFabian Kretschmer
Anna Nitsch-Fitz,owner of Viennaísoldest cinema behindher counterFabian Kretschmer
H
14 VeryVienna
“Creativity has a high acceptance in our
society”, says Brigitte Rollett, Professor of
developmental psychology at the Uni-
versity of Vienna. “For children, creative
activities have to be fun and relate to
new knowledge. This leads to the so-
called ‘flow’ or ‘aha-experience’.” For
youngsters, entering a museum can be
like discovering a whole new world. A
world of new knowledge, exciting stories
museums and discovering the worlds
they contain. Offering Leander cultural
content to examine usually leads to
loads of new stories and adventures to
nurture his mind.
These days, many Viennese institutions
offer special programs for children, such
as workshops, often during school holi-
days. Meanwhile, famous institutions
like the Viennese State Opera stage plays
for youthful audiences. But few of them
focus on the needs of children as much as
the Dschungel theatre (jungle theatre),
where youngsters are at the heart of the
productions. In fact, the Dschungel has al-
ready staged many performances fac-
toring children into the action. It is quite
usual to find professionals developing
projects and working together with
young artists. An attempt is made to
coax the youngest into reflecting on
“ ands On,Minds On,Vienna has found a New Approachto Children’s Culture
Looking through children’s eyes, seeing what they want and puttingthat into practice is the secret and the policy of several Vienneseinstitutions aiming to prove that cultural activities can also be suitablefor kids.By Judith List
Kaspler, Pezi thebear and Dagobertthe dragon havebeen entertaininggenerations ofchildren.Wiener Urania Puppentheater
Youngsters visitinglectures for children
experience newcultures and gain
scientific knowledge.ZOOM
and lasting impressions, a place to study
the world, have fun and spend their
leisure time. Children are naturally more
curious and enthusiastic about discover-
ing and understanding the new worlds
that are contained in a museum. They
have the right to be seen as an important
target group for cultural offerings. That
is, for example, the case for Leander, a
four-year-old boy who loves exploring
Heart
VeryVienna 15
Children are eager to learn more about
the world, often far more than school
can offer. Focussing on this fact an
own University for school children
between 7 and 12 years was founded in
Vienna seven years ago. Youngsters
might also visit the Children
Museum’s lectures during the year.
Both organisations try to cover several
topics of different sciences, adapted for
the young audience. While at a normal
university usually the focus is on
knowledge transfer, lectures for
children also have to be fun.
How is it possible to catch the
children’s attention? “There have to be
topics which children are related to”,
says Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik,
Professor of Sinology at the University
of Vienna. She recently offered the
what is happening in the show, maybe
even finish thoughts or answer questions
that have not been addressed on stage.
Looking at the various productions, one
can easily recognise that this is not any
random theatre, but a place where un-
known worlds and cultures can be expe-
rienced. In fact, some of the plays are per-
formed by foreign artist groups.
Vienna’s ZOOM Children’s Museum also is
an environment created specifically for
children. Approaching the colourful win-
dows of the museum from outside, you
can already guess what this place is for.
Leander immediately wants to look at
the colourful badges. Inside, he cannot
decide where to turn and what to ex-
amine first. A little display, featuring a
submarine that can be guided up and
down by remote control buttons is so
interesting that he has to forcefully be
Teaching Children about Sciencesand the World
lecture “How do children live in
China?” Teaching children involves
different methods. “I had to show, that
things Chinese children do or play
with exist in their own world too, that
the border between their two cultures
is not stiff.” And how did she catch
their interest for a two-hours lecture?
By showing examples and by bringing
a Chinese colleague and his son she
involved the audience and even set off
the children asking questions.
While the Children’s Museum offers
lectures during the school year, the
Children’s University offers its
program during school holidays.
Visiting a children’s class might lead
into trying the new knowledge out
within another project or maybe even
into finding their later profession.
ts On!”
16 VeryVienna
European countries. In line with develop-
ments elsewhere, two projects emerged
first, the aforementioned ZOOM
Children’s Museum and the equally noted
Dschungel theatre. Nowadays, these in-
fluence the cultural scene for teenagers
and infants in Vienna the most. That
both institutions are now located cen-
trally, in Vienna’s ‘Museum Quarter’ cul-
tural hub, is a lucky coincidence.
Founding a new institution targeting a
young crowd offers many opportunities.
One of the main benefits is that the chil-
dren themselves can be the starting
point for all the projects. Thus, at the
ZOOM, everything is tacitly designed to
accommodate a different perception of
the world: that of infants and school-
children. “Children love to play, that is
how they acquire knowledge”, mentions
Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer, the mu-
seum’s Director. “We think that those
who are led by their own interests are
more curious and this way they have a
totally different approach to the exhibi-
tions.” All displays and workshops are
hands-on programs where discoveries
can and should be made autonomously.
The “ZOOM Ocean” is one of those proj-
ects: designed for visitors of up to 6 years
of age, it sets itself apart by being acces-
sible and welcoming for toddlers. As
soon as he enters the dark blue and green
cave full of fish, Leander snuggles into
the cuddly water-snake toy. Clearly
everything is just right. The guide has
barely finished her introduction when he
sets off, practically running through the
first floor’s underwater world full of sea-
weed, sea anemones and coral reefs.
Where there is a whole universe to dis-
cover, explore and touch, where should
one turn first? While smaller toddlers
stay in the “under water” area down-
stairs, Leander climbs on the deck of the
ship, the better to catch fish, signal to the
Leander is trying to solve the underwater puzzle.Judith List
reminded to take his shoes off before en-
tering the exhibit’s area. “Look, look, it
moves!” he shouts, pressing himself
against the glass pane to study the tiny
sub’s movements.
These days, children’s voices echo
through a museum, saying “Show me! I
want to know how it works!” They are
voices proof that the entertainment of
youngsters has changed with time. This
would have been quite unusual in
Vienna 15 years ago. Of course, while
some possibilities to entertain children
did exist, they were both rare and most
often not attuned to their needs.
Vienna has a long tradition of puppet
shows, and one can still hear children
shouting for “Kasperl” and “Pezi” to come
on stage. These puppets were once popu-
lar features of shows meant for school-
children, and most Viennese older than
30 remember them clearly. The limited
number of available puppet theatres, like
the Urania or the Apfelbaum (apple tree)
and the Theater der Jugend (theatre for
youth), which mainly staged plays for
teenagers, were more or less the only
projects geared for younger audiences.
They remain features of the cultural
scene today.
In the 1990s, opinions concerning cul-
tural offerings for Viennese children
started to change. At that time,
Children’s culture became a political
question, and theatres for youths fol-
lowed the progression observed in other
VeryVienna 17
lighthouse, explore an Eskimo’s life or
look into a submarine. A tube-telephone,
which connects several parts of the sub-
marine, eventually becomes the star
attraction. After calling “Hello! Hello?
Can you hear me? Are you there?”,
Leander fairly squeaks with excitement,
because it ‘really works’. Meanwhile,
other children are hurrying from one
exhibit to the next. This seems difficult
for the adults to follow. However, this
area at least is not just for young visi-
tors. “Parents should have fun too. You
should never do anything you don’t like
with your children. Never start com-
plaining about the exhibition. You
don’t have to see the whole thing. If
two or three objects are fun, that’s the
best thing that can happen”, states
Brigitte Rollett, “Sometimes it is
On the ground level,toddlers explore the seabedJudith List
amazing for adults to find out what their
children like the most.” After one hour,
everybody has to go back through the
came to leave… Although, nobody really
seems to want to leave. “When do we
come again?” asks Leander, running back
into the underwater world. It is a good
thing that there are many more paint-
ings, films and displays on the way out,
to distract him from the fact that the visit
is over.
The willingness to share professional
creativity and knowledge with a young
audience might be the distinctive feature
of the Viennese cultural offerings for
children. While the “Dschungel” supports
projects with young performers and chil-
dren working together, the “ZOOM”
mainly employs young artists to teach
the workshops. “The main goal is not the
making of a perfect product, but tipping
over into the working process without
caring about what is happening around”,
indicates Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer.
Stephan Rabl, Creative Manager and
Director of the “Dschungel” theatre sees
another benefit in working with and for
kids: “Children will be enriched, if they
have the chance to consume theatre. It
can activate the potential to reveal and
support creative processes or identifica-
tion”. Sharing a stage with artists may be
a good introduction into the field of
culture, especially for toddlers. Ent-
husiasm of this kind might lead to
dedication and eventually offer them a
lot more fun as they grow and mature.
According to Brigitte Rollett, there is a
huge lack of cultural reporting in the
media nowadays. As a result, children
need outside help to get a better under-
standing of these matters. “Children who
are in contact with culture benefit
doubly. They have discovered the artistic
world and therefore develop greater
imagination and creativity, which is why
they will never be bored.” While public
media do not support the creative devel-
opment and interest of our youngest
generation very much, most museums
and theatres in Vienna offer specialised
programs and are worth visiting. As
museums and creative institutions
increasingly see that children are their
future audiences, they realise that it is
worth investing time, creativity and
money in giving them strong cultural
foundations.
18 VeryVienna
Museumsquartier is also not to be
missed. It’s just five minutes’ walk from
city hall, and it’s the heart of Vienna’s
contemporary art scene. No matter if you
decide to go to an exhibition in the
Leopold Museum - famous for its collec-
tion featuring Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt
- or the MUMOK, which has a more con-
temporary collection, you won’t be disap-
pointed.
Cinema on Public SquaresAnother rather popular initiative in
Vienna is the promotion of arthouse
films. On squares in different districts,
the Volxkino takes place over the sum-
mer. People gather in the open to watch
alternative movies together for free.
Afterwards, Austrian and foreign artists
are given the possibility to show their
films, so as to meet a broader group of in-
oems, Enzis andTomatoes – Art in Public SpaceThe metropolis of classical music’s world is not only about violins andhorse carriages – Traces of contemporary art in Vienna By Josef C. Ladenhauf
P
Visitors listening to the live musiccoming from the store windowPhoto of a Band in a store window Götz Bury
You might imagine a standard city trip as
walking through the streets, sipping on a
soft drink, window shopping, or really
any activity you might do in your own
city – except in a new location. Com-
mercial messages and info screens sur-
round us, no matter where we are. But
what happens when the ads disappear?
When art leaves halls, museums and ex-
hibition rooms and infects public spaces,
many people feel lost. Art in public makes
us question what we take for granted and
what is new and unfamiliar to us. As a
means of awareness and consciousness,
it helps us to find out more about the
way we live our lives.
Insipring PlacesIn modernity, art is no longer exclusively
for wealthy, educated elite. It became
common to engage with the arts, no mat-
ter what background or social class one
might be from. Finally, art was not just a
pastime for the upper classes – it became
accessible to everybody.
It no longer celebrates the great master-
pieces only, but can happen in diverse
contexts anytime, anywhere. Anyone can
express themselves artistically. The City
of Vienna encourages art in public
spaces. Local politicians have set up an
annual fund of 800,000 EUR to support
art projects, such as the weekly Falter
magazine articles. At Rathausplatz in
front of the city hall, various events take
place all year round. If you look through
the city’s arts calendar (available online),
there are always cultural activities, such
as concerts, readings, or cabaret.
The courtyard of the Museumsquartier isthe place to meet on balmy afternoonsAxel Maireder
VeryVienna 19
Once a year, the upscale urban neighbour-hood around Brunnenmarkt in Vienna’smulticultural 16th district becomes the settingof a two-week art festival. Ula Schneider, itsinitiator and participating artist, describes itas “a project that concretely intervenes in thecity“. Soho in Ottakring is more than an artfestival; over the last ten years, it has becomethe setting of discussion and criticism. “It‘snot about harmonization, we also try to pointout conflicts“, says Mrs. Schneider. Local aswell as international artists come togetherevery year to present their works on open airstages or in empty shop windows andencourage visitors to participate in theprojects.
The topic of last year’s festival was “To workor not to work“. Among the many creativecontributions, the “Urban Yodelling Project”should be mentioned. The alpine tradition ofyodelling was brought to the city. Beforesunrise on the first day of the festival, allappointed singers, or “Juchezins”, gathered to
An Urban InterventionWhen Soho meets Vienna, a bustling neighbourhood becomes the stage for critical artBy Edith Hammer
let out a song that would echo from balconiesand roofs as it would in an alpine canyon. Inaddition, an exhibition explored the role ofwork songs around the globe.
Under the motto “Kick the habit“, this year’sfestival, to be held in May, approaches theproblem of racism as if it were just a common“bad habit“. One of the exhibits aiming tocounteract racism will be the “PrejudiceExtermination Machine”. Built out of boxes,wires and pipes in cooperation with localschools, visitors will be invited to feed it withtheir personal prejudices and then get rid ofthem by being “brainwashed”.
International artist and musician StephenMathewson initiated an “Informal ResearchLab”, where he and a team of other artistsreview and discuss a vast amount of materialon racism. The development of artisticreactions to this material – in the form ofmusic, exhibits, performances or other formsof artistic expression – is transparently opento all visitors. “We cannot avoid racism, but
we can look at it, feel it, and, learning fromthat, become aware of what we really aresuffering because of it“, Stephen Mathewsonexplains.“The Barbie Trap”, an exhibit by artistElisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe is pre-sented with the purpose of connecting withthe World AIDS Conference that is to behosted in Vienna later this year. It is com-posed of pink helium balloons that refer tothe artifices that define the feminine, in thecontext of HIV in Africa, and challenges theidea of women being dolls for men.
Soho in Ottakring transforms urban areainto a party zone, without losing track of theissues it aims to underline. In the words ofthe aforementioned festival creator, “A lot ofpeople come to hear musical acts or enjoythe crowds of visitors and some people startparticipating in the discussions and dealwith the topics. Receiving a response on thecontents of the festival is what I callsuccess”.
Initiator and participatingartist Ula Schneider Edith Hammer
Gardening in the CityVienna’s abandoned spaces are going
green! So-called ‘guerrilla gardeners’ are
planting tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs
and flowers in any spot that’s vacant. Is
this art? “It’s innovative, that’s for sure.
Something new - a movement - and it’s
growing,” says Claudia Bender, a twenty-
three year old guerrilla gardener. She
adds, “And of course it is art!” Claudia
considers guerrilla gardening to be a
rather progressive contemporary form of
art.
She suggests that different art styles
arise in a certain historical and social
frame, but is echoing a famous slogan of
Vienna. Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst
ihre Freiheit – “Each epoch shall have its
art and art shall have its freedom” - is a
slogan written on Vienna’s Secession
building. This museum and its gold-
plated cupola is one of the most famous
exhibitions buildings in Austria’s capital,
and a rather popular sightseeing spot for
tourists. Contemporary artists have been
exhibiting their paintings and sculptures
in this building for more than hundred
years now. The tradition of the Secession
goes back to Gustav Klimt and other
great artists in the times of the so-called
fin de siècle. As an Austrian saying goes,
“plenty of water has run down the
Danube” since the end of the 19th cen-
tury when it was built.
Poems on the BusOnly a few minutes away from the
Secession is Karlsplatz U-bahn station. As
in many European cities, the transit au-
thority has started posting poems for
commuters to read on their journey. In
Vienna, the so-called “post-it poet” is
even more popular. He writes one- or
two-sentence poems, and sticks them
randomly in public places. They have
been found on trees, walls, traffic lamps
and metro stations. Since 1974, he has
spread millions of his poems all over the
world, especially his hometown. He also
received a lot of threats and complaints,
terested spectators. Finally, the audience
shares a snack from the vegetarian buffet
and discusses the movies seen.
Brunnenmarkt in the sixteenth district is
a place worth visiting for anyone inter-
ested in art. It is a farmer’s market sur-
rounded by distinctive architecture and
unique shops. Brunnenmarkt hosts the
annual multicultural festival Soho in
Ottakring, which offers mind-blowing in-
sights into the work and lives of migrants
and artists in Vienna.
Deleting Advertising In June 2005, the Austrian art duo
Steinbrener/Dempf presented a work en-
titled “delete!” where they removed or
covered all advertising from Neubau-
gasse, an important high street in the
seventh district, for a period of two
weeks. Many people felt unsettled walk-
ing down a street with no advertising,
with yellow foil providing the colour usu-
ally given by posters, signs, lights and
banners.
VeryVienna 21
and occasionally was in conflict with the
law. Eventually, the Supreme Court de-
cided his poems are accredited art and
are to be protected. “I won’t stop, I will
continue,” Seethaler promises. “That is
my job, that’s what I will do.”
Where ever you are in Vienna, try to go to
the city centre and listen to music stu-
dents playing the violin on “Michaela
Platz”. There, you will get the feeling that
art is not something that stands on its
own. It is a product of history, of the art
that came before it - of our own develop-
ment. The old masters and the young
artists of today are using the same tools,
playing the same instruments, and
telling the same stories - all that differs is
the final work.
Poems at the BusstopOnly a few minutes of walk away from
the secession at Karlsplatz for instance
one might discover writings on the wall
of the metro station such as „more and
more violence is shown, more and more
people see violence, until they´ve seen it so
often, they want to be seen themselves
showing violence” or „the less one has
than the other, the more she prentends to
have more than the other”. These are
pieces of Helmut Seethalers artwork. He
is the so called “post-it poet” of Vienna,
writing tiny poems, often only one or
two sentences, just a thought, sticking
them anywhere in public; at trees, on
walls, traffic lamps or metro stations.
Since 1974 he spread millions of his po-
ems all over the world, especially his
hometown Vienna. He got a lot of threats
and complaints, even got into conflict
with law several times because of that,
but finally the supreme court decided his
poems are accredited art and shall fur-
thermore be protected. “I won´t stop, I
continue”, Seethaler promises. “That is
my job, that’s what I will do.”
Where ever you are in the city that’s said
to be “different“ and has a lot to offer
besides classical arts, come also to the
center of the town and listen to the violin
playing of a music student at “Michaela
Platz”. There you get the feeling: Art is
nothing that stands on it’s on. It is and
has never been isolated to anything, to
history, to other kinds of art, to our own
development. The old masters and the
young artists of today are drawing the
same lines, playing the same tunes,
telling the same stories – just with
different means.
The pink pieces of city furniture “Enzi” inMuseumsquartier are perfect for arelaxing afternoon.Axel Maireder
22 VeryVienna
One ight in ViennaEverybody knows Vienna as thehome of art, culture and SigmundFreud. However, not many outsideof Vienna are aware of the fact thatVienna offers a very vibrant andunique club and bar scene for theyoung at heart.By Andreas Rainer
At four in the morning, Fayola is having
her first bites of a Viennese Käsekrainer,
a fried sausage made with small chunks
of cheese, which doesn’t exist in her
home country of Kenya. Anna from
Germany is sipping a can of beer, while
Konrad, the only Austrian in our group, is
having a conversation with strangers on
how to solve the economic crisis.
We are in the first district of Vienna, at a
Würstelstand, a place that sells sausages
and cold drinks and that acts as a gather-
ing point for the rich and poor, party
victims and street workers of the city.
“In Kenya, all the clubs look pretty much
the same and play similar kinds of music.
In Vienna, there is a club for every kind of
music,” Fayola says of the night that lies
behind us - a night which started more
than six hours ago at the Schikaneder.
Watching a movie, Viennese styleThe Schikaneder is a mix between a cin-
ema, a club and a bar, one of many places
in Vienna with a unique concept where
one can start a Saturday night. At ten in
the evening, the place is already crowded
with people who came for the movie
that was shown before and are now en-
joying a drink at the bar. A group of
people are sharing a huge birthday cake,
one of them offering a piece to Anna,
apparently confusing her with someone
else. “Lots of students, intellectuals and
artists come here to watch an artsy
movie and get drunk afterwards,” Konrad
explains to the non-Austrians in the
group. As on most nights, a DJ is playing
right in front of a wall on which a car-
toon movie is projected. The sound of the
movie is muted and the projection serves
only as the visual backdrop for the club: it
is not to be confused with the actual
cinema, which is in a separate area.
When the Museums close, Vienna’s Clubs and Bars open their Doors for the Partiers.
N
Who said Austriansdon´t dance?Michaela Schwarz
VeryVienna 23
There is a dance floor next to the DJ, but
nobody is dancing. The Viennese in
general are not too eager to dance, espe-
cially the Schikaneder crowd. Listening
around, the topics of conversation are
music, movies, art projects and, of course,
a lot of complaining, the favourite pas-
time of the Viennese.
All the seats are already taken, the most
sought after being right next to the
entrance, where a few canvas chairs are
standing on a little stage that is perfectly
visible from the outside, through the
glass window pane. “The Schikaneder is a
place where people go to in order to be
seen by other people. There must be
something regal about people-watching
while sitting on a stage. It is funny how
the Viennese are so eager to be seen by
strangers yet don’t want to get to know
them,” Konrad adds by way of explana-
tion.
Looking around the Schikaneder, every-
body is holding a wine glass or a beer
bottle in their hands, and for most people
it is definitely not the first drink of the
night. It gets more crowded by the
minute, so our group decides to move on
to another place that is within short
walking distance. On the way there, two
men in medieval uniforms hand us some
flyers. “We would like to invite you to
come to our session tonight. We will talk
about communist ideals and how to re-
implement them into today’s society,”
one of them explains. We politely
decline.
Clothes shopping at midnightWe arrive at our destination, a place
called Mon Ami. It looks like an average
club at first sight, but is much more: at
the back of the club, a door leads to a
clothing shop that is part of the club.
Acting on the First Read
Smoking is still allowed in many clubs in Vienna
Michaela Schwarz
It could have been any moment in a rehersal;
actors are standing on chairs with papers in
their hands and reading out : “It is a Test!”
“A Test?” “Don’t you realize, all the Cameras,
they’re watching us!” However, given the
large audience watching and voting for their
favorites, the event seems to be of a diferrent
nature: It is Drama Slam again.
Jimi Lend, the concept’s creator, presents this type
of theatre as follows: “Authors write short plays;
actors will read up to ten different plays each
night. This is different from thousands of other
performances because the actors have never seen
the scripts before, they play ‘prima vista’. This
way, every performance is a masterpiece of im-
provisation.” It sounds experimental, but its suc-
cess speaks for itself. The idea has already started
to spread around the world, with performances
in Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Graz.
The City of Vienna became aware of the success
and is now sponsoring the organization that initi-
ated the process: The ‘Vitamins of Society’, an as-
sociation founded in Moscow with the following
straightforward motto: “Artists are the vitamins
Drama Slam since 2007: When PoetryMasters meet Actors ArtBy Michael Zita
Artists, the Vitaminsof Society, playscripts never seenbefore © Nick Albert
of society and hence important in
everyone’s life.”
[www.dramaslam.eu]
Wuzzler: Austrians suck at soccer but theyrule at the foosball table Michaela Schwarz
24 VeryVienna
People can browse through handbags,
mittens, t-shirts and many more articles
of clothing while sipping a glass of wine
and listening to a DJ. Anna insists on
buying a red wool beret. “It matches my
glass of red wine very well,” she says, jus-
tifying the price - probably the double of
what the beret costs at a regular clothing
store. Her friend from Berlin backs her up
on this: “You can’t put a price tag on
shopping at midnight while enjoying a
glass of Chateau, I guess. That is what
fascinates me about Vienna. You don’t
find these kinds of places, even in Berlin.
Vienna always manages to put an artsy
side into everything.”
At half past one, it is time to turn up the
heat a little bit and finally move to a
place where even the Viennese dare to
dance.
Balkan fever in ViennaIn Club OST, the locals mingle up with an
eastern European crowd, who are so ea-
ger to dance and party that even the
Viennese can’t continue hiding behind
their beer bottles. They start hitting the
dance floor. The music seems to be ex-
actly the same on every weekend: Balkan
beats mixed with electronic music,
everything that gets people moving, per-
formed by DJs and one or two bands,
DJ and supportMichaela Schwarz
Buying the perfectparty outfit whilepartying Michaela Schwarz
Fusually from Eastern Europe. Club OST is
enormously popular, probably due to
Vienna’s proximity to the East and the
fact that the city is home to many immi-
grants from the Balkan region.
Tonight’s band comes from the Ukraine
and features an especially unusual per-
formance: it includes the band members,
all of them in their late 40s, getting
naked on stage, cheered on by enthusias-
tic chanting from the audience. What’s
more, they address the crowd after al-
most every song - in Ukrainian. “I guess
language barriers vanish as long as the
music is good enough and the alcohol
doesn’t run out,” Konrad yells over the
screaming guitar riffs.
Every night comes to an end, and ours
ends rather early by Viennese standards
at the Würstelstand. Anna just ordered
another round of beer and Konrad and
his new friends still haven’t figured out
how to solve the economic crisis.
Long before the Würstelstand closes, we
make our way home using the conven-
ient Nightline system, which on Satur-
day night seems more like another club
than a means of public transport. It never
takes long to get home, which reminds
us again that while Vienna is big enough
to get lost in for a night, it is always small
enough to find your way out again.
VeryVienna 25
It is a sunny Saturday morning in
Vienna. The trams are filled with families
on a weekend excursion. On the touristic
and crowded Karlsplatz, bunches of peo-
ple are snapping pictures in front of the
opera. Not far away, in a little pedestrian
area right between two main roads, lies
the Naschmarkt. Even for tourists who
lost their map on the way it is not diffi-
cult to find Vienna´s biggest inner city
market: Just follow your nose!
Entering the 2,153 hectare area feels like
entering another world. Small, narrow
alleys, with little market booths on both
sides, all of them stocked with countless
kinds of food and drinks, vegetables,
spices, herbs and wine, for instance. The
innumerable passers-by are talking in a
colourful mixture of languages. Every-
where, merchants praise their goods and
argue noisily with their customers about
the price.
A literal translation of Naschmarkt
would be “snack market”. And indeed,
many go to the Naschmarkt to taste
some fruit, wine or special pastry. But on
the other hand, many cof the Nasch-
markt’s customers go there just to stroll
around, take pictures and enjoy the
atmosphere.
One of them is Vanessa. The 26-year old
biology student moved to Vienna two
years ago: “One of the places I appreciate
most in this city is the Naschmarkt. I
come here every Saturday or almost.
Most of the time I don´t even buy any-
thing but just take a walk” says Vanessa.
Like her, lots of people treasure the urban
and multicultural quality of the Nasch-
markt, whose history reaches back into
the 18th century, when it was a farmer’s
market.
Mustafa is a 39 year old man of Turkish
origin. For four years now, he has worked
at the Naschmarkt selling Dönerkebab, a
flatbread filled with lamb, salad and a
special yogurt-based sauce. With instinc-
tive expertise Mustafa holds his long-
bladed knife and cuts the meat from the
rotating skewer. The snack, originally a
Turkish specialty, became popular in the
German-speaking world, and is now
among a favourite dish in Vienna too.
Mustafa likes his work area mainly for
one reason: “Something is always going
on. I never felt bored since I started work-
On Vienna´s seventeen markets you can satisfy all your culinary desires.The most famous of all market is the Naschmarkt, a truly internationaland urban place feature which is appreciated by locals as well as tourists.By Fabian Kretschmer
and DumplingsVienna´s biggest Inner City Market is an exotic and lively Place
ing here. And most of the people coming
to the Naschmarkt are really friendly and
nice.”
A great deal of the shops around the
Naschmarkt area is Chinese. Many
Viennese even call the neighbourhood
“Little Chinatown”. The streets are full of
Asian supermarkets as well as Chinese
restaurants in which serve a wide range
of traditional Chinese dishes. “The most
popular dish is probably Beijing duck”
says Liu Bing, who works as a waiter in
one of the restaurants vis-à-vis to the
Naschmarkt. But Chinese dishes in
Vienna are nevertheless a little bit diffe-
rent. “We have to pay attention that the
food doesn´t become too spicy” Says Liu
with a smile. He then ads “Because most
Europeans are not used to that”.
[http://www.wienernaschmarkt.eu/]
alafel,Sour Crowd
FShopping at Vienna’s big
‚snack market’ theNaschmarkt, the place for
all kinds of delicaciesFabian Kretschmer
26 VeryVienna
Have you ever seen an advertising pillar,
but with a single big screen instead of a
multitude of posters? That is possible,
although current systems – such as the
one presented by the Fraunhofer
Institute – need several projectors. The
prototype presented in Vienna only
requires one. Was it a multi-million dollar
company that brought experts from
various fields together to develop such a
employs over 120,000 people, and this
number is growing continuously.
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Manager of
the Viennese Departure fund [www.de-
parture.at] – an instrument of the City of
Vienna intended to strengthen Creative
Industries - says: “Vienna’s Creative
Industries haven’t had to hide behind the
creative sectors of any other metropolis,
perhaps because New York and London
are too far for that. Our strategy is using
innovation to make up the difference.
Departure considers itself a partner in
the development process from creative
idea to an economic success.” Since its
foundation, Departure has sponsored no
less than 259 projects in 43 project calls.
The digital advertising pillar, one of
Departure’s sponsored projects, was
developed by the brothers Thomas,
David and Gregor Lechner, who moved
from Lower Austria to Vienna to start
their studies. The brothers appreciated
the broad cultural foundations offered by
Vienna, particularly the multiple univer-
sities and colleges with artistic and musi-
cal curricula and the a wide range of his-
torical objects of artistic value, architec-
ture and music loved and respected
Creative People giving
& benefitting in a City
filled with
Possibilities
The Power of Networks, Cultural Inspiration and Ideas is the strengthof the Vienna based Creative Industries. Small firms can realize thatway projects that are elsewhere made by much bigger units.By Michael Zita
system? No, it was three brothers – a mu-
sician, a graphic artist, and a web deve-
loper – and their small enterprise,
“Phoenics” [www.phoenics.eu].
The Economical Importance ofCreativityCreative Industries already amount to
more than ten percent of all Austrian
companies. In Vienna, the creative sector
roblems? No, Creatives
Seize the Opportunity
P
VeryVienna 27
worldwide. On the other hand, the city
also possesses less famous cultural offer-
ings in the fields of electronic music and
modern art. On the other hand, the less
famous cultural offers in the field of elec-
tronic music, modern art and especially
creatives in the fields of visualization,
web technology and other small niches.
Soon, the brothers found their own niche
next to their studies of musical composi-
tion and graphic design by forming
“Phoenics”, which in its first incarnation
is an Electro-Jazz band.
But let us go back to the first steps in the
creative business and the smallest unit of
creativity, the single entrepreneur:
Marion Korwik [www.kwikart.at] com-
pleted her master’s degree in multi-
media. Today, she develops web pages,
illustrates print products or stands be-
hind large video cameras, filming events.
Her network of contacts, originally her
college friends, allowed her to start out as
a self-employed professional. She says:
“Every finished project is a business card
for new customers, as a satisfied
customer is the best recommendation
you can have.” A network of partners,
good experiences with these and some
inherent organic growth seem to be the
keys of success in the creative field.
Looking for the perfect solutionBut being creative requires more than
just business opportunities. Chances and
possibilities to find new solutions are re-
quired, or, in most cases, problems that
need to be solved. Five years ago, Michael
Diwald [www.stream-it.at] was sitting in
a bar at midnight with a glass of good
red wine. The music was fine until a com-
pletely different style of music followed
this one great song. Diwald thought that
this was just wrong, went to his home in
the second district of Vienna and started
to write down ideas in his basement
study. The basis, simple but complex to
handle, is to mix great music in a style-
and genre-consistent way and distribute
this via the Internet to bars, shops, shop-
ping centres or even hotel rooms.
With connections from former jobs, he
found a business angel who invested in
his idea. Hence, Diwald and his team
could develop the idea to sellable product
and meet all the legal challenges (e.g.
rights to mix music and perform in pub-
lic space), technical difficulties and other
Many great ideas have no happy end. Often there is
not enough money to develop them further. Here
departure comes into play, the city of Vienna’s lift-
off service for the creative industries. With multiple
project calls each year, departure sponsors projects
with up to 60 percent, or to a maximum of 200.000
Euro of the development costs. This may be money
needed to develop a prototype, or for necessary
specifications and processes for serial production.
The sponsoring depends on the size of the project
and the specific nature of the project call.
But this not all what departure does. Departure also
tries to establish project connections with indus-
trial partners, hence supporting creative folks in
finding their missing counterpart needed to turn
ideas into sellable products. Besides projects, depar-
ture arranges events that generate attention, show
different and new possibilities, or connect different
forms of arts, in a new way called intercreativity.
Why should a book only be read as an audio book if
you can visualize it as well, like a VJ does it for a DJ?
[www.departure.at]
Sponsoring CreativeIdeas to theirEconomical SuccessBy Michael Zita
Changing perspectives make successful solutions /Making Creativity sound like Music: Harmonic actsfitting in the world at large phoenics
28 VeryVienna
of TV production at very low prices, with
additional discounts for Okto show pro-
ducers and students. They cover all sorts
of technical skills as well as the needed
knowledge of media law, presenting and
speaking on TV, video journalism, impor-
tant intercultural aspects that are ad-
dressed in community TV.
12 chances: popular or notBarbara Eppensteiner, Okto’s Director for
Programme says: “Every programme
should have an equal opportunity to be
seen.” To ensure this, every programme is
repeated along a fixed and well-con-
trived pattern. For instance, each episode
of the aforementioned architecture pro-
gramme can be watched on Monday
nights and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,
twelve times all together. Okto pro-
grammes can also be watched in
Germany as the channel has partners in
Hamburg and Berlin as well. Every week,
Okto broadcasts about 90 minutes of
programmes from these German part-
ners, which is meant to help pro-
grammes reach more people.
With one hundred groups making regu-
lar programmes, Okto has 3 hours of new
programming every day, one more than
is needed for an Austrian private TV li-
cence. A fourth hour of daily material
comes from the New York programme
Democracy Now! And this is achieved
with a yearly budget of only one million
EUR, largely sponsored by the City of
Vienna. The community TV broadcaster
is not allowed to air commercials, but
programmes can be under the patronage
of a company – for instance the WKO, the
association of Austrian corporations,
runs a programme called “bUnter-
nehmen Wien”, about businessmen and
Monday night at the Schikaneder, a small
alternative club in Vienna. Next to a bar
and a dance floor, one can find a small
cinema with big, comfortable couches.
But today there are no students, clubbers
or kissing young couples watching an art
movie in the 50-seat auditorium. Today,
three architects from Arbeitsgruppe 4
are on the programme for admirers of ar-
chitecture. The programme is called Akku
[www.okto.tv/akku] and produced for
community broadcaster Okto by a group
of architecture enthusiasts. They make
the ‘only’ architecture programme in
Austrian TV. Felicitas, editor of Akku
adds: “This programme is only possible
because there is a TV broadcaster like
Okto – offering a channel and the equip-
ment to make this kind of TV.”
Okto is a TV Broadcaster that bases itself
on the participation of committed people
and communities, mainly based in
Vienna. They make their own pro-
grammes to show their interests and
views to others and produce TV for their
communities. These communities in-
clude – among others – austro-africans,
fans of heavy metal music or students
who are on TV or making TV pro-
grammes for the first time. If a group has
a realistic concept and can commit to
producing at least 15 minutes every two
months, it can make its own TV pro-
gramme.
Since nobody is born a television profes-
sional, Okto offers courses on the basics
ichness of the 100 Voices100 Communities on TV show theirInsights and Interests Okto, a Community TV Broadcaster, gives Communities a platform tospeak to their own. This commitment helps make other opinions andcultures visible.By Michael Zita
obstacles that had to be overcome, partic-
ularly in marketing and communication.
After a long line of happy customers and
again significant word-of-mouth recom-
mendations that rendered adverting un-
necessary, the next step is in sight: a
large investment by a big firm, which
would allow him to pay out his first
investor and take his idea to a larger
market: Stream-it will pass the borders of
Austria and come to all of Europe.
The rebirth of the PhoenicsThis also happened to “Phoenics”. The
musical performances got them contacts
who needed websites, so the band soon
morphed into a creative studio. These
projects yielded recommendations and
The beautiful anchor woman of Latino.tvpreparing for the next broadcasting. Michael Zita
RElektro-Jazz Band Phoenix Phoenix
VeryVienna 29
–women with a migrant background.
The programme is probably the only way
to reach this particular target group.
Colour and interest, or fame and glory?But what inspires people to create televi-
sion programmes for free? It can’t only be
for fame and glory. Alejandro, editor of
Latino.tv [www.latinotv.at] tells us:“For a
single 30-minute episode, one needs 7
man-days of work on average.” The mak-
ers of Latino.tv, a programme for the
Spanish-speaking Austrian community
see the need to cover Austrian topics in
Spanish. They address the community in
two ways, firstly by approaching topics
that are interesting for Spanish speakers
with an immigrant background and sec-
ond by keeping to a completely ‘Spanish’
format for the shows: Spanish-Speaking
lating stress”, say the creators of Latino.tv
during a studio visit. It could be stretch-
ing to achieve a slightly better quality in
every episode, which is what each small
production unit is aiming for. When you
see that your work makes a difference,
you will wish you had a little more time
to devote to it.
[www.okto.tv]
soon, a network of partners and new
customers was established. Something
like this is probably only possible in a city
with plenty of small business units and
potential customers willing to invest in
creative solutions, and at the same time
only feasible thanks to a network of
creative people who inspire and help out
with recommendations, small aids and
cooperation. A city with both cultural
history and inspiration, but at the same
with the technical infrastructure and
possibilities. In other words, a city
neither too big nor too small – like
Vienna. But then, the Phoenics was re-
born again.
3D panorama photography was a hobby
for the Lechner Brothers, a hobby that
presented them with a simple problem:
that such photography is not best dis-
played in print. As there was no device,
someone had to invent it. With their own
money, they built a prototype and ap-
plied for sponsoring. There is always
money for great ideas, and today,
Phoenics has received a grant from the
departure program which allows the
brothers to take on fewer jobs and con-
centrate on developing the idea of a digi-
tal advertising pillar. This in essence per-
fects the “Litfaßsäule”, the German name
of the advertising pillar. Over 150 years
ago, a Mr. Litfaß invented it, and advertis-
ing took an important step in its history.
Perhaps someday, Phoenics will be
known to have done the same.
TV is more colourful and has its own
ways to explain things. The proud show
producers see their programme as “help-
ing to make Austria the new home,
through culturally targeted information
and presentation, that feels like the long-
abandoned Spanish-speaking home”.
In fact, that is exactly the mission that
Okto’s founding Publisher association
had in mind: To make quality TV, to give
groups that are neither seen nor ad-
dressed by mainstream media a voice, so
that they can participate in Austrian cul-
tural and social life. Topics should be dis-
cussed from different perspectives,
bringing new views and aspects to is-
sues.
How can this goal be reached? In prac-
tice, with much volunteer work on Friday
nights. “Friday Nights that could be fun
and interesting while also full of stimu-
Barbara Eppensteiner, Director for Programme gives everyprogramme an equal chance to be seen. Okto
Okto show peoplehow their voice canbe heard. Okto
30 VeryVienna
On Vienna’s Ringstrasse, monuments
like the opera house and the Hofburg
take you back in time. Besides these em-
blems of past glory, memorials for
renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize lau-
reates like Hans Hollein and Jean Nouvel
enliven the cityscape. New, magnificent
buildings like the Donau City skyscrapers
are the new signatures of Vienna’s archi-
tectural landscape.
When you leave buzzing Lerchenfelder
Gürtel for Wimbergergasse, you walk
down a small street lined with
Wilhelminian style buildings. You could
easily feel as though you had stepped
into a Vienna of the past until you dis-
with modern converted attics, it is fre-
quented by Vienna’s young profession-
als.
According to the City of Vienna and its
architecture exhibition entitled Young
Viennese Architects, which recently
toured Europe, everybody under 45 is a
young architect.
“Young architecture is young by heart,”
says Michael Anhammer, one of the
founders of SUE Architekten, who are all
in their thirties. Architects could still be
“young” when they reach their fifties, he
says. To him, young architecture is sim-
ply experimental when it comes to prob-
ing what buildable architecture can be.
“Some young architects operate in the
margin between graphic-design, indus-
trial design and architecture,” says Volker
Dienst from Architecture in Progress. The
Enzis, designed by young architects, ex-
emplify this blurring of the boundaries.
rchitecture Macchiato:Garnishing Architecture
Vienna – A capital city of youngarchitecture which contributes to a vitalcityscape that combines old and new.By Katharina Oke
Acover an artistically decorated residential
building in the midst of the historic fa-
cades. It is this mixture, flavoured by
young architects, which is Vienna’s spe-
cialty.
Young architects at the end of the tunnel“In Vienna, young architects design
small, affordable pieces for young peo-
ple,” says Marion Kuzmany from the
Architekturzentrum Wien (Architecture
Centre Vienna).
An urban room for guests called Schon
Schön (inherently beautiful), designed by
SUE Architekten (sue architects), is an ex-
ample of young architecture in Vienna.
Schon Schön is an all-in-one living com-
plex which includes a restaurant, a hair-
dresser and a boutique. Located in the
seventh district, where Wilhelminian-
style residential buildings are capped
Young meets old at historic Karlsplatz:A façade inspired by the idea of a fence whichgrants protection, yet still allows adequateillumination.Katharina Oke
VeryVienna 31
Every summer, the oversized, flexible fur-
niture turns Museumsquartier, the
Viennese cultural district, into a public
recreation area.
The Networkers“We know each other quite well, and help
each other,” says Michael Anhammer
about the young community in Vienna.
It is a movement characterised by trust
and appreciation. As an example of this
confidence, young firms meet once a
month for the ironically named Fight
Club. There, they present projects they
are currently working on to other archi-
tects, and listen to the criticism of other
professionals.
In the 1990s, young Viennese entrepre-
neur-architects started to get together.
Most of this group had worked in estab-
lished architectural firms for a while be-
fore starting their own businesses, and
they wanted a forum to exchange new
ideas. They created platforms like
Architecture in Progress and ig-
Architektur, a community for architects.
Their aim is to foster innovative architec-
ture, encourage new entrepreneurial
projects and channel the interests of
young architects. The community is
united by similar challenges, which only
the small and medium-sized firms tend
to face. The young architects make use of
their network, for example by referring
each other to useful resources and con-
tacts in other firms. In this way, they use
the know-how of a larger group, while re-
taining the flexibility of smaller firms.
The time of the lone fighters in Austrian
architecture seems to be over. The young
firms are formed out of 2-4 architects.
“They often have boyband-like names as
Silberpfeil (silver arrow), propeller z and
x-architects. Furthermore they have flat
The building combines new, young architecturewith the historic urban rail network designed by Otto Wagner. Katharina Oke
Young architects in the starting blocks:Adam Orlinski, 22, and Bika Rebek, 24,studying architecture in Vienna.verena
32 VeryVienna
5 March 2010:Communication Dayat the IPKeurope
Communication is a paradoxical
word. On the one hand, everyone
communicates all the time, more so
now than in centuries past; and yet,
in our day and age, we have finally
come to recognise that the fact that
we talk, does not mean we are in any
way adept at communication. There
are two parts to a successful
exchange: the speaker, and the
listener. Overlooking the importance
of either to the proper transfer of a
message is unlikely to result in
successful communication.
That is one of the messages that a
pannel of experts sought to establish
at the headquarters of IPKeurope on
5 March 2010. On this day, a press
conference was held and streamed
live online, concerning an innovative
certification which covers four im-
portant issues: Communication, Self-
Marketing, Teamwork and Conflict
resolution. The programme itself is
known as the „European
Communication Certificate“ (Eco-C),
and has already developped a
following in Austria. But what is the
Eco-C? In the words of the pannelists
present that day, it is a way to gain
some kind of certification in an area
where competency is otherwise
difficult to attest. It is a label of
quality for employers to seek out
when recruiting, especially in the
young and newly-qualified whose
soft skills could otherwise be brought
into question. It implies a desire to
help people understand the dual
nature of the process, and benefit
from this understanding.
Together, the pannelists represented
the academic world (Prof. Thomas
Bauer) as much as the professional
world (Mr. Christopher Leitl).
In addition, the attendance of
representatives from Austria’s
national employment agency (AMS,
represented by Mrs. Inge Friehs and
Marion Carmann) conveyed a strong
endorsement by the Austrian state,
but the presence of the EU-coordina-
tor (Mrs. Karina Kaiblinger) and the
person responsible of the Hungarian
program (Mr. Laszlo Kovacs) further
suggested that this program is
already transcending the boundaries
of the country.
“Taking the Eco-C course
taught me a few things.
For instance, I know now that being
shy – like myself – does not
necessarily mean that a person
is a poor communicator, nor does
being chatty make someone
a good communicator”Brian Kroll, Programmer
“The important Thing in the Economy is People”Christopher Leitl
VeryVienna 33
STEP 05, which provides a planning tool
aiming to ensure the establishment of
Vienna as a metropolis in south-central
Europe.
Residential buildings, historically a defin-
ing aspect of architecture in Vienna, are
also part of STEP 05. Marion Kuzmany
has determined that new, innovative
concepts are being applied when it
comes to construction activity. New
references to public space, common
rooms, and approaches to new work en-
vironments (such as working from
home) are reflected in modern residen-
tial buildings. These concepts attract ar-
chitects from all over Europe to study in
Vienna.
Other areas, like the Karmeliterviertel,
are experiencing gentrification. In
Vienna, this process can be described as
gentle urban development, and commu-
nity participation is a keyword in the po-
litical and urban planning of this process.
Converted attics and new bars, designed
by young architects, already enrich the
Karmeliterviertel: some cafés are even
serving designer coffees, which were un-
seen in this area until recently.
“Vienna could use many more people,”
says Marion Kuzmany. “This way schools
and flats would be needed, and this
would lead to jobs, and more interesting
projects.” The self-confident students are
ready. Bika proclaims: “We would build
anything.”
hierarchies,” says Volker Dienst from
Architecture in Progress.
“We are a pack of architects,” laughs
Adam Orlinski, 22. He is studying at the
University of Applied Arts, which is one
of three universities teaching architec-
ture in Vienna. (Approximately 4,800
young architects study at the University
of Applied Arts, the Academy of Fine Arts
and the Technical University Vienna.)
Adam Orlinski and his colleague Bika
Rebek, 24, appreciate learning from
world-famous architects like Zaha
Hadid, Gregg Lynn and Wolf Prix – and
they call these distinguished artists by
their first names.
“In class, nothing is right or wrong,” says
Adam about the way they are taught.
“We are trained to find our way in differ-
ent situations and solutions to different
problems. Everything is very dynamic
and based on dialogue.” Bika adds, “You
have to defend your own opinion.” The
students apply these soft skills not only
in class, but also when they work with
well-established firms on small-scale
university projects like Architecture Live.
Shaping ViennaThis year was ushered in with a wreck-
ing ball in Vienna. The station concourse
of the Südbahnhof rail station was re-
moved in order to make space for a new
hybrid train station – Vienna’s Main
Station. It is one of the core components
of Vienna’s Urban Development Plan
Architecture in ProgressArchitecture in Progress serves as aplatform for young and innovativearchitecture. Its aim is to foster con-temporary, high-quality architecturein Austria and abroad. Architecture inProgress organises events andprojects in the field of architecture.http://www.architektur-inprogress.at(German only)
AzW – Architecture Center ViennaThe Austrian architecture museumserves as a meeting place fordevotees of architecture. It offersexhibitions, as well as being a centreof knowledge and research and asource of information on the field.On Sundays, it offers excursions tothe newest architectural sights ofVienna and the surrounding area.http://www.azw.at/
Y.o.V.A. – Young VienneseArchitectsThe exhibition serves as a platformfor young Viennese architects. Its aimis to showcase projects by individualsand groups who form part of Vienna’syoung, urban architecture scene.Exhibition and catalogue in Germanand English.http://www.wieninternational.at/en/node/13571 (on Y.o.V.A. in 2009)
Vienna style: A 3m2 gazebo serves as an accessi-ble enlargement of a museum in the midst ofwilhelminian style facades. Katharina Oke
34 VeryVienna
Vienna, Stefansplatz. Twelve horse car-
riages are waiting for customers. Hardly
anyone is interested in them. Twelve
parked horse teams on a wintery day.
Now and then, some children stop to pet
the animals, which pleases neither the
horses nor their drivers. While the former
flatten their ears and snap at each other,
the latter abruptly tells the animal lovers
not to touch the horses.
The place smells of horse urine. A man
with a long ponytail, wearing a top hat
and a beard of the kind you hardly see
nowadays crosses the square with a
dustpan and a broom: “The others don’t
care about the cleanliness of this place.
Me, I am a born coach driver, I do the
dirty work, I even remove cigarette stubs
and horse droppings , ‘cause there once
was a graveyard underneath this square.
I have respect for the resting souls. My
colleagues are lazy; dirt on the ground
Behind the Scenes of Vienna’sfamous Carriages ‘Fiaker’
Fiaker belong to Vienna like to Gondolieri to Venice. Looking behindtailcoats and top hats, the coachmen can tell a lot of stories of classical Vienna. Especially a special character like Georg Fasching,Vienna’s self proclaimed Fiaker Baron.By Laura Claire Bakmann
BThe aron and His Harness
VeryVienna 35
does not bother them at all. I am an aes-
thete though”.
Wolfgang Fasching talks about himself
with a touch of roguish pride. He is
Vienna’s carriage Baron, and that is the
only way one can refer to him. After
greeting every horse by its name, he
sweeps away their droppings. Though
they wear their so-called poop-bags
which are supposed to collect the ma-
nure, some of the horses are so devious
that they always manage to aim else-
where. That is because our four-legged
friends like to stand in a certain posture,
called “Schieldern” in German, so as to
rest one or the other leg. Nearly all the
horses are dosing. Some are pawing the
ground, as if they wanted to eat some-
thing. Others are nibbling on their neigh-
bour’s harness and rubbing their throats
against each other, much to the annoy-
ance of the coach drivers.
Fried fish, Shoemaker and SmithyWe are sitting in Vienna’s longest operat-
ing carriage. It has been in use since 1866.
The coaches are originals or replicas built
after archetypical Polish plans. The inte-
riors are lined with velvet or leather. In
winter, additional blankets are offered. A
sudden jerk and the coach is moving. It
makes for the bank of the Danube, along
Rotenturm Street, and eventually turns
left onto ‘Fleischmarkt’ (originally
Vienna’s meat packing district).
The coach Baron has given numerous in-
terviews in the past. With a smile on his
face and a sparkle in his eye, he speaks of
his occupation as “the most beautiful job
in the most beautiful city in the world.”
The 43-year-old is a unique Viennese
coach driver for the last thirteen years.
Before that, he used to work as a waiter.
“Legendary coachmen such as ‘Bratfisch’
(Fried fish) Josef, and the personal driver
of crown prince Rudolf, ‘Schuster’
(Shoemaker) Franz, and ‘Schmied
(Smithy) Hansl also had the honour of
wearing a top hat.” Nowadays, the Baron
is the only coachman in the entire of
Vienna who wears one. During the
summer he is dressed in a vest and a sack
coat, but in winter, warmth comes before
beauty.
I ask him what kind of changes his pro-
fession has undergone. In reply, he states
that “in older times the coach-driver was
an alcoholic with a criminal record. But
things have changed. Nowadays, most of
the drivers do not drink at all, and blood
alcohol levels are not allowed to exceed
0,8 per cent.” About 30 years after the
first licence had been granted, the
Parisian word ‘Fiaker’, or‘Fiacre’, which
means coach or carriage in French, was
adopted. Originally, the term was named
after an innkeeper in the Rue de Saint-
Fiacre, who lent out carriages. Since 1984,
female carriage drivers are also offering
trips.
Around 9 a.m. you can see carriages hur-
riedly making their way to the inner part
of the city. When they move through
morning traffic, they are even faster than
usual: all long reins, flowing manes and
upraised heads. They come from the sur-
rounding areas, the fields of the Prater
and head into the first district, their best
route.
Austrian operettas in JapaneseA majority of passengers are weekend
tourists, business people, and vacation-
ers. “If my customers are Viennese, they
are usually celebrating a birthday, or a
A ‘Fiaker’ roundtrip alwayspasses the Hofburg, Vienna’simperial palaceAnna Gonzáles Martí
Vienna’s most famous coachman Georg Faschingis a Fiaker with his body and soulAnna Gonzáles Martí
36 VeryVienna
wedding, a company anniversary or re-
tirement.” The coachman’s trained eye
recognizes tourists from the way they
move, their clothing, and their appear-
ance. “Locals walk at a more determined
pace; they barely look around.” In nine
out of ten cases he can tell in advance
whether someone is interested in taking
a tour.
Furthermore, he often has a feeling for
people’s nationalities. Origins can be pin-
pointed through fashion. This winter, for
example, Russian women prefer fur hats
á la Dr. Zhivago. Arabs, on the other hand,
are often in a hurry. “In the carriage, their
children jump around, eat, and do not
care about cleanliness. Sadly, most of
them are not all that interested in
Vienna’s architecture.” Every nation has
its peculiarities. “There are Germans who
start singing the moment they sit in the
carriage. On one occasion, I had Japanese
customers who sang Austrian operettas
in Japanese. I was deeply impressed.”
It is up to the coachman to decide what
stories to tell passengers during the trip.
“I have such a vast store of knowledge
that if I were to tell customers everything
I know, I would have to walk with them,
stopping on each corner for ten minutes.”
There are different types of customers.
“Some of them are mainly interested in
dates and facts. Others prefer the histori-
cal anecdotes. Still others enjoy the tour
in silence.” Good coachmen realize this
by the time they reach the second street
corner. The Baron never gets tired of
talking enthusiastically about the city
and its main historical characteristics.
Meanwhile, the coach roughly moves
past the Hofburg, across the bumpy sur-
face of Michaelerplatz.
Accused by a fur coat“In thirteen years, I have overheard seven
proposals, none of which was refused.
That is the heartblood of my profession.”
The baron is discreet. When he realizes
that someone intends to propose, he will
secure the carriage and take a moment to
smoke a cigarette on a street corner. That
is how he occasionally happens to see
men kneeling in front of his carriage,
while their sweethearts weep out of
sheer emotion. His favourite events are
golden and silver wedding anniversaries.
“Suddenly old people become young and
are deeply in love again. Now and then, a
pair also chooses to take a trip in a closed
carriage, also known as a ‘Porzellanfuhr’.
Although some of the cabs have a win-
dow between the coachbox and the car-
riage, in those cases, utmost discretion is
called for: no turning around at all.
Nothing else should be of interest. And it
isn’t.”
During the interview with the Baron,
other coach drivers are resting, eating in
covered carriages, or having a smoke
with colleagues. Rarely do they display
any sign of affection towards the horses.
They only communicate with them to
harshly warn them to stand still. These
working animals seem to have adjusted
to the daily routine of urban traffic.
Nevertheless, some residents feel an-
noyed by the tradition. Their complaints
concern animal abuse, odour- and noise
nuisance and obstruction of traffic. The
Baron says that, on one very cold day
(about -10°C), a woman in a fur called
him an animal abuser! Witty as he is, he
responded: “at least my animals are still
alive. Those you are wearing around your
shoulders are already dead.” By now he
only smiles at these kinds of accusations.
The Baron personifies patience, and that
is the quality that his colleagues as well
as his horses appreciate the most.
Being a Fiaker is a tough jobLaura Claire Bakmann
VeryVienna 37
“Death must be Viennese” is the title of a
famous song by Georg Kreislers. The
quest to understand the unique relation-
ship between Vienna and death leads to
the Sepulchral Museum of Vienna’s
Funeral Services, located in the Gold-
eggasse.
This museum was established 1967 as
the first of its kind. “The visitor’s ages
eath must be Viennese
It is said that Viennese People have a rather unconventionalrelationship to death. In this context words as morbid, macabreand bizarre are often used. This special attitude of the metro-polis located at the Donau is supposable due to an easterninfluence. The Viennese famous Zentralfriedhof is, according tothe number of dead bodies, the biggest cemetery in Europe.From Laura Claire Bakmann and Amelie Springer
DFuneral art in Vienna’s sepultural museumAmelie Springer and Laura Claire Bakmann
38 VeryVienna
deeply. Consequently, in 1785, Emperor
Josef II commanded that a ‘Sparsarg’
should be used. This special coffin made
of wood had a flap so that the corpses,
which had been sewn into a linen sack
before, were falling through the open-
ings into their graves. This manner had
the advantage that the coffin could be
reused. Now, the people felt that a fu-
neral was an event and wished to cele-
brate the procedure. This caused the idea
of the ‘beautiful corpse’ to take root. Thise
term is commonlyonly used in Austria.
This describes the pomp and parade-like
nature of a funeral. One example thereof
is the following: People, who owned or
rented a flat in a spot with good visibility,
rented their window spaces for quite
some money. These ‘lodge seats’, from
which one could watch the procession
while enjoying coffee and cake, were in
high demand. That was said to have been
a custom until the death of the last
Austrian Empress, Zita, in 1989. In the old
Vienna, cemeteries were located in the
inner city, since relatives wanted to be as
close to their deceased loved ones as pos-
sible. But with grave arches cramped
since the time of the Black Death,
Emperor Joseph II eventually forbid fu-
nerals under churches in the city centre,
for reasons of hygiene and sanitation.
My friend the deathIn the catacombs of St. Stephen, under
the Viennese Stephansdom, a tomb bur-
ial vault holds the preserved entrails of
the Habsburgers as well as skulls and
bones piled up like firewood. Her-
metically sealed to prevent decay, copper
coffins contain corpses of bishops. Since
that space gradually dwindled, the
creation of cemeteries provided an out-
let. A few decades later, Vienna having
expanded steadily, those cemeteries
were in the middle of the city. In 1874, the
Zentralfriedhof was founded in Simme-
ring, one of the outer districts of Vienna.
Today, this cemetery is one of the largest
in Europe when it comes to the number
of buried corpses. It hosts about 3 million
corpses of people who, in life, followed
different religions, in an area of almost
2.5 square kilometres. The Art Nouveau
architecture and a great many graves of
distinguished persons make the Zentral-
friedhof to one of Vienna’s most famous
sights.
Death also has found its way into fa-
mous Viennese songs, mainly as the
Grim Reaper. Another example of the
unique relationship of Austrians with
death can be heard in the locally well-
known song by Wolfgang Ambros “Es
lebe der Zentralfriedhof”, written in 1975.
range from three to 90 years. You cannot
start dealing with dying early enough. In
the end, you would not have the time to
do so anymore”, says Mag. Dr. Wittigo
Keller, the curator of the museum, with a
whimsical smile. Keller is a short man in
blue jeans and a leather jacket. He wears
his greying hair in a ponytail. With his
sparkling smile and positive spirit, he
really does not look like a person who
engages with death every day. While
guiding us around the exhibition he
almost shines. Listening to the words of
this artist, cultural anthropologist and art
historian may surprise you, as he
explains how vivid the end of a life can
be. Once a year, the museum offers a
special event, where visitors can actually
test the coffins themselves, though of
course without dying first. According to
Keller, lying in one of those coffins is a
special feeling. “There’s nothing like
angst… Instead, you feel relaxed”, so
Keller.
The beauty of the corpseAt the end of the 18th century, corpses
were speedily transported through an
underground pipe connecting the city
centre to a collective tomb. While this
kind of mass grave was due to reasons of
efficiency, it shocked the Viennese
Zentralfriedhof, Europe’s biggest cemetery in terms of corpsesAmelie Springer and Laura Claire Bakmann
VeryVienna 39
The title translates as “Long Live the
Central Cemetery”. According to the
song, “Death is no enemy to the Vien-
nese”; it always accompanies one like a
shadow, a friend with which one goes to
a pub.
This goes against the medieval belief
that Death would come to take people
away against their will, rich and poor
alike. Instead, an hourglass filled with
sand appoints the moment of one’s
death. The Grim Reaper realises when
this time has come and ‘harvests’ the
person at the right moment.
Apparent deaths and specialwishes for burialsIn the course of exhumations, corpses
could be found in different poses or with
broken fingernails. This caused a lot of
agitation, as people assumed that the
state of the corpses proved that the de-
ceased had not been dead at the time of
their burial. Many inventors tried to save
people from these apparent deaths. The
most famous invention was the “rescue
alarm”. Before a burial was allowed, the
corpse would be stored in a mortuary for
about 48 hours, for observation. In
winter, those were even heated. The
deceased got a sling around their wrist,
linked to the rescue alarm. It would ring
in case of any movement and alert the
cemetery guard who lived next to the
storage area. The alarm never stopped
ringing. This was not due to masses of
still-living people, but to corpse decay:
the developing gases cause bodies to
contract, and hence, move.
Another absurdity from today’s point of
view is the first photo studio for corpses,
which opened in the 1850ies in Vienna.
Applied glass eyes and retouching made
dead bodies seem alive. Bodies in rigor
mortis where simply bent into their
photo poses. To get to the studio, the
surviving family members drove in a
carriage sitting next to the corpse the
deceased. Again, for hygiene reasons, this
was prohibited later on.
Another interesting oddity: a special
series of postcards printed featuring the
dead Franz Josef II. Friends and relatives
could thus receive a greeting from
Vienna depicting the ‘beautiful corpse’ of
the emperor.
Another interesting item are black
cigarette packets with the inscription
‘smoking secures jobs, your sepulchral
expert Kunz’, which can be found in the
Sepulchral Museum.
For his own burial, Keller wants to invite
surviving artist friends to embellish his
coffin by drawing on it with an airbrush.
“This shall be accompanied by didgeri-
doo music.” His favourite dish will also
come be put in the coffin with him.
When speaking of his own death and
burial, his eyes once again shine. “You
can be scared of dying, but not of death
itself.”[http://www.bestattungsmuseum.at]
Wittigo Keller, director of the sepultural museum in front of a coffin for sitting bodiesAmelie Springer and Laura Claire Bakmann
This magazine was edited bystudents from the Departmentof Communication of theUniversity of Vienna.