20 years of VIENNA ART WEEK

Is there anything in Vienna apart from Mozart, Sissi and Schönbrunn? Of course there is! When it comes to art, VIENNA ART WEEK and its Artistic Director, Robert Punkenhofer, have been trying to correct perceptions for over 20 years.

In 2004, many art institutions and Vienna’s colleges of art joined forces to form Art Cluster Vienna. The goal was to bring Vienna into the national and international spotlight as a city of art. In April of the same year, the first VIENNA ART WEEK (VAW) was held. Take time meet art was the motto at the time. The motto this year, Facing Time (8-15 November 2024), concludes the theme. “Initially, it was an extremely exclusive event with 500 guests, 20 program partners and 30 events,” says Robert Punkenhofer, artistic director of the event since the beginning. “Now we have 30,000 people – with free admission, which is very important – and a minimum of 100 events and 60 partners.” This is due, among other things, to “opening up, for example with the Open Studio Days format – artists’ studios are featured on an equal footing with, for example, the Kunsthistorisches Museum.”

The world’s first and much emulated VAW, which is more content-oriented than commercial, is “no longer strictly a week”, says Punkenhofer. There is a lot of community-building all year round. The manager sees digitalisation as one of three major paradigm shifts in the art world. The scene has also become more female, more diverse, and more international. Isn’t this the case in general anyway? “Yes,” confirms Punkenhofer, “but what sets Vienna apart are the disproportionately represented ‘artist spaces’, which unfortunately often operate under precarious conditions. The range from historical to cutting-edge art is special. Few cities in the world have such an outstanding density of museums and art venues.”

“We have constantly developed,” says Punkenhofer, who sees the respective mottos of VIENNA ART WEEK as perfect brackets for the content presented. The exhibitions, events and panels were very often political, for example in 2015 with Creating Common Good. “Then I thought: let’s now do something completely different,” says the artistic director. “In 2016, let’s focus on beauty with Seeking Beauty, which is really a taboo in contemporary art. But even the topic of beauty was politically charged.” The performance by the French artist Orlan was unforgettable. Other prominent protagonists of VIENNA ART WEEK include Rose Lee Goldberg, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Forensic Architecture and the Guerrilla Girls.

To mark the 20th anniversary, they are treating themselves to an anniversary booklet which will be available from November 8th, 2024. “Art Week has a small budget of only 300,000 Euros. For the Johann Strauss Year in 2025, there will be 20 million Euros available,” says Robert Punkenhofer. “We are showing that there is an exciting art scene behind the baroque facades of the city.”

The heads of the member institution (Art Cluster). From left to right:
Jun Yang, Ramesch Daha, Michael Part, Gudrun Marecek, Günther Oberhollenzer, Stella Rollig, Angelika Fitz, Gerd Zillner, Monika Pessler, Gerlinde Riedl, Michelle Cotton, Karola Kraus, Martin Böhm, Elisabeth Noever-Ginthör, Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Bettina Leidl, Lilli Hollein, Robert Punkenhofer, Johanna Schwanberg, Gerhard Hirczi, Sabine Folie.

Not pictured:
Sabine Haag, Johan F. Hartle, Petra Schaper Rinkel, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Martina Taig.

© eSeL.at – Lorenz Seidler