Wander along Vienna’s Danube canal, for example, and you’ll find the walled banks a canvas of colour. Street art fills parts of the city, with the Calle Libre festival an annual highlight in the urban art calendar.
- Live contemporary art painting across urban spaces
- Often supporting programme of talks, tours, etc.
- 2024 dates: Aug 31 to Sept 7
- See also:
Where art meets walls
(Art by Luogo Comune at the Ottakringer Brewery for the 2023 festival)
Calle Libre translates into free street in Spanish (or so Google translate tells me) and the same-named event serves as a festival and platform for contemporary urban aesthetics. It essentially falls into two parts.
The first is the actual art, where Austrian and international (often Latin American) street artists ply their trade on dedicated spaces in Vienna with “live paintings”.
As such, Calle Libre is a chance to observe these commanders of their art at work as they create their large-scale murals, spray paintings and other urban delights.
Over the course of the festival’s history, city walls in various Viennese districts have got a lot brighter, a lot more colourful, and a lot more inspiring.
Call it curated street art of a higher order. You have the artistic value, but also the dialogue that inevitably ensues when you stick contemporary art (particularly a form which often comes with clear social commentary) in a public, urban space.
(Art by APHENOAH in the 16th district as part of the 2023 festival)
Incidentally, the organisers behind Calle Libre ride at the vanguard of Vienna’s street art movement, and account for many of the glorious examples of urban art you’ll spot once you drift away from the city’s palaces and churches.
The second part of Calle Libre is the supporting programme: typically talks and tours, workshops, artist meets, live music, opening and closing parties, and more.
2024 dates
The 2024 edition takes place from August 31st to September 7th with the live painting focus on Vienna’s 2nd district (Leopoldstadt) under the motto “Comm.unity”. This will be the 11th edition of the event.
Previous iterations of Calle Libre spread the art across the city, though the 2022 one focused on a single festival site (the event adopted more of a traditional festival character, with music, food trucks and bars on site along with the workshops and tours).
Check the official website for full 2024 event details once available.