A city known for its architecture, music, and paintings switches focus to another art form for around four weeks at the Foto Wien photography festival.
- A long celebration of photography around Vienna
- Exhibitions, workshops, talks and more
- 2025 dates: TBA (was June 1-30 in 2023)
- …partner exhibitions may continue after
- See also:
A celebration of photography
(Home of the 2023 festival HQ)
Organised by FOTO ARSENAL WIEN, consider Foto Wien a celebration of the art of photography, a showcase for photographic initiatives and photographers, and a focus for all those with a love of the medium to come together at talks, workshops, exhibitions etc.
What do you get?
To give you an idea of what to expect, around 300 events at some 110 different Viennese locations were involved in the 2023 event. The notable (and timely) theme was Photography Lies.
Browse the festival website to review the full programme once available. As you explore the exhibition listings, look out for some unusual venues that might include the likes of Café Prückel (one of Vienna’s great coffee houses and a former participant).
Although activities take place across the city, Foto Wien typically has a festival HQ with its own events and exhibitions.
The 2019 festival centre occupied the former Post Office Savings Bank (Postsparkasse), itself an iconic piece of architecture and design by Otto Wagner. In 2022, the honour passed to the Atelier Augarten, the former studio complex of the sculptor Gustinus Ambrosi.
In 2023, the MuseumsQuartier (MQ) took on HQ responsibilities. This hotbed of contemporary art in Vienna is the temporary home of FOTO ARSENAL WIEN until they get a permanent location and exhibition venue in the Arsenal complex (where you find, for example, the Museum of Military History).
2025 tickets and dates
I don’t have dates for Foto Wien 2025 yet. Check their website or watch this space. The last edition ran across all of June, 2023. Note that some of the associated exhibitions run on longer than the formal dates of the festival.
See the website, too, for the situation regarding tickets and access to individual events, once available.
How to get to Foto Wien
I await news of the festival HQ, which might well be the new home of FOTO ARSENAL WIEN by then. Watch this space (again) or the official website (again).
Address: TBA