You know, September’s not a bad month to visit Vienna. The summer holidays are over, so the Viennese roll back into town. Which means far more events to choose from.
The end of summer also means fewer visitors to compete with at exhibitions and similar. And the weather is still deciding whether it should be warm or cold, probably settling for something gentle in the middle.
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Top ideas for September 2024
Many event organisers hold fire until the locals come back from summer retreats and beach holidays. So, compared to August, September has a wider selection of fairs and festivals to offer alongside the usual museums, concerts, tours and similar.
Enjoy some art
(The Albertina art museum starts its highlight year-end exhibition: Chagall)
Early September can be a bit of an ugly stepchild in the art world, but top exhibitions tend to begin mid-month in anticipation of the Christmas period. Regardless, the city always has numerous exhibitions on at any one time.
Planned highlights already include:
- The Albertina looks set to have a Chagall exhibition (from September 28th) and solo exhibitions for Franz Grabmayr and Robert Longo (from September 4th). They also bring exhibitions to a close for Eva Beresin (until September 15th) and Gregory Crewdson (until September 8th)
- Lower Belvedere draws the curtain across their presentation of works by Broncia Koller-Pinell and her contemporaries (runs until September 8th) but plans a solo exhibition for Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela (from September 27th) and Austria’s first museum retrospective for Hannah Höch
- Upper Belvedere also brings an exhibition to an end: the close look at paintings by Franz Anton Maulbertsch (until September 29th), who celebrates his 300th birthday in 2024
- Experience multisensory art at the Heidi Horten Collection‘s Light, Sound and Senses exhibition (provisional start in September)
- The Albertina Modern fills its galleries with the works of Alfred Kubin and (from September 13th) Erwin Wurm
- The very best of 21st-century Austrian design appears at the MAK museum (from September 18th), as does some older design from the iconic Auböck workshop
- The main Wien Museum location illuminates the secessionist art movements active in Vienna, Munich and Berlin around 1900. Klimt says hello
- Camels and their ilk have a long cultural and socioeconomic connection to humanity: the Weltmuseum has the details in a special exhibition
- The Weltmuseum also introduces us to indigenous art from the Amazon and (from September 18th) the influence of the Qur’an on European thought. Their exhibition of materials (illustrated with collection items) finishes this month, running until September 22nd
- While the Wien Museum MUSA takes us behind the scenes and presents the challenges and practicalities of a contemporary art collection (from September 26th)
- Explore the German approach to New Objectivity at the Leopold Museum (until September 29th). The same institution also presents highlights from various art collections held by the Vienna Insurance Group
- Anton Bruckner celebrates his 200th birthday on September 4th with cake, balloons and an exhibition covering his life and works in the State Hall of the National Library (runs all month)
- Learn about the life and work of writer Friederike Mayröcker at the Literature Museum
- The Jewish Museum continues its nuanced look at Raub (“Theft”) by the Nazis and subsequent restitution (together with the Wien Museum), and (from September 18th) looks at the Holocaust from the perspective of the third post-Shoah generation
- And we have the final days of the Arctic exhibition over at the Naturhistorisches Museum, exploring the changing polar world (until September 22nd)
Check the exhibition listings for more suggestions as they come in.
(Calle Libre brings colour and commentary to the urban landscape)
Alongside the museal exhibitions, we also have various art events. These include:
- The Calle Libre festival (August 31st to September 7th), which has, for example, “live paintings” as leading street artists create giant works of contemporary art on the sides of buildings in Vienna
- Viennacontemporary (September 12th to 15th): a huge art fair that brings together galleries from all over the world
- Parallel Vienna (September 11th to 15th): a unique “hybrid art fair, exhibition platform and artist studio”
- The Art Vienna fair (September 20th to 22nd): a 3-day art fair that gathers together numerous art galleries and usually features works of international and regional importance, as well as giving a platform to up and coming artists
- The Vienna ArtPark (September 7th): over 80 artists turned a small park in the centre into an open-air gallery (where you could buy what you see) last time out
- And not forgetting Art Austria Highlights (2024 dates TBA)
Treat your taste buds
(Live coffee creativity; press photo courtesy of Vienna Coffee Festival)
The way to a man’s heart is, allegedly, through his stomach. And the way to the Viennese heart is no different. September has a few festivals to whet your appetite.
- If you’re up for something a little more spirited (ba dum tish!), try the Rum and Gin Festivals (September 20th and 21st). Local interest in both drinks, but particularly in gin, has shot up recently. Tastings, talks, music, and more
- On a similar theme, the three-day Liquid Market Cocktail Festival (September 5th to 7th) is the place for drinking green tea and organic coffee. OK, perhaps it’s more a place for drinking cocktails. Whatever the word is for a collection of cocktail bars (an umbrella?), this is one of them
- The city has the Vienna Coffee Festival (September 6th to 8th): not a staid industry event, but a caffeine-fueled celebration of the bean, with music, competitions, tastings, demonstrations, and more
- The Erntedankfest (September 7th and 8th) is a weekend festival bringing Austria’s agriculture into the city, armed with truckloads of regional specialties from all over the country
- Vienna’s established open-air markets offer extended opening hours and bonus entertainments on the Long Night of Viennese Markets (2024 dates TBA)
- The Kaiser Wiesn is similar to the Oktoberfest concept so popular in Munich and elsewhere (September 26th to October 13th)
- Oh, but talking beer, the Ottakringer Bierfest typically ends very early in September (concrete dates TBA)
- On the wine front, a themed hiking weekend (September 28th and 29th) features routes around the areas closely associated with wine growing and wine taverns, who offer stops along the way
Run off the calories
The 5km Vienna Night Run (September 26th) offers an opportunity to stretch your legs and lose some of the calories accumulated at all the above events. Not a competitive race as such…more a chance to run around the famous Ringstrassen for a good cause.
Get a little modern (and classic)
(Scene from a previous Buskers Festival; press photo © Buskers Wien)
Vienna is an elegant city, rich in history and numerous buildings whose names end in Palace. But it’s a big, thriving capital city, too, with urban and contemporary culture to share. For example:
- MQ Vienna Fashion Week (September 9th to 14th) lets you enjoy daily catwalk shows and more from prestigious local and international designers
- It’s all about the music at Waves Vienna (September 5th to 7th), which showcases new musical talent from around the world through dozens of live performances. And there’s a side programme of events for those wishing to dig deeper into the current issues facing the music industry
- Vienna Design Week (September 20th to 29th) offers a host of events and exhibitions around the city with all sorts of tracks and channels to pick from
- The WAMP design market typically holds its autumn edition this month (September 21st)
- The Buskers Festival (September 6th to 8th) turns street entertainment into an art form, with free performances from some of the world’s best…enjoy musicians, magicians, acrobats, clowns, dancers, and more
- Hollywood in Vienna (next dates TBA) honours the people behind the film scores with a concert and gala evening. The last award winner, for example, was Alan Menken, whose numerous movie credits include Academy Award-winning music for various Disney productions.
Go behind the scenes
(The Hofburg often opens special areas for the Tag des Denkmals)
September has special treats for those who like to go behind closed doors or enjoy special insights into some of the many wonderful buildings and institutions in the city. And they’re all free.
- Tag des Denkmals (September 29th) is Vienna’s contribution to European Heritage Day, when numerous historical buildings unlock their doors. Many open to the public for this day only
- And talking of opening doors, Open House Vienna (September 14th and 15th) follows a similar concept but with newer buildings and architectural initiatives. Vienna’s famous social housing projects usually get good coverage at this
- The central Am Hof square hosts the annual festival of the Vienna fire services (September 6th to 8th) with demonstrations and similar. The other emergency services participate, too
- And Karlsplatz square hosted Public Transport Day in September 2023, with entertainment and a peek at the work of our wonderful municipal transport authority, Wiener Linien. Hopefully it repeats in 2024
Finally, film
If you want to escape it all and enter other worlds, you can always try:
- The SLASH film festival with its focus on the fantastical and imaginary (September 19th to 29th)
- The last day of the Film Festival on the Rathausplatz, which spirits you away into musical realms (June 29th until September 1st)
- The Vienna Independent Film Festival, which supports the indie movie world (September 5th to 8th)
- Kino am Dach, which has daily open-air showings of films on the roof of Vienna’s main city library through the summer (until September 15th)
- The Queerfilmfestival, which has showings of the best of recent queer filmmaking (September 5th to 11th)