Vienna’s own city museum runs various institutions that feature temporary exhibitions, not least the musa and the Wien Museum main site itself.
The summaries below link to more detailed articles here at Visiting Vienna on the selected art, culture, and history exhibitions I’ve written about.
- See also:
Wien Museum site
The Wien Museum on Karlsplatz started its renewed exhibition schedule in early 2024 following a multi-year refurbishment.
During the construction work, they used the fencing as a canvas to present contemporary art and photography exhibitions.
Main exhibitions post-reopening
(Architectural drawings in the 2024 Fischer von Erlach exhibition; press photo © Werner Feiersinger)
- Winter in Vienna (2024/2025): a mix of perspectives on the coldest season, which took in local history, art, socioeconomics, sport, culture, and more. All with a sharp eye on climate change and its impacts
- Secessions (2024): exploring and comparing the secessionist movements in Berlin, Munich and Vienna established in the 1890s. Featured a host of top art, including works by Klimt, Munch, Rodin, and more
- Fischer von Erlach (2024): a rather lovely exhibition that presented the genius of Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723). Models, maps, art and much more revealed the beauty of his designs and constructions in Vienna and elsewhere. The drawings from his multi-volume guide to historical architecture provided a notable treat
Fence exhibitions
(The museum put the construction fence to good use for exhibitions before the building site cleared)
- Urban Cultures (2022): the successor to Urban Natures featured street artists tackling the interface between people in the sense of public spaces, where people from different cultures or with different purposes encounter each other
- From on High (2022): continuing the theme of post-WWII architecture, this exhibition featured oblique aerial photos of project sites for significant public construction or landscaping works (like Karlsplatz square or the Südbahnhof railway station).
- Mid-Century Vienna (2021/2022): the period immediately after WWII presented many architectural and design challenges, both economic and cultural. The exhibition shone a light on buildings in Vienna from an era that rarely enjoys a moment in the sun.
- Urban Natures (2021): four street artists created original artwork for the fence on the topic of the interface between nature and the urban environment.
- Almost / Viennese World Tours (2021): a dual exhibition where one part presented photographs from the World Exhibition held in Vienna in 1873. The other part showcased the work of Wojciech Czaja, who used 2020 to take photos of parts of Vienna that look like they might come from another country. An exhibition that allowed us to travel without leaving the city.
- FACE IT! (2020/2021): the first “pandemic exhibition” featured Elodie Grethen’s photo portraits of mask-wearing individuals alongside interviews with the same subjects. The people came from various parts of the city and society, but were mostly those in occupations most directly impacted by COVID restrictions.
Wien Museum musa site
(The museum location close to the Rathaus)
After taking on some of the wider exhibition remit of the main building until its reopening, the Wien Museum musa has since returned to its principle purpose: art with a Viennese connection.
- Sold! (2024/2025): Vienna actually has its own municipal art collection that continues to grow with new acquisitions. The exhibition presented some of the highlights, but also looked at the practical issues and challenges associated with buying, storing and displaying contemporary art
- Big City / Small Format (2023): a journey through the history of the postcard in Vienna. Though not quite what you might think; postcards played (and play) various roles, such as documenters of the cityscape and social change, art medium, marketing channel, and more. All of which found space in the exhibition.
- Studio Bauhaus (2022/2023): the exhibition looked at the iconoclastic work of the Bauhaus-trained Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer. The pair set up a design studio in Vienna in the interwar period, but both fled the country when Austria veered toward fascism.
- Instantly! Street Photography in Vienna (2022): an intriguing look at “everyday” life in the city as seen through the camera lens. The photos covered a period from the late 1800s through to the modern day and captured both mundane (e.g. tram passengers) and poignant (e.g. a soup kitchen queue) images.
- Vienna Falls in Line (2021/2022): a wide-ranging exhibition that explored the politics of art during Nazi rule in Vienna, particularly the impact of institutions such as the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. We discovered the differing fates of various artists as well as some of the art produced (or not) during that period.
- Felix Salten (2020/2021): the exhibition took a look back at the life and cultural impact of the author of Bambi and long-time Vienna resident. Apart from creating one of the world’s best-loved characters, Salten also played an influential role in the growth of the slightly more cerebral Wiener Moderne movement.
- Richard Neutra (2020): the California Living exhibition showcased Neutra’s architectural achievements, particularly his designs for homes in the Golden State. A biographical section also covered his journey from pre-WWI Vienna to the USA of the swinging sixties.