Where in Vienna can you see Andy Warhol, Lucio Fontana and Maria Lassnig under one roof? At the palatial headquarters of Dorotheum, where a series of sales will take place from 27-29 November with a focus on contemporary and modern art. More than 500 works are on offer, spanning 20th-century international and Austrian art as well as watches and jewellery. Dorotheum’s auction evenings cap off a buzzing period for the city with Vienna Art Week recently coming to a close – but the action isn’t over just yet.
The centuries-old European auction house first initiated Vienna Art Week in 2005 with the aim of boosting the Austrian capital’s flourishing art scene onto an international stage. It has since acquired a life of its own, with numerous independent art spaces, galleries, museums and academies taking part in the annual event. And while other cities are gripped with end-of-year lethargy, Vienna is seemingly energised by the frost (the glühwein and Sachertorte certainly help). Many of the exhibitions in the festival’s programme extend into the new year, continuing to attract crowd numbers akin to summer showcases.
Installation view of ‘Spitzmaus in a Coffin and Other Treasures’ at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.
At the Kunsthistorisches Museum, filmmaker Wes Anderson and his partner, the writer and illustrator Juman Malouf, have combed through the institution’s vast historical collection to assemble more than 400 objects into various themed rooms – think ‘miniatures’ or ‘green’. From emu eggs to Spanish powdered wig boxes, the pair’s cabinet of curiosities has all the aesthetic trappings of an Anderson film, with each object’s placement treated with studied care in bespoke display cases upholstered in Kvadrat textiles. (This is the third and latest instalment in an ongoing series of collaborations between the Viennese museum and renowned artists, which has previously seen curatorial efforts by Ed Ruscha and Edmund de Waal.)
Over at MAK (Museum of Applied Arts), graphic designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh have transformed the historical venue into a multimedia investigation into beauty. The interactive exhibition invites visitors to ponder on this very broad notion through graphic design, product design, architecture, and city planning. Elsewhere, Olafur Eliasson’s permanent installation Yellow Fog transforms the façade of the Verbund-Gebäudes each night after dusk, while Mumok in the MuseumsQuartier is staging an intriguing photography exhibition tracing major political events in Vienna over the past century.
Color Room, 2018, by Sagmeister & Walsh, installation view at MAK. Courtesy of MAK
In the wealth of time, 2012, by Andrea Withmann, on view at Kunsthaus Wien. © The artist. Courtesy of Vienna Art Week
OUR FLAG (reverse), 2018, by Ed Ruscha. Courtesy of Vienna Art Week
Antarctica, by Bernhard Staehli.
INFORMATION
Dorotheum Auction Week runs from 27-30 November at Palais Dorotheum; ‘Spitzmaus in a Coffin and Other Treasures’ is on view until 28 April 2019 at Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien; ‘Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty’ is on view until 31 March 2019 at MAK; and ‘Photo / Politics / Austria’ is on view until 3 February 2019 at Mumok. For more information, visit the Vienna Art Week website and Dorotheum website
-
David Goldblatt captures intimate portraits of Johannesburg during apartheidBetween 1948 and 2016, David Goldblatt returned periodically to Fietas, a suburb in the west of Johannesburg’s city centre, to photograph the impact of apartheid legislation on its residents and landscape. The resulting photographs have now been collected and published for the first time
-
Faena New York just landed in the Big Apple – and it's an excuse for a good timeArgentine hotelier Alan Faena’s first New York address serves up high-octane hospitality with a dash of leopard print
-
These vintage American motels will have you longing for the open road‘Vintage Motels’ documents how the humble roadside stopover has evolved into a design-led destination for a new generation of travellers
-
Artists reflect on Kate Bush lyrics for a War Child auctionPeter Doig and Maggi Hambling are among artists interpreting Kate Bush’s 1985 track ‘Running Up That Hill’ for War Child’s online auction
-
‘Sit, linger, take a nap’: Peter Doig welcomes visitors to his Serpentine exhibitionThe artist’s ‘House of Music’ exhibition, at Serpentine Galleries, rethinks the traditional gallery space, bringing in furniture and a vintage sound system
-
Classic figurative painting is given a glamorous and ghostly aura by Polish artist Łukasz StokłosaThe gothic meets the glamorous in Stokłosa’s works, currently on show at London’s Rose Easton gallery
-
What's the story with Henni Alftan’s enigmatic, mysterious paintings? The artist isn’t sayingParis-based artist Henni Alftan's familiar yet uncanny works are gloriously restrained. On the eve of a Sprüth Magers exhibition in Berlin, she tells us why
-
Home again: the artists reframing the domestic worldThe humble home has fascinated artists for hundreds of years. But what, exactly, is the appeal? Artists including Andrew Cranston, Cece Philips and Do Ho Suh on magic in the mundane
-
From art to fashion, and back again: Jonathan Schofield’s figurative work is back in styleAfter graduating from London’s Royal College of Art, Jonathan Schofield began a career as a creative director at Stella McCartney. Now, he has returned to his first love, painting
-
Rolf Sachs’ largest exhibition to date, ‘Be-rühren’, is a playful study of touchA collection of over 150 of Rolf Sachs’ works speaks to his preoccupation with transforming everyday objects to create art that is sensory – both emotionally and physically
-
After decades capturing the world’s fashion-set, photographer Johnny Rozsa picks up a paint brushIn his first exhibition of paintings, the New York-based artist celebrates the vibrancy of Tangier while rediscovering a familiar creative outlet
