Museum Quarter & MAK

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Adventures in Photography

There are something like 70 museums located in the Museum Quarter. I spent a couple days exploring The Leopold, Mumok and Kunsthistorisches, where they were showing the Lucien Freud massive figurative oil paintings.

Also saw some more low key exhibitions like the Typo Passage and paid €2 for a pack of dairy company graphic design inspired postcards. I didn’t send the postcards on the spot as there was sufficient postage only to send to inside Austria.

One of my favourite museums is in the Innere Stadt 1st district of Vienna. The Museum of Applied Arts or MAK has an amazing permanent display called Wien 1900 which showcases beautifully designed everyday objects from the turn of the 20th century.

There were also two interesting exhibits on interactive fabrics used to create music; and 100 best posters from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Best thing about MAK is that it’s totally free and opened late in the evening.

Museum Quarter’s Typo Passage

MAK

Interactive musical fabrics

Musical Vienna

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Adventures in Photography

It is widely known that Viennese love music so it’s not surprising to find that there are many record stores in the city dedicated to all genres of music. I spent several nights gold digging after my classes and brought home a few good blues albums. Best of all I was able to discover some new music at a record store called Transformer. It’s a pop up record store at the Transporter bar in Vienna. This place has the best coffee and also a Ping Pong table for regular tournaments.

Moses Records

Substance

Sharing music on the streets

Rave Up

Transformer

The Belvedere and 21er Haus

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Adventures in Photography

This imposing palace once belonged to Prince Eugene of Savoy who helped win the war against the Ottomans. Originally from France, Eugene was rejected by Louis XIV for service in the French army. He eventually moved to Austria to prove his prowess as a military commander.

The palace is now a museum hosting works by famous Austrian artists like Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Austria’s independence was declared on the balcony of the main building.

Ten minutes walk south of the palace grounds is the 21er Haus which is the contemporary art wing of the Belvedere. You can purchase a combo ticket which gives you access to both. I saw the Ursula Mayer exhibition “But We Loved Her” which features her enigmatic film Gonda – based on the Ayn Rand play “Ideal”.

Lovely views of Vienna’s city centre can be seen from the hill top Belvedere.

City collage

Image

The Albertina Museum in Vienna

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Adventures in Photography

There was a Matisse exhibition at the Albertina while I was in Vienna. My two favourite paintings from the show were by artists other than Matisse. I also saw an interesting video installation called “Full Moon” from the adjacent exhibition on contemporary Russian art. The last photo in this series is from a bookstore near the Albertina. The selection of art reproduction postcards at this store puts any major museum gift shops to shame.