March/April 2020

There is a saying: "April showers will bring May flowers" - However, at Hotel Austria, the clocks work a little differently. Back in February, we changed the beds in many rooms.

Our new box spring beds will not only put you in the mood for spring with their fresh, friendly colour, but they will also impress you with their comfort - providing a comfortable height and super comfortable mattresses. Thanks to their open end, they are also perfect for our larger guests. But try and judge for yourself during your next visit!

Again this year, the 19th of April is a date to mark on the calendar for all runners. More than 42,000 runners from 125 nations will take part in the 37th Vienna City Marathon!

Unfortunately, we are unable to shorten the distance to the finish line. However, Hotel Austria can help you to build up strength so that you have a perfect start.

As in previous years, this Sunday, we will lay on a special earlier breakfast buffet for all our runners for an optimal start to the day.

The Vienna City Marathon on April 19, 2020 is a true "theater of emotions" and leads 42,000 runners from 125 nations past Vienna's most beautiful sights. A million spectators along the route will provide the necessary motivation.

Sightseeing and marathon past Vienna's most beautiful sights? The Vienna City Marathon, Austria's biggest sporting event, makes that possible. At the exciting main event on Sunday, April 19, 2020, there will again be competitions for participants of every age and ability. In addition to the main marathon held over the classic distance of 42 km, the half marathon and a relay marathon for teams of 4 people on the day of the marathon, there will also be competitions for children and young people on the day before (April 18) and a 10 km run starting at the Giant Ferris Wheel.

As always, the starting shot for the main competition will be fired at the Vienna International Centre. The route continues over the Reichsbrücke through the Prater, along the Ringstrasse, past magnificent buildings, and then from the Vienna State Opera out to Schönbrunn Palace and back again to the Ringstrasse and Prater. The finish line is finally reached between the Burgtheater and City Hall.

With the theme for the year "Theater of Emotions", the Vienna City Marathon combines the joy of life, the diversity of cultures and the social Viennese tradition of drama with sporty, emotional moments.

In recent years, the Vienna City Marathon has developed into a platform for social and charity projects and numerous participants get involved for their favorite ones. In recent years, over 500,000 euros in donations have been raised.

On the Saturday before the race, the popular VCM Carbo Loading Party will also be held in the Festival Hall of Vienna City Hall. Delicious pasta and Viennese "Kaiserschmarrn" will be served. The VCM-Expo "Vienna Sports World" will be held in the Marx Halle (Karl-Farkas-Gasse 19, 1030 Vienna) on the Friday and Saturday. The newest trends in running sport are the perfect way to get in the mood for the race.
 

Cindy Sherman inspires. She influences onlookers as well as artists with her art. From the end of January, the Bank Austria Kunstforum shows the influence her work had – and still has – on the next generation of artists.

Those who know Cindy Sherman know that with Cindy, everything revolves around Cindy. Because the artist's favorite motif is herself – without her being herself. In her work, she focuses on the construction of identities. She plays skilfully with clichés, slipping into a wide range of roles. Sherman becomes her own make-up artist, stylist, director, and photographer. She presents characters from the world of film and fashion in exactly the same way as famous names from antiquity, painting, or literature. Her images demonstrate the rift between authentic self-portraiture and staging.

Which can be impressively seen in Sherman's first major series "Untitled Film Stills" (1977-1980). With her work, she shows that identity can be chosen, constructed and shaped as required. Nevertheless, the identity is still subject to social norms. She critically investigates these norms with her own subtle means.

Always on the search for beauty in ugliness, she polarizes opinion with her images, her critical and provocative view. And in this way, Sherman inspires the coming generation of artists to continue exploring the topics of identity and transformation in the media without changing their own artistic approach.

In addition to the work of Cindy Sherman, positions and works by Elke Silvia Krystufek, Pippilotti Rist, Julian Rosefeldt, Catherine Opie and Eva Schlegel can also be seen.

The Cindy Sherman Effect. Identity and Transformation in Contemporary Art - January 29 – June 21, 2020
www.kunstforumwien.at

Wilhelm Leibl founded modern figure painting and painted people unadorned, but "clearly visible", thus placing them at the focal point of his work. The Albertina dedicates an impressive exhibition to the Realist.

Influenced by Manet, sponsored by Courbet and appreciated by van Gogh: Wilhelm Leibl (1844–1900) was already a highly valued representative of Realism in Europe during his lifetime. His career began when, at just 25 years of age, he met Gustave Courbet at the 1869 International Exhibition in Munich. Courbet recognized Leibl's talent and invited him to Paris. Just one year later, the Academy student received his first gold medal at the "Salon de Paris", a highly decorated art exhibition at this time. Yet Leibl increasingly withdrew from city life, headed for the country, and dedicated himself mainly to the Bavarian rural population in his works from 1873. Unjustly and often mistakenly described as a "painter of farmers", Leibl found his inspiration and creative power here.

Leibl's strength was that he depicted people as they are. For him, it wasn't about beauty. Much more important to him was that his model was "clearly visible" – for him, it was about the unadorned reproduction of reality. In turn, it was this realism in which he justified his very own claim to reality and found a unique, modern style of figure painting. This wasn't always met with goodwill in the beginning. Yet by regularly participating in international exhibitions (Vienna, Berlin, Zürich, New York), he was perceived – and ultimately also celebrated – as being one of the most important representatives of Realism. His artistic attitude, in innovation, self-criticism as well as destruction, which were the driving forces, shaped and influenced following generations of artists down to the present day. The Albertina is now dedicating its own show to the great Realist ("Gut sehen ist alles!" - "Seeing clearly is everything!").

Wilhelm Leibl – Gut sehen ist alles! - January 31 – May 10, 2020
www.albertina.at

Nature dominates the work of Herbert Brandl. The Belvedere 21 now presents his oeuvre with a focus on the last twenty years.

Herbert Brandl is one of perhaps the most successful Austrian painters of the present day. He is considered to be a representative of neo-expressionism and is part of the "Neue Wilde"/"New Wild Ones". This was a generation of artists that mainly dedicated itself in the early 1980s to a style of painting that is known for its color balance, expressively abstract shapes, and large-format images. And Brandl has remained faithful to this format down to the present day. Thus his large works are mainly dominated by motifs of nature. Brandl's mountain paintings provide a view of the monumental. He also changes back and forth between close-up and distant views. These so-called "Zoom-ins" or "Blow-ups" enable us to experience an unknown view of nature. Herbert Brandl's painting alternates between figurative and abstract tendencies, all the way to strong abstraction.

For Brandl, nature is to be understood in its original form. For him, it is about the self-grown, the nature, which arises and continues to exist without any kind of human intervention. Some of his works refer to threatened areas of nature. These represent, if you will, an ideal image of unspoiled nature, which are to be defended.
Belvedere 21 now presents Brandl's oeuvre with a focus on the past twenty years through to works that the artist created specially for the exhibition.

Herbert Brandl. Exposed to Painting, The last twenty years - January 31 - May 24, 2020
belvedere21.at

The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, takes visitors on a journey through time of Austrian fashion design from the 1980s to the present day. "SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design" is the first comprehensive major exhibition on contemporary fashion designed/made in Austria.

Vienna is not a typical fashion venue like Paris of Milan. Nevertheless, the city has produced a few exceptional talents who enjoy great international recognition. These talents, who come from Austria, work here or completed their training here, are the focus of an exhibition at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna.

The exhibition SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design starts at the end of the 1970s with the late work of Rudi Gernreich, who fled the Nazis for the USA in 1938, where he became one of the 20th century's most influential creators of fashion. The visionary fashion designer was far ahead of his time; his designs were daring and unusual. He is above all known for being the inventor of unisex fashion and the monokini.

A mood of euphoria gripped the Viennese fashion scene in the 1980s. With U-Mode, Vienna got its own fair for avant-garde fashion, which was held in the former trendy disco U4. The fashion pioneer Helmut Lang, Austria's best-known fashion export, was already on the jury at the time, the designer duo Schella Kann is still part of the Viennese fashion scene.

The label Wendy Jim has been a figurehead of the Viennese fashion scene since the 1990s. Susanne Bisovsky represents Viennese chic with her timeless designs. The Tyrolean Andreas Kronthaler has launched his own fashion line "Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood" in London. Marina Hoermanseder causes a sensation with corset and leather fashion from Berlin. The Viennese Arthur Arbesser now lives in Milan and is a new darling of the international fashion industry. And the latest shooting star from Vienna is Kenneth Ize.

A total of 50 fashion designers are represented in the exhibition with their significant designs; in addition, 30 photographers from Elfie Semotan to Andreas H. Bitesnich give an insight into Austrian fashion photography with their works. Formative events and magazines are also part of the exhibition.

SHOW OFF. Austrian Fashion Design, February 14 - July 12, 2020
www.mak.at
 

Traditional Easter decorations and artfully decorated eggs, culinary treats and a program of music await you at Vienna's Easter markets from the end of March. There’s all sorts of entertainment for young visitors to the markets.

The Easter market in front of Schönbrunn Palace is considered to be one of the most romantic Easter markets. In front of the backdrop of the palace, 70 exhibitors offer all sorts of culinary pleasures as well as decorative Easter decorations and handicrafts from Austria. Children have fun in the Easter Bunny workshop, where they shape marzipan bunnies and make Easter flower arrangements, on the Easter Nest Hunt and in the Schloss Schönbrunn Children's Museum, while the grown-ups enjoy the entertainment at "Jazz at the Easter Market".
Every year, at the Old Viennese Easter market on Freyung, a pretty old square in the Old City, the biggest tower of eggs in Europe is built with around 40,000 painted Easter eggs. There are also numerous Easter specialties ranging from the Osterpinze Easter bread to the roast Easter lamb, handicrafts, floristry and for the very little ones a creative Easter workshop and a puppet theater.

The Am Hof Easter Market is also fully dedicated to Easter customs with skilfully decorated eggs and flower arrangements, and also offers pretty handicrafts as well as hearty food.
At the Kalvarienberg Festival, visitors can not only look for Easter gifts and art objects but also put their own creativity to the test at a range of different art workshops. Live music and a children’s program provide additional entertainment.
 

The Vienna Silver Factory, which has over 100 years of tradition, is daring to begin anew. The boutique in the city center attracts with classics of Viennese silversmith’s art and modern design.

With the Vienna Silver Factory, the city is regaining a piece of its cultural identity. The company has its roots in one of Austria's oldest handicraft businesses and can look back over more than 100 years of history. Founded in 1882, the factory had developed into an important partner of the Vienna Workshops by 1900. After the new takeover, this tradition will be continued. The new Vienna Silver Factory has all the rights of the former production company. The archive with its 11,000 design drawings, tools and punch molds, has also been transferred to the new owner, who is now having selected models faithfully reproduced.

The Silver Boutique at Spiegelgasse 14 offers highlights such as "Besteck 135" to a design by Josef Hoffmann of 1902 or Otto Prutscher's "Besteck 181" - an icon of early Art Deco. The clear and functional elegance makes these classics timeless objects. Also famous is the pumpkin set by Otto Prutscher from 1930. Besides bowls and candleholders based on models from the age of historicism, sophisticated dining culture is also catered for by modern designs.

Wiener Silber Manufactur
www.wienersilbermanufactur.com