Dr- Ignaz- Seipel- Platz 2
Subway: Stephansplatz, Stubentor
Tel. 515 810
Open: 8am- 5pm Mon- Fri
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) is a learned society and
the largest body responsible for non-university basic research in
Austria. Founded in 1847 as the Imperial Academy of Sciences in
Vienna, based on models such as the German Academy of Sciences
Leopoldina and the Royal Society, it is now a largely state-financed
institution with an annual basic budget of around 100 million euros
with over 770 elected members members, around 1800 employees and 25
research institutions in Vienna, Graz, Linz, Innsbruck and Leoben.
The primary task is the promotion of science. In addition to
scientifically sound social and political advice and basic research,
it is active in the promotion of excellent young scientists. In the
course of international framework programs and cooperations, the
OeAW also maintains a global research network.
On March 7, 1863, the k. k. Austrian Museum for Art and Industry -
today's MAK - by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Rudolf von Eitelberger, the
first professor of art history at the University of Vienna, was
appointed director. The museum essentially followed the example of the
South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria & Albert Museum) in London,
founded in 1852, and was intended to serve as a model collection for
artists, industrialists and the public, as well as a place for training
and further education for designers and craftsmen. The museum was opened
on May 12, 1864, initially temporarily in the rooms of the Ballhaus next
to the Vienna Hofburg, which the architect Heinrich von Ferstel had
adapted for museum purposes.
In 1867 the k. k. School of Applied
Arts (today the University of Applied Arts Vienna) of the k. k. Austrian
Museum for Art and Industry founded. This combined theoretical and
practical training. The School of Arts and Crafts was opened in 1868,
initially in the former rifle factory at Währinger Straße 11-13 /
Schwarzspanierstraße 17 (today the Anatomical Institute of the Medical
University of Vienna, built in 1886) and was only opened as a result of
an extension next to the k. k. Austrian Museum of Art and Industry at
Stubenring 3 and opened in 1877.
In 1897 Arthur von Scala, until
then director of the k.k. Oriental Museum (later Imperial and Royal
Austrian Trade Museum), took over the management of the Museum of Art
and Industry and gained Otto Wagner, Felician von Myrbach, Koloman
Moser, Josef Hoffmann and Alfred Roller as employees of the museum and
the School of Applied Arts. As a result of the disputes between Scala
and the Kunstgewerbeverein (founded in 1884), which saw its influence on
the museum waning, Archduke Rainer resigned his position as protector in
1898 and new statutes were drawn up. Two years later, around 1900, the
administration of the School of Arts and Crafts and the museum were
separated, although their final separation did not take place until
1909: the Austrian Museum was assigned to the k.k. Subordinated to the
Ministry of Public Works, the school remained with the k.k. Ministry of
Culture and Education. In 1907, the Museum of Art and Industry took over
the majority of the k.k. Austrian Trade Museum.
From 1865 to 1897
the museum published a magazine entitled Mittheilungen des k.k. Austrian
Museum for Art and Industry was published. From 1898 to 1921, however,
the museum journal was published with the new name Kunst und Kunst
Handwerk, which quickly gained an international reputation. Between 1955
and 1985 the museum published the magazine Alte und Moderne Kunst.
After the founding of the first republic, formerly Habsburg
possessions were transferred to the museum in 1919, such as oriental
carpets. In exchange with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Museum am
Stubenring gave up part of the sculptures and the antiquities collection
in 1936 and 1940 and took over arts and crafts holdings from the Figdor
Collection and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. After Austria's
"annexation" to the German Reich, the museum was renamed the State
Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna in 1938. Between 1939 and 1945,
museums took over numerous private collections confiscated by the Nazi
government, and the collection of the State Museum of Applied Arts in
Vienna also increased in this way. Since 1998, numerous works of art
have been restituted to their owners as a result of provenance research.
In 1947 the State Museum of Decorative Arts in Vienna was given the
name Austrian Museum of Applied Arts. The museum was reopened in 1949
after the war damage had been repaired. In 1965, the Geymüllerschlössel
in the 18th district of Vienna was attached to the museum as a new
branch. At the same time as the building, the important clock collection
of Franz Sobek (160 old Viennese clocks from the period between 1750 and
the second half of the 19th century) as well as furniture from the years
1800 to 1840 came into the possession of the MAK. At the end of the
1980s, as part of the renovation of the facade, parts of the murals were
restored to their original condition. The subsequent rearrangement of
the furnishings and the extraordinary collection of clocks in the rooms
of the Geymüllerschlössel allows visitors a true-to-original insight
into the diversity of Biedermeier furnishings.
The Arenbergpark Gefechtsturm – one of the six flak towers erected in
Vienna during the Second World War – was run as another branch of the
MAK from 1994 and functioned from 1995 to 2011 as the MAK contemporary
art depot (MAK Tower), which housed a large part of the museum’s
contemporary art collection. The MAK Tower was later closed to the
public for lack of official permits.
After a MAK exhibition on
Josef Hoffmann in 1992 in his birthplace in Brtnice/Pirnitz (Czech
Republic), contacts with the Moravian Gallery in Brno/Brünn were
intensified. Since 2006, both institutions have managed Hoffmann's
birthplace as the Josef Hoffmann Museum in the form of a joint branch
office. The museum presents its collection in a permanent exhibition,
while temporary exhibitions on Josef Hoffmann and his contemporaries are
presented at the same time.
In 1994, the MAK established a branch
in Los Angeles, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. This was housed
in three buildings by the Viennese architect Rudolph M. Schindler:
Rudolph Schindler House, Pearl M. Mackey Apartment House and
Fitzpatrick-Leland House. The focus is on new trends and
interdisciplinary developments in the fields of fine arts and
architecture, which are promoted through grants and projects and
expanded through changing exhibitions.
An important area of
activity of the MAK is its presentation in public space. In an active
relationship, the museum supports contemporary artists whose works are
mostly presented as part of an exhibition in the MAK building and later
as works of art in the urban space of Vienna, in order to mediate at the
interface between art and public space. Several international artists
are represented. These include James Turrell (MAKlite, permanent
installation on the MAK facade, 2004, Stubenring), Michael Kienzer
(Stylit, 2005, Stubenring/Weiskirchnerstraße), Franz West (Four Larvae
(Lemur Heads), 2001 to 2021, Stubenbrücke), Donald Judd (Stage Set,
1996, Stadtpark) and Philip Johnson (Vienna Trio, 1998,
Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schottenring, opposite Ringturm).
As part of the
reorganization of the federal museums, the museum was released in 2000
as a scientific institution under public law with full legal capacity.
In 2015, under the direction of Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, the MAK
initiated the Vienna Biennale, the first biennial to combine art,
design, and architecture. It lasted from June 11 to October 4, 2015 and
was organized by the MAK in cooperation with the University of Applied
Arts Vienna, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architekturzentrum Wien and the
creative center of the Vienna Business Agency, departure, and by the AIT
Austrian Institute of Technology as non-university research partner. The
second Vienna Biennale took place from June 21 to October 1, 2017. The
third edition of the Vienna Biennale took place from May 29 to October
6, 2019. The fourth edition of the Vienna Biennale for Change took place
from May 28 to October 3, 2021.
In 2015, the MAK was the first
museum to buy a work of art (van den Dorpel’s screensaver “Event
listeners”) with bitcoins. With over 300,000 objects, the MAK has the
largest online collection of all federal museums. When visiting, the
audio guide can be used as a web app on a mobile phone.
designations
1863 to 1918: K.k. Austrian Museum for Art and
Industry
1918 to 1938: Austrian Museum for Art and Industry
1938
to 1947: State Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna
1947 to 1987:
Austrian Museum for Applied Arts
1987 to 2001: MAK – Austrian Museum
of Applied Arts
2001 to 2019: MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts /
Contemporary Art
2019 to date: MAK – Museum of Applied Arts
directors
Rudolph Eitelberger (1863–1885)
Jacob von Falke
(1885–1895)
Bruno Bucher (1895–1897)
Arthur of Scala (1897–1909)
Edward Leisching (1909–1925)
Herman Trenkwald (1925–1927)
August
Schestag (1927–1932)
Richard Ernest (1932–1950)
Ignaz Schlosser
(1950–1958)
Viktor Griessmaier (1958–1968)
Wilhelm Mrazek
(1968–1978)
Gerhard Egger (1979-1981)
Herbert Fux (1981-1984)
Ludwig Neustifter (interim director, 1984–1986)
Peter Noever
(1986-2011)
Martina Kandeler-Fritsch (interim director, February to
August 2011)
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (September 2011 to August
2021), 2016-2021 Scientific Director
Teresa Mitterlehner-Marchesani,
commercial director since 2016
Lilli Hollein, Scientific Director
since September 1, 2021
From 1869, a new museum complex for the k. k. Austrian Museum of Art
and Industry in Neo-Renaissance style designed by Heinrich von Ferstel.
The painter Ferdinand Laufberger made a frieze in sgraffito and the
fresco paintings on the mirror vault of the staircase. On November 15,
1871, the museum was made accessible to the public as part of a grand
opening and was inaugurated as the first museum building on the Ring.
Laufberger's cartoons were lost, and so around 1893 the wall painting of
the figures on the outside facade was recreated by students of Karl
Karger at the Kunstgewerbeschule. From 1875, next to the Austrian
Museum, an adjoining new building for the School of Applied Arts was
built at Stubenring 3, the plans for which also come from Heinrich von
Ferstel. It was opened in 1877.
In 1906, an extension for the
museum at Weiskirchnerstrasse 3 was designed by Ludwig Baumann and
completed in 1908. After the Second World War, the war damage to the
museum building was repaired by 1949.
In 1989, the general
refurbishment of the old building complex and the construction of a new
two-storey underground storage facility began, creating further depots
for the collection and additional exhibition space.
After this
conversion, the museum was opened in 1993, the exhibition rooms of which
were designed by artists such as Barbara Bloom, Eichinger or Knechtl,
Günther Förg, Gangart, Franz Graf, Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, Peter
Noever, Manfred Wakolbinger and Heimo Zobernig. In 2014, the Carpets
Show Collection was reorganized with an artistic intervention by Füsun
Onur, as did the Asia Show Collection, for which Tadashi Kawamata was
entrusted with the artistic design in 2014 and 2016.
The building
on Weiskirchnerstrasse is reserved for temporary exhibitions, while the
premises on Stubenring house the permanent exhibition and the MAK Design
Lab.
The light installation MAKlite by the American artist James
Turrell is attached to the outer facade of the MAK (first installation
2004, restoration 2018). The historic façade is illuminated in ten
different colors using lighting technology developed with the Florentine
artificial lighting expert Targetti using the latest LED technology. The
installation can be seen from sunset to midnight and in the morning from
5 am to sunrise. James Turrell is also represented in the MAK collection
with the skyspace The other Horizon in the MAK branch Geymüllerschlössel
in the 18th district of Vienna.
In line with its historical justification, the MAK Permanent
Collection is divided into different sections based on functional
earmarking.
VIENNA 1900. Design / Arts and Crafts 1890-1938
carpets
Asia. China-Japan-Korea
Renaissance Baroque Rococo
Baroque Rococo Classicism
Empire Biedermeier
Historicism Art
Nouveau Art Deco
Collection highlights are the holdings of the
Wiener Werkstätte, armchairs by Thonet and Kohn, Danhauser furniture,
Klimt's design for the mosaic frieze in the Palais Stoclet, Du Paquier's
porcelain room from the Palais Dubsky, a collection of Bohemian and
Venetian glasses, Flanders and Italian lace, silver, Porcelain and
carpets as well as Chinese porcelain, Japanese colored woodcuts
(ukiyo-e) and coloring stencils (katagami).
MAK Design Lab
On
the occasion of its 150th birthday in 2014, the MAK emphatically
positioned itself as an interface for art and everyday life with the
newly opened MAK Design Lab. Until 2014, the MAK Study Collection
presented part of its extensive inventory there in a material-specific
technological order. In the course of this repositioning of the former
study collection, the MAK cooperated with the Austrian design team EOOS
and the IDRV (Institute of Design Research Vienna) in order to make
cross-connections between the art of the 21st century and earlier epochs
directly tangible.
Since the transformation into the MAK Design
Lab in 2014, almost 2,000 exhibits - divided into themed islands - have
created a newly designed display area for realistic references between
historical handicrafts and contemporary design in the entire basement of
the museum. Interactive subject areas form a clear course on areas such
as cooking (including a replica of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky's
Frankfurt kitchen), eating and drinking, sitting, artistic, industrial
and alternative production, transport, communication and ornament as
well as the Helmut Lang Archive that shows the artistic highlights based
on selected designs.
The newly created passageways and modular
units lead to a connecting spatial experience and allow rapid adaptation
to changing requirements. The MAK Forum forms a flexibly usable space
that is used as a meeting place as well as an experimental area for
exhibitions and mediation formats.
The MAK Design Lab was
reorganized as part of the Vienna Biennale 2019. The objects of the MAK
Collection were placed in a new context and located at the interfaces
between everyday life, society, digitization and climate change using
multi-layered perspectives.
More showrooms
Changing
exhibitions are held in the MAK Works on Paper Room – mainly from the
library and the Works on Paper Collection – presenting, for example,
posters, architectural projects, style copies or Japanese woodblock
prints in their thematic diversity.
The MAK Library and Works on
Paper Collection provides information on all areas of applied art. The
literature spans the period from the 16th century to the present day,
with some manuscripts, incunabula and printed works dating from the 15th
century to the present day. The collection of works on paper brings
together ornamental engravings, posters, photos, drawings, watercolors
and plans as well as drawings from the Wiener Werkstätte archive.
The MAK Permanent Collection of Contemporary Art serves as a
presentation space for contemporary projects by international artists,
including those dealing with themes of Vienna around 1900.
With
its online MAK Collection, the MAK makes parts of its holdings freely
accessible to the public:
Japanese woodcuts/ukiyo-e
East Asian Art
Late Antique Textiles
posters
ornament prints
Wiener workshop
drawings
Joseph Binder - Graphic Design
English fabrics and
wallpaper around 1900 (Arts and Crafts Movement)
The MAK has a wide range of digital offerings. Data on the collection
or the in-house publications are released for research and formats such
as the MAK Digistories or the MAK Blog provide information on a wide
variety of topics. The audio guide is provided free of charge in the
form of a web-based app.
MAK Collection Online
From the end of
2012, the MAK began to set up a central object database. The contains
over 300,000 results on objects and people, giving the MAK the largest
online collection of all Austrian federal museums.
house
publications
The museum's periodicals are available in full text.
Over 50,000 pages of the in-house magazine "Mittheilungen des k.k
Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie 1863 - 1897", as well as
the follow-up magazine "Arts and Crafts 1898 - 1921", and the magazine
"Alte und Moderne Kunst 1956 - 1985" can be browsed online and
downloaded .
Google Arts & Culture
Since May 2017, the MAK and
its collection highlights can also be visited virtually on Google Arts &
Culture: gigapixel images of Gustav Klimt's work drawings for the mosaic
frieze in the dining room of Palais Stoclet in Brussels (1910-1911) can
be seen, as can parts of the heroic epic Hamzanama, das is one of the
main works of painting in the Islamic world.
3D tours
The main
building of the museum can be visited in a tour. The tour starts in the
columned hall. There are also tours through the Geymüllerschlössl. In
addition, individual exhibitions, such as those recently by Sheila Hicks
during the COVID-19 pandemic, could be visited virtually in a 3D tour.
multimedia
In addition to video and audio formats, there are
already the first online games initiated by the MAK with “Mix MAK” and
“World Wide Wonderland”.