Empty Museum

As the Künstlerhaus will be closed for renovation as of tomorrow and there wasn't any exhibition going on any more, the motto of the guided tour was "empty museum". The building wasn't completely empty, there were still ladders, tools, spotlights everywhere (it was fun to see how my fellow instagramers pounced on all these things with their cameras)
and one last artwork that has been badly stored for a long time. It will now be restored.

Künstlerhaus #2

The Künstlerhaus was designed by August Weber in the style of an Italian Renaissance villa and opened on 1 September 1868 as one of the earliest Ringstraße buildings. It was significantly expanded as early as 1882 with a pair of side wings - these were later used to house a cinema (from 1949) and a theatre (from 1974).

Künstlerhaus #1

On Friday I participated in a guided tour for instagramers at the Künstlerhaus. The building was erected in 1868 as an event site and exhibition house for Austria's oldest (independant and private) artist association, "The Association of Austrian Artists Künstlerhaus". The association with nearly 500 member artists comprises a variety of fields such as painting, sculpting, architecture, applied arts and film, and sees itself as a platform for artists and art lovers. As of July 1st, the Künstlerhaus will be closed for renovation for a period of two years.

British Façade Detail

Instead of doing my usual evening bicycle tour, on Saturday I preferred to sit on a bench in a park, enjoy the quiet atmosphere and do some reading. Because of road works I had to make a little detour on my way home, and in one of the unfamiliar streets I discovered this interesting façade detail. I don't have any explanation for this "decoration", but it's a perfect subject to depict the fact that Great Britain is currently a central topic...

Sunday Flowers #193

"Flowers have a mysterious and subtle influence upon the feelings, not unlike some strains of music.
They relax the tenseness of the mind. They dissolve its vigor." - Henry Ward Beecher

Let's go Shopping!

Summer sale has already started, time to go shopping! I will do that without flamingos...

Sunset Obession #29

On Wednesday evening I didn't watch the crucial match of the Austrian football team in the  2016 UEFA European Championship, but took a bicyle tour and enjoyed this view shortly before I arrived at home. The football team lost and has already returned to Austria...

Man in a Boat

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is currently presenting the sculpture "Man in a Boat" by Australian artist Ron Mueck at the Theseustempel. The work was created during a residency at the National Gallery, London, in 2000/2. Mueck's sculptures faithfully reproduce the minute detail of the human body, but in considerably smaller or larger than life size. "Man in a Boat" has a little naked man (about half life-size) sitting at the front of a real (full-sized) rowing boat.  He is middle-aged and paunchy, his arms folded as he peers into the distance, his eyes evading any contact with the viewer. Deprived of oars, he has no way of controlling the course of his battered old boat and faces an uncertain future.   

Good Luck to Austria

Today is an important day for the Austrian football team. They have to finally score a goal to enter the next round of the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Good luck, guys!

Chasing Soap Bubbles

It was fun watching these children chasing huge soap bubbles... They didn't get tired of trying to catch them...

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

When I passed by the MuseumsQuartier yesterday afternoon, the atmosphere in the main courtyard was very relaxed. I guess most people were jusst listening to the "Weekend Sounds" (until June 26), electronic beats provided by renowned Djs...

Sunday Flowers #192

"A flower's appeal is in its contradictions - so delicate in form yet strong in fragrance,
so small in size yet big in beauty, so short in life yet long on effect. - Adabella Radici

Football Cake

Today the Austrian team will play the second match in the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Hopefully they have better luck than some days ago (Austria 0:Hungary 2)! A candy store in the city center has created a football cake to be eaten while watching the match on tv...

Sunset Obession #28

The sunset over the Danube last Friday. During my bicycle rides in the evening I always look forward to this view...

Preparations

Preparations for a wedding photo shoot in the city center. The dress has to be perfectly arranged...

Footballer Mural

Today is Austria's first match in the 2016 UEFA European Championship. The graffiti and street art duo Naskool did a mural of one of the Austrian footballers: David Alaba (*1992) holds Austria's record as the youngest footballer to play for the senior national team, debuting in 2009 as a 17-year-old. He plays for the German club Bayern Munich. Normally I'm not a football fan, but it's hard to ignore a championship - on the radio, on tv, in the newspapers, in the social media, it's everywhere...

Fear is Not an Option

Yesterday afternoon this year's slogan of a recent festival for short film, animation and music video caught my eyes.

Sunday Flowers #191

"I equate peonies with love because they're the first blooms of summer." - Isaac Mizrahi

An Evening by the Water

Contrary to the forecast, yesterday evening we had really nice weather and a lot of people enjoyed a relaxing evening by the water (= the Old Danube).

Football Fever

The current window display of the K. u. K. (Imperial and Royal) Court Confectionary Bakery "Demel" was inspired by the 2016 UEFA European Championship that starts today. The championship is held in France; Austria is amongst the 16 qualified teams.

Bicycle Parking

In Vienna you have to lock your bicycle carefully to make sure that it is not stolen. As I don't want to take a risk, I never leave my bicycle outside... Other people choose to attach their bicycle to the fence of a park. Unfortunately you can't see that it is installed at breast height. Maybe the owner thinks that it better blends in with the leaves this way...

Colourful Doors

In summer 2013 the American artist Douglas Hoekzema not only created a colourful temporary artwork on the glass façade of the "designtower" in the 2nd district (click here for a photo) but he embellished also these doors (I guess they lead to a stockroom, utility room or garbage room). The artwork is long since gone, but the artwok on the doors remained uneffected.

I can't Help it...

I can't help taking photographs of colourful chairs... They always catch my eyes...

Brass Band Festival

We had a lot of events last weekend, one of them was the Brass Band Festival on Saturday. 15 brass bands from all over Austria took part in this event. The bands from the provinces performed on several squares in the city center before all the participants did a joint concert in front of the City Hall in the afternoon. 

Sunday Flowers #190

“I have a very simple arrangement with my plants: I give them love and they give me flowers.” - Joseph Rain

"World Machine"

On Thursday I was on a firm's day out. The last part of our program was the visit of the so-called "World Machine" in a village in Styria. The machine was created by the farmer Franz Gsellmann (1910-1981) over a period of 23 years, translating his thoughts into a unique piece of technology. Everything on this machine turns, moves, flashes, blinks, rings, rattles, clatters and whistles. Gsellmann wanted to become electrician, but he had to succeed his father on the family farm. When Gsellmann saw a ohoto of the Atomium in Brussels in the newspaper, he immediately traveled there by train to see the building in reality. He returned with a small scale model of the Atomium, emptied a room of his farm, situated the model there, and began constructing his machine around it. He went to junk yards, second-hand dealers, and flea markets to obtain devices he could use to add to his construction. The machine grew to almost 4m high, 4m long, and 2m wide. Please click here for a video of the machine.

Friday Night Skating

"Friday Night Skating" is an event, held every Friday from May to September: The roads are specially blocked off and a different route is organized every week. The meeting place is in Heldenplatz, in the very city center. Participation is free, cyclists are also welcome. Last Friday the participants passed through my street.

Sunset Obession #27

When you are tired after a busy day at the office and then take an evening walk during which you see a sunset like this one, the day still comes to a good end...

June Theme Day: Highlight And Shadow

The Viennese subway partially goes "over ground". On a sunny day the light that falls through the windows of the station creates an appealing pattern on the floor of the platform.
Click here to view thumbnails of all participants in the theme day.