The main building of the Academy of Fine Arts is currently closed for reconstruction. On the scaffolding you can see an art installation by Austrian artist Katharina Cibulka. The feminist statement refers to the fact that for centuries women haven't been able to gain ground as artists in the fine arts. The Academy of Fine Arts has more female than male students and it is the only university in Austria with a completely female rectorship.
I told you yesterday that last Sunday I passed by the sculptors studios of the Academy of Fine Arts, but actually I was curious and also took a short tour inside. I have to admit that I didn't really "understand" the works on display...
Last weekend the Academy of Fine Arts opened its collections, departments and studios to the public. I happened to pass by the building that houses the sculptors studios. The neon letters say "haunted castle" - I don't know if the sign is art or if it refers to the edifice which, in my opinion, doesn't seem like a haunted castle.
The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudel. With his death in 1714, the academy temporarily closed. In 1726 the academy was reestablished as Imperial and Royal Court Academy of painters, sculptors and architecture, a public Institution. In 1772 the organisational structure was reformed and all existing art schools were integrated into the Imperial and Royal Unified Academy of Fine Arts. In 1872 Emperor Franz Joseph I approved a statute making the academy the supreme government authority for the arts. A new building, designed by Theophil Hansen, was constructed in the course of the layout of the Ringstraße boulevard. On 3 April 1877, the present-day building on Schillerplatz in the city center was inaugurated.
