Hype and High Culture

Together with the MAK and in close collaboration with the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus (Vienna City Library at City Hall), both known for their spectacular poster collections, the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) will feature a selection of their most impactful campaigns drawn from over a thousand posters. Some of these posters subtly reflect the zeitgeist, others will immediately spark memories among the city’s denizens: about unforgettable theater scandals, heated debates, and astonishing artworks most of all. Controversial urban social happenings such as the 1976 Arena occupation resonate just as much as iconic moments like Falco’s 1985 opening night concert. The poster timeline illustrates the changing times and design languages, but chiefly the evolution of the Vienna Festival into its current form and visual identity. As part of the exhibition, the entire archive of the Vienna Festival posters will be made digitally accessible: graphical experiments, visionary design drafts, and epically humorous campaigns. A joint project of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna and the MAK In cooperation with Wienbibliothek im Rathaus