With exhibitions, venue-specific installations, theme specials, talks, and of course plenty of opportunities to party and network, Vienna Design Week is an attraction not only for the international design scene. It most explicitly aims to appeal to a wide public audience in Vienna, including international guests: in cooperation with many partners – museums, institutions and companies – the whole city becomes a platform and a showcase for design. The Vienna Design Week does not have the character of a trade fair, but instead offers a variety of venues and approaches specific to Vienna. More information on the event after the break.
Vienna Design Week ‘Passionswege’
The Passionswege are a design trail through Vienna and an important item on the Vienna Design Week programme. Solo designers and design teams from Austria and abroad are invited to create objects and site-specific installations on the premises of old established Viennese businesses. Together they experiment on the spot, make use of workshops, and intervene in the premises. The Passionswege also lead to parts of the city not especially known for their affinity for design.
Vienna Design Week Talks invite some of the most challenging designers of our time to give lectures on their specific approaches and personal experiences.
Vienna Design Week Debut presents young Austrian designers in an exhibition in collaboration with the James Dyson Award and the James Dyson Foundation.
Vienna Design Week Laboratory invites emerging graphic and product designers to develop and present a project on-site at the festival headquarters at Stilwerk Wien. In addition, talks and panels address a professional audience.
Vienna Design Week Carte Blanche acknowledges ambitious projects which show the strength and vitality of design apart from its commercial applications.
Vienna Design Week Education offers tours for all! Workshops for kids and young people are offered as well, as guided tours for adults – for design beginners to specialists.
Vienna Design Week – The Specials of 2011
Poland is this year’s ‘guest country’, also in reference to its position as President of the EU Council beginning in July 2011. The emerging Polish design scene has been invited to Vienna to fly the flag at the Vienna Design Week Laboratory, Talks, Passionswege, and exhibitions.
The local focus within the city is going to be Vienna’s second district, the so-called ‘Leopoldstadt’. During the 10 festival days a great variety of events will take place in this part of town between Taborstrasse and Volkertmarkt: Passionswege, Carte Blanche projects, Talks, and much more.
The ‘Info Point’ of the festival will also be located in the second district and will host the Vienna Design Week Laboratory, Talks, and exhibitions in the recently opened hotel and design mall building Stilwerk, located on the Danube Canal and designed by the French star-architect Jean Nouvel. The majority of the tours will begin here.
Social Design will be a focus of interest at the Vienna Design Week and will be dealt with in different formats and programmes, among them a Carte Blanche project in collaboration with the Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas.
E-Mobility: Mobility with its new possibilities will be another core theme. Experts will illustrate the many aspects of the subject through lectures and discussions with public participation, as well as three-dimensional objects ranging from virtuality to reality, smartphone to automobile.
Vienna Design Week – Facts & Figures so far:
26,000 visitors More than 1000 press reviews 21,000 visitors on the website (during the festival) 6,600 Facebook Friends from 24 countries 18 Cultural institutions 120 events (Figures from 2009 and 2010)
Save the Date Guided press tour to several festival venues: 29 September, 2011
Opening 29 September 2011, 7 pm at Liechtenstein Museum, Fürstengasse 1, 1090 Vienna Festival 30 September – 9 October 2011 Infopoint Stilwerk, Praterstraße 1, 1020 Vienna Press Information: visit here Online Information: visit here
