Latest Events in Vienna(July Updated)

To celebrate its 250th anniversary, the Albertina Museum is hosting its first-ever exhibition focusing on works by women artists from its collection, retelling art history. Spanning from the 15th century to the 1970s, the exhibition showcases the crucial role women have played in the development of art, even though their contributions are often overlooked or forgotten. The collection already includes works by numerous female illustrators and printmakers, originally from the collection of the Duke of Albert and Grand Duchess Mary Christensen. Spanning different eras and encompassing various art forms from medieval monastic woodcuts to early feminist works, the collection fully demonstrates that art history is also written by women. In recent years, the museum's expansion of its collection has placed greater emphasis on female artists, particularly in the field of contemporary art. However, this has also raised questions about the Albertina Museum's historical collections, which were acquired under vastly different social and political (power) conditions. This exhibition is based on a research project initiated by the new director, Ralph Grace, which focuses on female artists across the museum's various fields. The result is astonishing: a diverse and substantial collection, including many outstanding works rarely exhibited before.

Jürgen Meltz is a glacier photographer who captures the silhouettes of these white giants from diverse perspectives. He creates classic landscape photographs while also revisiting historical sites where photographers took panoramic photographs a century ago. Through comparative photography, he hopes to showcase the beauty of mountains gradually disappearing due to climate change, thereby prompting reflection. Another focus of his work is documenting glacier caves. He observes glaciers up close and uses drones to explore their abstract structures and textures from the air, enriching his photographic portfolio.

Coins are among the smallest portraits in the world. These masterpieces of miniature art show busts or faces of prominent individuals in amazing detail and usually in profile. In many cases, the diminutive nature of the coin portraits necessitates the use of highly symbolic visual imagery. Yet, the hairstyles, clothes and accessories are more than just aesthetic embellishments, they reflect the zeitgeist and offer a window into the culture of ages past. The exhibition Turning Heads (Kopf & Kragen) presents over a hundred numismatic portraits from a cultural and historical perspective, casting light on fashion and lifestyle from several millennia.

Coins are among the smallest portraits in the world. These masterpieces of miniature art show busts or faces of prominent individuals in amazing detail and usually in profile. In many cases, the diminutive nature of the coin portraits necessitates the use of highly symbolic visual imagery. Yet, the hairstyles, clothes and accessories are more than just aesthetic embellishments, they reflect the zeitgeist and offer a window into the culture of ages past.The exhibition Head and Shoulders (Kopf & Kragen) presents over a hundred numismatic portraits from a cultural and historical perspective, casting light on fashion and lifestyle from several millennia.

Photographer Gregor Sailer opens the exhibition with "Cockaigne"—an ancient word meaning "land flowing with milk and honey"—to showcase humanity's long-held dream: abundance of food. The invention of agriculture has brought the first steps towards prosperity and also revolutionized human nutrition. However, this exhibition does not look back but looks to the future, focusing on the transformation of future food production. It presents two systems: on one hand, highly diverse agricultural ecosystems requiring significant human input; on the other hand, automated agriculture controlled by artificial intelligence, employing standardized organisms and processes, and promising to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. How do we hope to shape future food production? After all, agriculture has never been wilderness; it has always been about transforming nature and natural processes, and altering ecosystems to meet human needs.

Everything is in *The Magic Flute*! This exhibition showcases the latest collection from Munich-based veteran collector Dr. Günter Grish and his wife Rosemary. They have meticulously amassed a large collection of Mozart's works, with a particular focus on *The Magic Flute* and "Freemasonry in the Mozart Era." Among these is an extremely rare libretto from the 1791 premiere, featuring Immanuel Schikaned as Papageno.

Dutch artist Herman de Vries has upheld the philosophy that "nature is art" for over fifty years. He received professional training in botany and landscape horticulture, and began creating art early in his career, gaining fame for his non-formal art paintings and as a member of the artist collective "nul". Since the 1970s, ecological issues have been a key theme in his art—and to this day, he remains one of the most important figures in environmental art. In his artistic explorations, de Vries combines scientific methods such as observation, classification, and archiving with mythology and philosophical questions. He spends his days exploring nature in the Steigerwald Forest in Germany, collecting a wide variety of objects along the way: flowers, stones, branches, soil, bones, grass, minerals, and more. These "objets trouvés" are arranged into sensory installations, showcasing a simple yet intrinsic beauty. His work is consistently guided by a profound understanding and respect for the Earth's natural resources. His 1991 conceptual work, *108 Pounds of Lavender*, consists of oval-shaped clusters of fragrant purple flowers arranged on the floor. This creates a sensory experience for visitors beneath the Baroque ceiling frescoes of the Carné Hall.

The upcoming exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna will focus on the renowned cityscapes of Giovanni Antonio Canal (better known as Canaletto) and his nephew Bernardo Bellotto (who often referred to himself as Canaletto to emphasize his connection to his famous uncle). These two Venetian painters used optical devices such as the camera obscura to depict European cities with scientific precision, creatively transforming their observations into magnificent paintings. Both artists depicted the grandeur of their hometown, Venice, but both left the lagoon city to pursue their careers abroad: Canaletto moved to London, while Bellotto worked in Dresden and Vienna. This exhibition, featuring numerous international loans—many of which have never been shown in Austria before—invites you to rediscover this 18th-century city and the artistic careers of these two artists, reflecting a Europe rife with fluidity, war, and uncertainty.