Exhibition space with objects, the wall is made of cardboard.

Wall with Japanese woodblock prints, the wallpaper of the wall is oversized woodblock print

Exhibition room with objects, on one wall there is a large painting.

Exhibition room with objects, pink wallpaper with pattern

Person with mask of flowers in front of face

The Fest

Between Representation and Revolt

Since time immemorial, fests have challenged people to engage in activist experiments or to make artistic statements. Sometimes even a glass of champagne or a forbidden costume, an immersive party sound or a festive production can trigger surprises and even provocations.

14.12.2022—7.5.2023

MAK Exhibition Hall

The fest as an ephemeral event has repeatedly prompted designers from the fields of art, architecture, design, and music, to translate design traditions and art discourse into the excesses of a wild night or into the celebration of a worthy occasion. Conversely, these transient freedoms have stimulated and tested new formats and content. Fests document social urgencies and, in the process, changes—both large and small. The MAK exhibition THE FEST: Between Representation and Revolt brings cultural and social history to life and addresses the significance of design strategies for everyday culture.

Thematically, there are hardly any limits to what can be celebrated: Celebrations are held for religious and political reasons, (wild) artists’ and other festivities sometimes transgress taboos, private celebrations reflect social contexts. Temporally, the exhibition spans an arc from the beginning of the Enlightenment to new festive calendars of a forming working class at the time of industrialization to current festive formats. Whether bold rococo masked balls, festivals of avant-garde from the interwar and post-war periods or forbidden raves: All of them are recalled, discussed, and celebrated with their subversive power in THE FEST.

Guided Tours

every Saturday, 4.30 pm
every Sunday, 2.30 pm

Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication THE FEST: Between Representation and Revolt, edited by Lilli Hollein, Brigitte Felderer, Anne-Katrin Rossberg, with contributions by Chiara Baldini, Bogomir Doringer; Brigitte Felderer, Rainald Franz, Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Lilli Hollein, Werner Oechslin, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Anne-Katrin Rossberg, Peter Sandbichler, Lara Steinhäußer, Bärbel Vischer, Mio Wakita-Elis, Marlies Wirth. German/English, ca. 432 pages with numerous illustrations. MAK, Vienna/Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 2023. Available as of December 2022 at the MAK Design Shop and online at MAKdesignshop.at for € 49.

Audioguide

At guide.MAK.at you can find free audios on highlights of the exhibition.

Two people dressed up, one wears a hat with feathers and a mask, one wears a monkey mask.

Disguised person with mask and long coat in white

Collage with photos and other material, orgiastic

Dancing people on a street photographed from bird's eye view

PARTICIPATING CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS

Astro Polygon, Petra Bacher, Bogomir Doringer mit Rafael Kozdron, eSeL, Cerith Wyn Evans, Marcus Geiger, Gelatin, Sampo Hänninen, Thomas Hörl, Elke Krystufek, Helmut Lang, Kris Lemsalu, Markus and His Flowers, Haruko Maeda, Michèle Pagel, Patrick Pulsinger, Philipp Quehenberger, Patrick Rampelotto, George Rei, Liddy Scheffknecht, Christian Schwarzwald, Yinka Shonibare, Nicole Six und Paul Petritsch, Crazus Synapsus, Philip Topolovac, Anna Vasof, Herwig Weiser, Wiener Times, Anna Wukounig, Maria Ziegelböck, Siegfried Zaworka, Heimo Zobernig, Matthias Zykan

CURATORS

Guest Curator: Brigitte Felderer

Co-Curator: Olga Wukounig

MAK Curator: Anne-Katrin Rossberg, Curator, MAK Metal Collection and Wiener Werkstätte Archive, with the collaboration of all MAK Curators

EXHIBITION DESIGN

Peter Sandbichler

PROGRAM
Fests will be celebrated to accompany the exhibition THE FEST. You are invited to a carnival party and an artists’ ball. We will host a ball dress exchange, will dance at the (young) MAK Rave. We organize mask and costume workshops, talk about revolt, celebrate moments together, and recycle from the remains of the party. You can find out more about the extensive accompanying program with workshops for families, schoolchildren, and adults, as well as discussions in the context of the new Conversation Pieces series in the calendar below.