Opening HYPE AND HIGH CULTURE

75 Years of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) in Posters

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.

Tue, 21.4.2026 7 pm — 9 pm

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

On the exhibition
Gregor Murth, Managing Director, MAK
Anita Eichinger, Director, Wienbibliothek
Milo Rau, Artistic Director of the Vienna Festival | Free Republic of Vienna
Franz Gangelmayer, Guest-Curator, Head of printed materials and posters, Wienbibliothek
Peter Klinger, Curator, Deputy Head, MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection

Admission to the opening is free.
A ticket is required to visit all the other exhibitions (e.g. HELMUT LANG).
mak.at/tickets

During our exhibition openings or events, photographs and videos are regularly taken and recorded by the MAK and other parties and published i.a. on the website and social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) of the MAK and other parties. Persons participating in exhibition openings and events or entering the MAK’s premises thereby give their consent to the publication of such photographs and videos, without remuneration and without the persons concerned expressly granting such permission.

A joint project of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna and the MAK
In cooperation with Wienbibliothek im Rathaus