Die Angewandte

Our object of the month June is a photograph by Elly Niebuhr depicting a garbage collection vehicle.

The photograph was part of the group exhibition Backyard Economy. Curated by Jenni Tischer and Stefanie Kitzberger and presented in 2023 at the University Gallery of the Angewandte, this project brought together artistic positions addressing the largely invisible forms of social reproduction that underpin the economy of global capitalism. Borrowing its title from two film works by Martha Rosler, the exhibition took early Marxist-feminist perspectives and practices of institutional critique as a point of departure and reconsidered them in relation to contemporary conditions.

Elly Niebuhr was born in 1914 in Vienna into a Jewish family as Elly Prager-Mandowsky. She began training as a photographer in the mid-1930s in the portrait studio of Hella Katz. During this period, she documented urban scenes as well as the socially progressive architecture and institutions of Red Vienna, producing socially engaged photographic reports that are now considered significant historical documents of Austrian interwar history. With the rise of National Socialism, Niebuhr fled in 1940 via London to New York, where she worked as a portrait photographer. After the Second World War, she returned to Vienna, where she continued her photographic practice.

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Elly Niebuhr, Kehrichtwagen für Papier und Blätter [garbage car for paper and leaves], 1950-1960, Black-and-white photography,(reproduction), 30 × 30 cm, NIE/1043/F, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Collection and Archive

Exhibition views of ‘Backyard Economy‘, University Gallery of the Angewandte, Sala Terrena, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Collection and Archive, Photo: Manuel Lopez Carreon, kunst-dokumentation.com

Pride is a Riot!

Hanna Hofmann’s (Hanna Hofmann) design for this year’s Pride flag reclaims Pride’s radical roots, referencing the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, where Black and Latinx trans women, le****ns, drag queens, and gay men fought back against oppression. The slogan “Pride is a Riot” asserts that LGBTQ+ liberation remains an ongoing struggle, not just a celebration.

The background of the design by the student of the department Art & Science (Art & Science) merges influential Pride flags (Progress, Trans, Le***an, Gilbert Baker’s Rainbow, etc.) in a liquid, flowing collision, symbolising solidarity across identities.

Mythology has always been a refuge for q***r coding – from shapeshifting deities to creatures that defy binaries. On the flag, a phoenix, a unicorn, and a griffin rise from the riot of colours, embodying q***r resilience.

Two book presentations this Wednesday, 10 June:

Unwritten Biographies
By the time of the Anschluss in 1938, the former School of Applied Arts had been fundamentally transformed. Jewish and politically ‚undesirable‘ teachers and students had been expelled, their careers cut short. Escape routes led to exile across continents. Others continued to work successfully through Austrofascism, the N**i period, and into the post-war years. With this anthology, die Angewandte goes in search of artists from all fields who have been forgotten or are known only to specialists: Unwritten Biographies – a little-explored, decidedly ambivalent history of die Angewandte and Viennese Modernism. A publication by the University of Applied Arts Vienna, edited by Bernadette Reinhold ()

Äußerung des Denkens. Marx, Freud, Kant, Hegel
Jan Völker, Professor of Philosophy at the Angewandte, presents his newest book in conversation with Robert Pfaller.
“Das Buch führt in einem »spekulativen Quartett« (Alain Badiou) das Denken von Marx, Freud, Kant und Hegel zusammen, um es als einen übergreifenden, geteilten Prozess zu begreifen. Dieses Denken gehorcht weder einer vorausgesetzten Idee, noch arbeitet es im Auftrag einer übergreifenden Idee – das Denken wird zu einem Selben, das sich durch die Verschiedenheiten entwickelt.“ ()

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Credit: Paula Wessely as Valerie Gärtner in the stair hall of the Kunstgewerbeschule Vienna, film still from Episode, director: Walter Reisch, Austria, 1935, photo: Filmarchiv Austria

One month to go until the Angewandte Festival!

The festival opening takes place on 1 July at 4pm and will be followed by linguistic explorations through artistic interventions by students of the Institute of Language Arts. The event will be simultaneously interpreted into Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS). The exhibitions are open throughout the festival – students from every department are showing their current projects, and graduates are presenting their final diploma works. Until then: have a go with our scratch-card flyer –find three dogs and you could win a prize…

If you have any questions or are interested in the inclusive programme and guided tours, please get in touch: [email protected]

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Credits: Angewandte Festival 2026, Design by Marie-Therese Blecha, Nia Habibian, Niki Hermkes, Minna Rothbart, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Unwritten Biographies

Hans ­Felix Kraus was admitted to the Kunstgewerbeschule (today’s University of Applied Arts Vienna) in 1930, when he was just fourteen. While still a student, he featured prominently in exhibitions, including the spring and fall exhibitions of the Vienna Secession in 1934 and the Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles the following year. He was especially passionate – as both author and artist – about a number of creative printing techniques and, in particular, the woodcut.
Hans Felix Kraus fled Austria in summer 1938 and, after spending some time traveling across Europe, arrived in New York in spring 1939. His death in Guadalajara in Mexico on October 13, 1973, was particularly tragic given that it came a month before an exhibition was due to open in the city – his first since escaping from Vienna.

Today, Hans ­Felix Kraus is completely unknown – but no longer forgotten: His rediscovery is underway. This began with an enquiry made to the archive of the Angewandte in the spring of 2013 by Helen ­Kraus, who wanted to learn more about her artist father.

Kraus is not an isolated case – with the anthology “Unwritten Biographies – Fractures and Continuities. Artists of the Angewandte Vienna 1933–1955“ (eds. Bernadette Reinhold), the University of Applied Arts Vienna sets out to trace the lives and legacies of artists from all fields of art, architecture, and design and, in doing so, uncover a little-known history of both the Angewandte and Viennese Modernism.
The book will be presented on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 – 6 p.m. at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Flux 1.
More information: https://www.dieangewandte.at/en/news/detail?artikel_id=1770867740755

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1 Hans ­ Felix ­ Kraus, before 1938, photographer unknown, Hans Felix Kraus Estate
2 Hans ­ Felix ­ Kraus, Baron Münchhausen in the East, ca. 1934, watercolor, Hans ­Felix ­Kraus Estate
3 Hans ­ Felix ­ Kraus, The Dancer Gertrud ­ Kraus, 1937, lithograph from the portfolio of the same name, Kunstverlag Würthle & Sohn Nachfolge, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Collection and Archive
4 Hans Felix Kraus, Singing Muezzin on the Minaret in Algiers, illustration for Alphonse Daudet’s Tartarin of Tarascon,1933/34, watercolor on paper,Jewish Museum, New York
5 Hans ­Felix ­Kraus, untitled (poem likely translated from Japanese), 1934, woodcut, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Collection and Archive (donated by Helen Kraus)
6 Hans ­Felix ­Kraus, Zanimals from Alphabetia, cover design and inner pages, ca. 1965, collage, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Collection and Archive, donated by Helen ­Kraus)

Die Angewandte unterstützt die von der Österreichischen Universitätenkonferenz (uniko) organisierte Großdemonstration am 27. Mai 2026 gegen die geplanten Einsparungen der Bundesregierung in der Universitätenfinanzierung.

„In Zeiten zunehmender Wissenschaftsfeindlichkeit bedeutet das Sparen an Universitäten auch ein Sparen an kritischem Denken und an gesellschaftlicher Zukunftsfähigkeit“, betont Rektorin Ulrike Kuch und fordert die politischen Entscheidungsträger*innen auf, die geplanten Kürzungen zurückzunehmen.

Die Angewandte lädt ihre Studierenden und Lehrenden herzlich ein, bei der Demonstration die Relevanz von Kunst sichtbar zu machen: Please bring your art along!

Treffpunkt: 13 Uhr, Universität Wien

This May, and in anticipation of the upcoming Show Modeklasse on 2 June, we present a piece by designer Larissa Falk (.falk_) in our object of the month series.

The coat, made of red and brown knitted fabric, was digitally knitted in the Fashion Department () and handcrafted by Larissa Falk. It is part of her graduation collection “alienation,” which was awarded the RONDO-Modepreis in 2020.

In this collection, Falk questions representations of the female body and subverts the traces of the male gaze through her designs:
“The collection is based on my experience of growing up in a Gasthaus in rural Styria in Austria owned by my parents. It is an exploration of female ideal identities and their sexualization within the Gasthaus.“ Larissa Falk

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Credits:
Slide 1: Larissa Falk, knitted coat, „alienation“ collection, 2021, 108 x 70 x 5 cm, wool, mohair, digitally knitted, KM 8546, Collection and Archive, University of Applied Arts Vienna

Slide 2: Fashion, photography Larissa Falk, Model Tina Enöckl

Slide 3: Fashion Larissa Falk, photography Lea Sophia Mair, Anna Skuratovski, models Adele Falk, Elfriede Falk, Roswhitha Scheibelhofer-Falk

Slide 4: Fashion Larissa Falk, photography Lea Sophia Mair Anna Skuratovski, models Lea Sophia Mair, Anna Skuratovski, Larissa Falk

Let us sail into an ocean of colour, bodies and sound: Students of the Department of Transmedia Art () are devising a cosmology of myths for the Republic of Gods (). The floating House of the Republic at the Badeschiff invites its visitors to travel through mists and in-between worlds.

TRANSMYTHICAL, a series of installations, performances, workshops, concerts, and rituals by students, graduates, and lecturers, opens on 20 May. Every Wednesday night, the students design a one-off special edition of Transmythical with installations, performances and music at the Badeschiff.

With works by:
Reza Shirvan, Otis Vogl-Fernheim, Francesca Centonze & Iris Writze, Ida Mariboe Nielsen, Laura Chalabi, Mina Banabak, Sophia Festini Sughi & Marietheres Reichegger & David Spanier/AA+, Angela Proyer, Ymo09, Leonie Holtkamp, SHE SAID, Sebastian Krenn, Luna Maluna Gri, Barbara Oberhofer, Paul-Can Atlama, Mahdi Bakhshi, Julius Lugmayr, Lea Gander & Matthias Sanoll, Jona Lingitz & Neptunia Monna Anarchus, Doris Krüger, Aisel Gulieva, Rage, Lea Neckel, Janine Scheer-Erb, Leonie Wimmer, Katharina Busl, Daryna Moisieienk and more

Curated by Eva Chytilek, Gerald*ine Grestenberger, Alexander Martinz, Anna Zwingl and Thomas Kasebacher, Wiener Festwochen

Installations May 15 – June 21, 2026 Wednesday – Sunday, 4 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Opening May 20, 2026, 6 p.m.
Weekly Program (Each Wednesday)
* 3:30 p.m. | Procession: University of Applied Arts Vienna to Badeschiff
* 4 p.m. – 12 a.m. | Workshops, Performances & Concerts

📍 Badeschiff, Wolfgang-Schmitz-Promenade 4, 1010 Vienna

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Credits:

1) Laura Chalabi, This is how we tell it now
2) Francesca Centonze, Iris Writze, Sirens, Snakes and other S***s
3) Kara Paul-Can Atlama, Hermaphroditus
4) Martina Menegon, Glitchaelia, photo Charlotte Raeithe
5) Ida Mariboe Nielsen, On the floor
6) GIGGIDALESSIO
7) Sophia Festini Sughi, Marietheres Reichegger, David Spanier/AA+, PANIS MATER

About yesterday: The Venice Biennale provided the backdrop for a warm gathering of students, faculty, alumni and friends of the Angewandte – a moment to connect before today’s panel discussion.

We are looking forward to discussing the future of artistic archives! Rector Ulrike Kuch, the panelists – Nora-Swantje Almes, Jakob Lena Knebl, Ashley Hans Scheirl, Martin Reinhart, Dagmar Schink – and moderator Beatrice Jaschke will take the contribution of this year’s Austrian Pavilion by Florentina Holzinger as a starting point to explore broader transformations in how artistic and especially performance archives are conceived, activated, and made relevant for present and future generations.

If you are in Venice, please join us at Sala F, Central Pavilion. The panel discussion in the frame of the Biennale Sessions starts at 3 pm.

kuch .jaschke

 61st International Art Exhibition  by