CITIES OF THE MONTH / January
Fly to
Vienna
€ 39
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MAK Exhibition View, 2018
SAGMEISTER & WALSH: Beauty
Sagmeister & Walsh, Color Room, 2018
Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf
VIENNA
one way
Wes Anderson, one of the most atmospheric and
perfectionist filmmakers and the director of The
Grand Budapest Hotel, has successfully presented
himself in a new role as art curator. Having teamed
up with his wife, writer and illustrator Juman
Malouf, they’ve created an exhibition with the
bizarre yet mystifying name Spitzmaus Mummy in
a Coffin and other Treasures (Kunsthistorisches
Museum Wien; Maria-Theresien-Platz; khm.at; until
April 28). The couple was invited to delve into the
museum’s storerooms and sort through everything
from Egyptian mummies to crown jewels, classical
paintings, curiosities of applied art, costume pieces,
coins, and armour. They emerged with more than
400 pieces, most of which had been ‘forgotten’ on the
shelves. Each artefact is now meticulously displayed
in the exhibition, and, while no labels accompany the
objects, they are nevertheless treated like jewels and
grouped according to colour or other characteristics.
With a light sense of irony, yet deep sincerity, the
‘treasures’ suddenly become more personal and
perhaps even more prestigious, creating new
semantic connections in viewers’ minds.
January in Vienna still enjoys the best of the winter
holiday atmosphere. The city centre boasts one
of the biggest ice skating facilities in Europe and
world’s first mobile ice rink on two levels, around
9,000 m 2 large Wiener Eistraum, or Vienna Ice
Dream (Rathausplatz 1; wienereistraum.com;
January 18 – March 3). What’s more, it lets you
combine athletic fun with sightseeing, being not just
a simple ice rink but a whole complex of ice-covered
squares, rinks, and paths located around the city
hall (the 19 th -century Rathaus) and the beautifully
illuminated park next to it. Book your time online,
rent skates on the spot, and off you go!
How do we evaluate the concept of beauty? The
Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty multimedia exhibition
at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK; Stubenring 5;
mak.at; until March 31) presents the interactive
creations of New York-based creative agency
partners and graphic designers Stefan Sagmeister
and Jessica Walsh. Spread across the entire museum,
it spotlights scientific facts and sharpens our senses
and feelings. To broaden our concept of aesthetics, it
examines beauty through design, architecture, and
even city planning with almost 70 different object
groups and six thematic sections. In the Sensory
Room created together with Swarovski, a foggy
sunset, citrus aroma, and meditative sounds of
nature evoke feelings of peacefulness and happiness.
The Colour Room, in turn, suddenly looks flat and
unappealing when special lights drown out the
bright pink and blue tones.