Curatorial Statement by Gabriel Roland, Vienna Design Week
âWhen the end of the world comes, Iâll go to Vienna. Everything happens ten years later there."
The writer Karl Kraus is said to have fired this shot of vitriol at the backwardness of Vienna, his home of many years. There might be a kernel of truth to it. Could it be that the veil of lethargy, morbidity, and misanthropy which Vienna is so joyously cultivating has immunised the city against the apocalypse? That, like a vaccine, thereâs enough flirtation with fictional death to scare real death away, if only for a while?
Itâs no coincidence that Viennaâs most popular era, the fin-de-siĂšcle of the 19th century, seems to be a time that eagerly (albeit passively) waited for its own end and all the further horrible ends of the 20th century. Even its name has an âendâ in itself. Of course, by now Vienna is a lively and diverse city thriving on its social consensus, its hospitality and its creative industry. Still, notwithstanding their brutal cousins, here the polite shadows of the past might brush past you with a gentle âMemento moriâ on their pursed lips more often than elsewhere.
So, you better get a dose of decadently raw beauty straight from the best Viennese workshops to prep against any coming small apocalypses. And where better to celebrate our heated ennui as the world around us goes under than the famous Viennese coffee houses. Thatâs an institution that will surely survive the worldâs end. In fact, they will be better than ever, once âWien ohne Wienerâ, the Vienna without the Viennese desired by every real Viennese person, is achieved.
Jokes aside, the objects of our Postapocalyptic Kaffeehaus are poetic interventions contemplating what remains of our rituals when circumstances change. As sensitive observers the designers open a variety of windows: radical, humorous, intuitive or conceptual, raw or refined, they all strive not to wallow in cynic dystopianism but to reimagine, build, and focus on what we cherish.
Participating Designers
Onka Allmayer-Beck
Michael Anastassiades with J. & L. Lobmeyr
studio bonpart
Gregor Eichinger with Wiener Silber Manufactur
studio högl borowski
KIM+HEEP
MADAME Architects
Anna Paul with Laufen
Peter Sandbichler with LDDE
Katrina Schneider
studionero. (Gregor Titze)
Daniel Stuhlpfarrer