The Vienna Secession - Vienna

The Vienna Secession  is an exhibition space that occupies a unique position in the history of modern
art, combining a contemporary, forward -looking program with a building whose architecture is a icon of the spirit of impending change around 1900.  Thi architecture has aged well and as a result, its functionality and aesthetic elegance continue to offer excellent conditions for today's artistic and
exhibition practice.  The Secession is designed to be used in many different ways, a challenge taken up by artists who engage with both the inside and the outside of the building, producing a ongoing series of specially developed artistic ideas and concepts.  Artists have often engaged with both the facade and the dome composed of 3000 gold-plated iron laurel leaves.  The magnificent Hauptraum (main gallery) with its glass roof, one of the very first "white cubes" is particularly well suited for interventions on account of its flexibility  With the Grafisches Kabinett (print room) on the upper floor and the three-room gallery in the basement, this ensures a wide range of options for exhibitions.

In keeping with the motto that adorns its facade - "For every time its art.  For art its freedom" - the
Secession hosts an international program that explores current forms of artistic expression in solo and
themed exhibitions.  It is a sounding board for the aesthetic and critical discourses on art, culture, and society that define our era, and for political  significance accruing to them.  The Secession is an important forum for young experimental  but its concept also include prominent, already established positions.  Texts, catalogs, symposia, and lectures supplement, document, and communicate  the
exhibition projects.

Today, the "Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession" is the world's oldest independent exhibition space dedicated explicitly to contemporary art.  The yearly program of ten to fifteen shows
is put together by the members of the Board of the Association on a democratic basis according to purley artistic criteria.  Funding comes in equal parts from public subsidies, private partners, and operating revenues.

The Secession was founded in 1897 by a group of artists led by Gustav Klimt who had split with the conservative Kunstlerhaus.  Klimt became the first president of the Association, whose founding members included painters Kolo Moser and Carl Moli, and architects Josef Hoffmann and Joseph Maria Olbrich.  Olbrich designed the exhibition venue in 1898, a built manifesto for the ideas of the new Association of Visual Artists that had committed itself to the Modernism of the moment.  The art magazine Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring) whose programmatic title adorns the facade in gold letters to this
day also played art important role in the secession is a key work of Viennese art nouveau, or "Jugendstil".

On its foundation caused a stir with its exhibition designs that focused  attention on the space and crossed boundaries of artistic discipline, synthesizing architecture, painting, sculpture, graphic art and interior design.  One of the most famous exhibitions was a major group show dedicated to Ludwig van
Beethoven that took place in 1902, for which Klmt created his Beethoven Frieze.  Measuring over 34 metres in length, this mural takes its theme from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and its eroticism and graphic depictions inspired admiration as well as drawing intense criticism.   The Beethoven Frieze was originally installed in the left-hand aisle of the Secession's main gallery, the Hauptraum, and was taken down in 1903. In 1973 it was purchased by the Republic of Austria and in 1986 it was returned to the Secession, where it hangs in a specially designed room in the building's basement level.


Secession
Friedrichstrabe 12
1010 Wien/Vienna

T:   +43 1 587 53 07

F:   +43 1 587 53 07 -34

E:   office@secession.at

W:   www.secession.at

Opening hours:   Tuesday - Sunday,   10am-6pm
Guided tours in English:   Saturdays at 11am and by appointment

T:   +43 1 587 53 07 11