Kunst Haus Wien (Museum Hundertwasser)
Kunst Haus Wien ( Museum Hundertwasser) is Vienna’s sanctuary of arts, architecture and ecology. Founded by visionary artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, museum is filled with his work and memorabilia. The building itself is a piece of art, one of many the artist created and left behind in Vienna, Austria and around the world. Recognizable style of Hundertwasser is everywhere — in his pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, design of facades, postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas where he applied his art).
The museum showcases artist’s work, his ideas and concepts through his writings, quotes, paintings, designs and conceptual ideas related to art, life, architecture and ecology.
History
The Kunst Haus Wien was set up by Friedensreich Hundertwasser in the abandoned furniture factory, the façades of which he designed in his distinctive style and he restructured insides of the building into a multi-purpose space (presentation of his own works, forum for international exhibitions, art gallery, museum shop).
From 1991 to 2007 it was privately run by the Museums Betriebs Gesellschaft mbH under managing director Joram Harel. Since 2007 the Kunst Haus Wien has been a museum of the City of Vienna (Wien Holding).
Quick facts
Type of attraction: Museum/Art Gallery
Founded/opened: 1991
Location: Untere Weißgerberstraße 13, 1030 Wien, 3 rddistrict
Public transport: Bus N29 (stop Radetzkyplatz), tram 1 (stop Radetzkyplatz), there is a 5 minute walk from Radetzkyplatz.
Price/ticket: starts from $11, children under 10 enter free, family tickets come with a discount.
Opening hours: 7 days a week, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Official website: https://www.kunsthauswien.com/en/
The museum has five levels, the top one was an apartment used by Hudertwasser and floor below that is used for various art exhibitions, latest one being (5–8/2021) Elfie Semotan (photography). The building itself is a fusion of old and new.
The museum is designed based on principles of Hundertwasser: avoiding the straight lines, uneven floors, walls as ‘third skin’, ‘window right’ and ‘tree tenants’. On a first look, all these sound funny or even absurd, but let’s see what they actually mean.
Avoiding the straight lines
Hundertwasser thought that straight lines and grids as utilized by modern architects are inhibiting to humans and they are against nature, since nature seldom has straight lines and grids (they are mostly created by humans). He defined Kunst Haus Wien as “a stronghold against the false order of the straight line, a bastion against the grid system and the chaos of nonsense.”
Inspired by Austrian artists Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, as also by improbable constructions of Antoni Gaudí, Hundertwasser went few steps ahead and declared a straight line “atheistic (godless) and immoral”.
The principle of being against straight lines can be seen throughout the building and artist’s works, painting, drawings and architecture.
Uneven floors
Expanding on avoidance of straight lines, Hundertwasser made radical change to what we see as usual and expected — horizontal and flat floors. Understandably, they are very convenient for walking and not tripping over unexpected bumps, but Hundertwasser challenged this as well and applied uneven floors throughout the museum (and elsewhere).
As described by artist himself: “The uneven floor becomes a symphony, a melody for the feet and brings back natural vibrations to man… It is good to walk on uneven floors and regain our human balance… Architecture should elevate and not subdue man.”
This is in line (no pun intended) with Hundertwasser’s approach to avoiding straight lines, which are inevitably there between floors and walls in a standard nowadays architecture. Interestingly enough, uneven floors in the museum are not distracting but make visitors more aware about their surroundings.
The ‘third skin’
This is very interesting concept. Hundertwasser claims that walls in our buildings are our ‘third skin’, first two being our actual skin and our clothes. While we do every effort to maintain our skin and make it unique (tattoos, etc) and we have almost unlimited options for our clothes, our third skin (building walls) remains uniformed and boring.
Adding unruly additions and unpredictable design to buildings, Hundertwasser was aiming to become more expressive with our third skin — the walls. Uneven surfaces with random mixture of color, texture and material, makes it more interesting and more appealing to people looking at it, that’s for sure.
“Window right” (and “window dictatorship”)
While expanding on his position on straight lines and grid design of modern buildings, Hundertwasser considered windows to be limiting to people when they are set in line and on even height and with uniformed size. He was of the opinion that windows need to be free and “dance”. Meaning, windows should also express unique needs of building tenants and even more tenants should be able to decorate around their windows within a reach of their arms. This could be an interesting concept in practice with unpredictable outcomes 😊
Tree tenants
Current buildings are devoid of one of very common thing from the nature in their architecture — trees. While many modern buildings have high regard to environment and have green surfaces around and inside buildings, Hundertwasser goes one step forward (as always) and proposes ‘tree tenants’, actual trees being grown all around buildings to keep humans really connected to nature. Proposed placement is in cube shaped concrete/brick casing that will allow trees to grow and become integral part of the building. He employed this concept successfully in Kunst Haus Wien.
The rationale for adding trees into building is in effort to make cities greener and with better breathable air.
Services in Kunst Haus Wien
Here are some services provided by Kunst Haus Wien.
Guided tours
Free guided tours are offered on Tuesdays at 3 PM for individuals and groups. Groups up to 30 persons are offered free tour.
For groups with specialized guided tour at different times and focus on specific area of the museum, paid tour costs Euro 120.
Audio guide
An audio guide for the museum is available in German, English, French, Hungarian, Russian and Ukrainian and it provides information on the life and work of Hundertwasser. It costs 3 Euro per device for a visit.
Café bar/restaurant
Small café bar and restaurant with outdoor terrace offers pleasant and tranquil atmosphere for visitors. You can have coffee, drink and few meals and snacks to refresh yourself after the visit (or in between).
Museum shop
Integral part of the museum, both by location and by design, museum shop offers variety of souvenirs, books, prints and designs for you to purchase, help museum running and remember this amazing place.
Workshops
Children workshops to teach them how to make crafts is being organized during the summer. Children are taught how to design their own bags and paint them with plants and learn about the environment.
Art breakfast
This is exactly what would you expect — a breakfast followed by guided tour of the museum. Available during weekends.
Book signing events
Various book signing events take place in the museum, especially for the authors who exhibit there. Last one is with the author photographer Elfie Semotan.
Conclusion
If you want to see something new and a bit different from other museums and art galleries in Vienna, Kunst Haus Wien, Museum Hundertwasser is the right place for you. The museum is unique place to enjoy art and design and learn about incredible vision of Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This is also one of several places in Vienna you can visit and enjoy his art.
Originally published at https://allaboutvienna.com on July 18, 2021.
