Kunst Haus Wien Begins Climate-Neutral Renovation: Last Chance to See Original Exhibition.

The refurbishment will not be visible from the outside in the coming months, but it is still a comprehensive refurbishment process. The ecological vision of Friedensreich Hundertwasser is being pursued. According to director Gerlinde Riedl, geothermal energy is to be used in the future to obtain “heat and cold from renewable energy sources”.

In 2018, the Kunst Haus Wien was the first museum to be awarded the Austrian eco-label. Riedl emphasizes that “sustainability is also the guiding principle in our work, both in terms of content and in the operational area.”

Art in the “Hundertwasser-Grätzl” during the renovation

After the conversion, the exhibition walls are to be brighter and partly removed. This should make the built philosophy of Hundertwasser visible again through the original walls, says Riedl. New light installations are also to be erected and lounge areas set up in the form of documentation zones. The shop and entrance area will also be changed, and the inner courtyard will be redesigned. “Every stone is turned over,” emphasizes the Kunst-Haus director in an interview with Radio Vienna.

With the motto “Closed but Close”, the museum offers art in the surrounding Grätzl during the renovation. To this end, 13 artists living in Vienna were invited to fill spaces around the Kunst Haus with their works. In addition, a vacant ground floor local is being rented and converted into a community center. The consumption-free place offers an exciting and dense supporting program from clothes and plant exchanges to children’s workshops, so it should be closer to people in the area, says Riedl.

Last chance to see original exhibition

For the year 2023, Wednesday will be the last opportunity to view the world’s largest Hundertwasser exhibition in the well-known style. Because the “cave-like” permanent exhibition will also be changed during the renovation of the building. This originally conceived form of the exhibition can be visited free of charge from 2 p.m. on the last opening day before the “broadcast break”.

There are also free tours at 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., which are conducted by employees who knew Hundertwasser well themselves: Inge Labi as Hundertwasser’s secretary for many years and Martin Stangl as a long-standing employee of the museum. The exhibition not only shows paintings, but also screen prints, tapestries and architectural models by Hundertwasser. Photos and films deal with his life using multimedia.