If you are into photography and live in Vienna, you may have stopped by the centrally located Westlicht Gallery. But have you been to its sister gallery, Ostlicht? I have to admit, despite really enjoying photography, last week´s #instawalk with @igersaustria was my first visit to this great gallery. Ostlicht. Gallery for Photography is located at the Brotfabrik in Vienna´s 10th district, formerly a production site of the famous Anker bakery.
In its current exhibition Ostlicht is featuring the work of both established and less well known current photographers (“young editions”).
“Young editions” and OstLicht Reloaded
On view now is, on the one hand, a selection of new (or young) photographers´work. “OstLicht RELOADED” shows some highlights of the gallery´s extensive collection. A section is dedicated to the work of contemporary photographers, with a new platform called “OstLicht YOUNG EDITIONS“.
The Italian Piero Percoco, whose photo squares from Italy made him famous on Instagram is among them, as is Silin Liu from Beijing, and Polish photographer Paweł Jaszczuk.
Among the older, established art photographers you find quite some well known ones, such as Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, or Elliott Erwitt, to name only three (see complete list of photographers shown below).
What I really like is the possibility of browsing books while sipping a cup of coffee or a drink. The library has a collection of more than 20,000 books and magazines on the art and technology of photography and a selection of photography magazines.
Historic premises
Heinrich and Fritz Mendl opened a bakery in 1891 and imprinted an anchor on all their products. This anchor then became the company logo and later the new name of the bakery chain that is still around today. The factory was planned by the architect Friedrich Schön, a student of the famous Theophil Hansen. The business soon grew into Europe´s largest bakery. After multiple ownership changes, for one during the Third Reich when the Jewish owners had to flee into exile, and after some economic struggle, the Ankerbrotfabrik was bought by the family Ostendorf. The new owners closed down the historical parts of the plant. It was saved from demolition in 2009, when it was purchased by „Loft City GmbH & Co KG” and turned into a
new cultural hotspot with halls, galleries, studios, offices, lofts and restaurants.
The OstLicht gallery moved into the premises in 2012. Designed by architect Gregor Eichinger, the bright and spaceous loft has about 500 m² of exhibition space for contemporary photo art, featuring both national and international positions. If you enjoy photography, it is worth a visit. You can also lounge around in the comfortable lounge chairs and browse the many books and magazines about photography that are on offer.
Thank you for the nice tour, OstLicht team and Instagramers Austria!
Artists currently shown:
Nobuyoshi Araki, Bruno Barbey, Werner Bischof, Günter Brus, René Burri, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Franziska Cibulka, Bruce Davidson, Takeuchi Toshinobu, Michael Epp, Elliott Erwitt, VALIE EXPORT, Trude Fleischmann, Horst Friedrichs, Mario Giacomelli, Adelheid Gindler, Burt Glinn, Milton H. Greene, Ernst Haas, Ludwig Hoffenreich, Michael Horowitz, Franz Hubmann, George Hurrell, Tom Jacobi, Paweł Jaszczuk, Walter Kindler, Paul Kranzler, Erich Lessing, Silin Liu, Michail Michailov, Inge Morath, Stefanie Moshammer, Jimmy Nelson, Hermann Nitsch, Martin Parr, Irving Penn, Piero Percoco, Platon, Roland Pleterski, Cora Pongracz, Elizaveta Porodina, Man Ray, Marc Riboud, Alfons Schilling, Julian Schnabel, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Tazio Secchiaroli, Christian Skrein, Dennis Stock, Wim Wenders, Manfred Willmann.
Sources:
Websites of Ostlicht and Brotfabrik
Where it´s at
OstLicht.
Gallery for Photography
Absberggasse 27, A-1100 Vienna
Tel +43 1 996 20 66
Fax +43 1 996 20 66-66
info@ostlicht.at
When to go
Opening hours: Thu–Fri 2–6 pm, Sat 2–6 pm and by appointment. Closed on public holidays.
The current exhibitions are on view until 25 May 2019.
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