Viennacultgram
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Stargazing in Ottakring
I don´t know how many times I have gone by the Kuffner-Sternwarte in the greenbelt of Ottakring, Vienna´s 16th district, and never gone inside. This grave omission has now been remedied, thanks to the very informative (and free) history tour given by a volunteer of the Kuffner-Sternwarte Association. When it comes to Ottakring, most of…
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Up! Art at vertiginous heights
Up above the clouds so high, like a diamond in the sky… — Well, admittedly the art installation and view tower of HÖHENRAUSCH – Das andere Ufer in Linz is not quite that far up, but high enough to give you impressive all-round views over Linz and a chance at refreshment on a hot day…
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Call of the wild: biodiversity days in Vienna
In a couple of days, it´s time to visit Lainzer Tiergarten. On 8 and 9 June this lovely forest park in Vienna´s West will be hosting the 17th Vienna Biodiversity Day. This event is co-organized by the Vienna Environmental Protection Department (MA 22) as a contribution to the “GEO Day of Biodiversity“. (Actually, they…
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Giant hat pins and other fantasy objects: Gironcoli
The other day I was finally able to visit the exhibition Shy at Work, an extensive selection of works by Bruno Gironcoli at the MUMOK. A couple of these objects are on display in the public space in front of the MUMOK – you can´t have missed them if you have passed through the Museumsquartier…
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Abstracting nature – variations on a photographic theme
Something a little different today. Last Saturday, in glaring sunshine, I participated in a thematic photo walk along the Donaukanal near Kunsthaus Wien – Museum Hundertwasser. From time to time the museum offers photo walks based on themes in their current exhibitions. “Some Plant Volatiles” by Hamburg-based photographer Jochen Lempert provided the foundation for Saturday´s…
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I (never) promised you a rose garden
But here it is… Spring sprang fast this year. Before we knew it, the lilac bloom came and went. But there is compensation: an explosion of colorful roses all around Vienna. This merry month of May, which at times feels like summer, seemingly everywhere your eye roams it is met by exuberant red, pink, white…
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Vienna in gold – A Jane´s walk
Who´s Jane? I´ve been asked this. So here is a bit of background on the Jane´s Walk Vienna 2018 festival. These walks are named for Jane Jacobs, who was an American-Canadian journalist, writer, and activist who had great influence on American urban studies, sociology, and how people thought about urban development in the 1950s and…
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Our city! – The city without?
73 years. A lifetime. Just one lifetime. That is how long (or short) ago the liberation of the Austrian concentration camp at Mauthausen took place, on 6 May 1945 – one of several such death camps for people of Jewish heritage and other groups whom the terror regime of the National Socialists considered undesirables. So…
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Observing collectors of the exotic
Missionaries – mercenaries – ethnographers – tourists… One might say that collecting things is a basic human urge. Some people collect clocks, antique books, vintage clothing, rubber ducks, bottle tops, even umbrella sleeves (!) – you name it, somebody will surely be collecting it. (I personally admit to an out-of-control collection of (artificial) birds…
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Grow your own: gardening fun in the city
The garden season is definitely upon us in Vienna. Not only is everything blooming at the same time, we are experiencing crazy summer temperatures in April, and the fresh meadows are already full of wildflowers. I love being in green spaces, whether it is a garden, a park, or the woods. Growing at least some…
Got any book recommendations?
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