Neo-Secession Vienna

   Financial Times, April 30, 1996, Vienna insert, p. IV.


   Vienna: The arts. by Virginia Marsh

   A city divided by a common culture

      Debate about artistic and musical heritage is exposing
      divisions in Viennese society


   For more than a decade, the people of Vienna have been
   quarrelling about what to do with the former Imperial
   Stables a large baroque building next to the Hofburg, the
   sprawling Hapsburg palace which, as well as the office of
   the Austrian chancellor, now houses several museums, the
   national library and the Spanish riding school.

   The matter may appear trivial to outsiders but it has been
   one of the most hotly debated issues in recent city life.
   It has pitted conservatives opposed to turning part of
   Vienna's imperial heritage into an ultra-modern art museum
   against fans of avant garde architecture who say the city
   needs a permanent forum for modern art. It exemplifies the
   conflicting cultural forces at work in the city and the
   high level of public interest -- and politicisation -- of
   its arts.

   This type of conflict is nothing new for Vienna. In 1897,
   fed up with the academic stanglehold on art and the
   grandiose architecture and art favoured by the Hapsburgs,
   the painter Gustav Klimt and other like-minded artists,
   broke away to form a new group. Two years later, the
   artists opened the "Secession" building, an elegant
   exhibition hall, crowned with a gilded globe which was
   erected in just six months. The words "Der Zeit ihre Kunst,
   der Kunst ihre Freiheit" (to every age its art, to art its
   freedom) were inscribed over the entrance and it soon
   became the symbol of the Art Nouveau or Jugendstil reaction
   against the established art scene.

   The Secession housed many influential exhibitions and the
   movement inspired a new generation of artists. Oskar
   Kokoschka, the expressionist painter and playwright, who
   was personally encouraged by Klimt, was associated with the
   Secessionists, as was the Wiener Werkstatte, the craft
   workshop founded in 1903 that became one of the century's
   most influential schools of design.

   Today, just a stone's throw from the Secession building, is
   a squat orange and blue box, a temporary structure put up
   three years ago by the city council to house modern art
   exhibitions until the row over the Imperial Stables is
   resolved.

   As well as modern art, Ms Ursula Pasterk, the mercurial
   councillor for culture in the city's Social Democrat
   government, has encouraged more events for young people,
   fringe theatre and media such as film in her eight years in
   office. She revitalised the month-long Vienna Festival,
   held every May-June, which brings together theatre
   companies and musicians from all over Europe, and
   instigated a summer festival of classic opera films. These
   are shown on a big screen in a leafy square in front of the
   Rathaus, the neo-Gothic city hall, while two dozen food
   stalls provide movie-goers with many types of cuisine. The
   festival brings life to and makes full use of one of many
   huge, open spaces in the imperial part of the city and,
   with 12,000 visitors a night, has become one of Europe's
   biggest outdoor events.

   Much of cultural life in Vienna, however, remains steeped
   in tradition and the preserve of a conservative elite.

   "The difference between Vienna and other European cities
   does not lie in what goes on, or in the undoubted abundance
   of events. It is in the social status of the arts. In this
   city, it has always been common for musicians and artists
   to mix with the highest society," says Mr Peter Weiser, one
   of Austria's best-known critics and a former general
   manager of the Weiner Konzerthaus, a complex of three
   concert halls.

   He says concert life remains in the hands of the
   establishment and that the membership and season ticket
   system operated by the Konzerthaus and the older
   Musikverein, where the Vienna Philharmonic often plays,
   means only insiders can get to see performances. More than
   90 per cent of tickets are pre-sold to members whose
   numbers are strictly limited. Membership is passed from
   generation to generation and can only be given to the
   children of deceased members.

   "Going to concerts is a way of life for these people. The
   same group goes, say every second Tuesday and they discuss
   music. It's like a club and it's easy for the organisers to
   cater to their preferences or to arrange a pre-concert
   lecture," Mr Weiser says.

   This system has helped form a core of knowledgeable
   concert-goers in a city that has been home to some of the
   world's greatest composers. Both Mozart and Beethoven lived
   and died in Vienna and several of their finest works were
   commissioned by the Imperial court or nobles attached to
   it. To this day, it is common to see people of all ages
   walking down the street, violin case in hand. Tens of
   thousands of children attend music primary schools,
   enabling them to play in the family's string quartet, one
   of many traditions the Viennese pride themselves on.

   According to Dr Peter Eppel, historian of the contemporary
   at the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna, however,
   much of what is considered quintessentially Viennese was
   brought to the city by immigrants. Many of the museum's
   exhibitions link historical events to contemporary issues
   and Dr Eppel says that in the past 10 years it has begun to
   place more emphasis on illustrating the lives of ordinary
   citizens rather than just the elite. Last year, the museum
   held an exhibition on the life of women in the post-war
   period, looking at what they had asked for and how much
   they had achieved. This year, it will look at the
   contribution of immigrants to the city in an exhibition
   opening in September, just before the municipal elections.

   "Vienna has always been a melting-pot. But many people's
   attitudes to immigrants has deteriorated recently and not
   just because of certain politicians," says Dr Eppel "Even
   our rulers were often immigrants or married to immigrants.
   Many people don't realise how much of the city and how many
   of our traditions were created by people not born here from
   the Armenians whu started the coffeehouses to the French
   designers who built the gardens at Schonbrunn [the summer
   palace of the Hapsburgs]. We need to remind people of
   this."

   One issue about which there almost appears to be a
   consensus is that of state funding: most people agree that
   there should continue to be large subsidies for the arts.
   Ms Pasterk oversees an annual city budget for culture of
   some Sch2bn -- an amount she is proud to have doubled in
   the past decade. In addition, many of Vienna's theatres and
   museums are the responsibility of the national government
   and receive funding from the federal rather than city
   budget.

   There is relatively little private sponsorship of the arts
   and although Ms Pasterk regrets that contemporary artists
   have difficulty in finding buyers for their work, she says
   state-funding is infinitely preferable to relying on the
   private sector. "It's no good acting like Mrs Thatcher and
   asking all the time 'Where's your sponsor?' " she says
   dismissively. "When hard times come sponsors are the first
   to go. That's very dangerous for culture."

   She and other officials have, however, tried to instill
   greater financial discipline into arts administration.

   "Ten years ago, the opera house had the best-paid
   performers and the highest ticket prices. No other opera
   received greater subsidies or had fewer critics," says Mr
   Weiser. "That has changed under Mr Holander, who came to
   the opera from a commercial background."

   Mr Ioan Holander, the Romanian-born director of the State
   Opera house, said this month that ticket receipts for the
   1995-96 season were up 11 per cent over two years ago while
   expenses had remained at 1986-87 levels. Nevertheless,
   expenses last year were Sch2.25bn, more than four times its
   revenues of Sch520m, leaving tax-payers to foot a large
   bill.

   Mr Weiser adds that some areas of the arts have suffered
   from over-funding and, with insiders conniving to divide up
   the state's generous subsidies, from a reputation for
   cronyism.

   "Fringe theatre, for example, is much better in London
   where performers have to strive to succeed," he says. "In
   Vienna, bad actors are well-paid -- there are too many
   subsidies. In the top theatres we still have some excellent
   productions but very many of the best actors come from
   Germany rather than Austria."

   [Photo] Hitting the right note? The State Opera House,
   which relies heavily on the tax-payer, is trying to become
   more commercial.

   [3 maps: Austria, Vienna, center city]

   [End]