As part of the Arc of History Lecture Series: Austria 1900-2020 gave a lecture on the four Allied powers (the U.S., U.K., France, and the Soviet Union) and the different approaches they took to cultural policy in Austria.
Rathkolb also looks at Austrians who went into exile in Britain during the war, highlighting how they helped rebuild and internationalise Austrian culture after they returned home, using specific case studies to illustrate their impact.
The Arc of History Lecture Series: Austria 1900 – 2020 was initiated by Katherine Klinger
On Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, the Werner Berg Museum Bleiburg/Pliberk opens a meaningful special exhibition on the political work of Hans Sima, who was governor of Carinthia from 1965 to 1974.
Entitled “Hans Sima – A Political Life,” this multifaceted retrospective impressively documents Sima’s contribution to Carinthian contemporary history. The exhibition was created in cooperation with the Museum of the City of Villach, VICCA, and the Hans Sima Private Foundation and can be seen until November 9, 2025, in the creative space of the Werner Berg Museum next to the current exhibitions “Pasolini, Berg, Hrdlicka” and “Hans-Peter Profunser.”
Opening of the Hans Sima exhibition on October 1st, 2025.
Political milestones in pictures
The exhibition is designed as a traveling exhibition and has already been shown in Villach and Klagenfurt. Museum director Arthur Ottowitz points out the regional connection and historical significance: “Former governor Hans Sima had close ties to Bleiburg/Pliberk and the Werner Berg Gallery.” The exhibition reconstructs Sima’s political life through photographic highlights – from his early days as a member of parliament to his retirement from politics. The focus is not only on the 1972 conflict over bilingual place-name signs, but also on Sima’s role as a bridge builder between cultures and nations in the Alps-Adriatic region.
Exhibition in four languages – a symbol of his vision
A key feature of the exhibition is its multilingualism: all content is available in German, English, Italian, and Slovenian. This reflects Sima’s political vision of positioning Carinthia as an active partner at the intersection of three countries.
“Sima planned to give Austria’s southernmost province an active role at the intersection of the three countries Austria, Italy, and the former Yugoslavia. He therefore intensified specific projects within the framework of the Alps-Adriatic Cooperation. The fact that this exhibition is presented in four languages is designed to underline this,” emphasizes contemporary history professor Oliver Rathkolb, who curated the exhibition together with Villach museum director Andreas Kuchler and contemporary historian Petra Mayrhofer.
Oliver Rathkolb (left) and Dr. Peter Kaiser, Governor of Carinthia (right), at the opening of the Hans Sima exhibition.
A peek into the private archive
The exhibition is being financed by the Hans Sima Private Foundation, which is dedicated to researching Carinthia’s contemporary history. Its chairwoman is Ulli Sima, Vienna’s acting city councilor for urban development, mobility, and public utilities, and granddaughter of the former governor. “The events surrounding the 1972 place name dispute preoccupied my grandfather until his death. He meticulously collected notes, photos, and other documents from his active career and made them available to posterity by establishing the Hans Sima Private Foundation,” recalls Ulli Sima.
With its stop in Bleiburg/Pliberk, the exhibition is now also finding its way to a particularly symbolic area of Carinthia—a mark of dialogue and recognition.
A politician at the front line of historical tensions
Hans Sima was a politician who bore responsibility in turbulent times – not only in Carinthia, but also beyond the state borders. For Governor Peter Kaiser, one thing is certain: “He was ahead of his time, not only in connection with the place name sign issue, which left him with a certain trauma. Today is the time to officially say thank you to Hans Sima. He was a great governor and set an important course for our state. Throughout his life, he stood up for his convictions and beliefs.“ Oliver Rathkolb classifies Sima historically as a ”modernizing personality.“
Multimedia approaches and accessible communication
An additional highlight of the exhibition is the inclusion of representative excerpts from the ORF III documentary “Hans Sima: A Politician’s Life in Turbulent Times.” An audio guide in four languages not only makes the exhibition more accessible to international guests, but also assists visually impaired visitors on their tour.
Political work with a lasting legacy
Hans Sima was not only governor, but also a member of the Carinthian state parliament, a member of the Federal Council, and a member of the state council. As a consistent advocate of dialogue, especially with the Slovenian ethnic group, and as a promoter of art, culture, and education—for example, through his support for the founding of the University of Klagenfurt—he left a long-lasting mark. His resignation in 1974 in the wake of the place name sign conflict marked the end of his active political career, but his ideas and work remain highly relevant—as this exhibition impressively demonstrates.
Join us for an international conference exploring how music shaped postwar Europe during the Cold War and Détente. Co-hosted by the University of Chicago, the University of Vienna, & VICCA (Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts) the event brings together leading scholars to examine the role of cultural diplomacy in fostering civic life, international collaboration, and societal reconstruction after 1945.
This conference celebrates the longstanding partnership between our universities and highlights the enduring power of music to connect communities and inspire understanding across borders.
September 17th, 2025 Concert at the Austrian Embassy
Lydia Rathkolb (Soprano), Diégo Tosi (Violin), Maximilian Flieder (Piano)
songs and music by Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler, Béla Bartók, Hanns Eisler, Fritz Kreisler, Eric Zeisl, and Leonard Bernstein
September 18th, 2025 Conference at the John W. Boyer Center in Paris
Welcome Paolo Privitera (IIRP Faculty Director, University of Chicago), John Boyer (University of Chicago), Christina Lutter (Dean, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna), Sebastian Schütze (Rector of the University of Vienna)
Panel 1 Music Diplomacy as Industry Subsidy, Danielle Fosler-Lussier (The Ohio State University)
Panel 2 Music Policy and French Post World War Denazification Policies in Germany and Austria. The political representations in the French press, Marie-Bénédicte Vincent (Université de Franche-Comté)
Impact of US Musical Policies in Austria and West-Germany, 1945-1960s, Oliver Rathkolb (University of Vienna/VICCA)
Panel 3 Mahler the Untreatable: Conscious Reception and Unconscious Transmission in Postwar Germany, Seth Brodsky (University of Chicago)
The Cologne electronic music studio and the Cold War in West Germany in the 1950s, Jennifer Iverson (University of Chicago)
An opera for all regimes. Werner Egk’s Columbus and his postwar career, Michael Custodis (University of Münster) and Friedrich Geiger (University of Music and Performing Arts, Munich)
Cultural Reconstruction and Reconciliation through Opera: Austrian and German Gastspiele in Paris, 1947-1957, Anthony Steinhoff (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada)
Panel 4 Soviet Music Policies Abroad, Kiril Tomoff (University of California, Riverside)
Official, Unofficial, Intimate: Ukraine and the Musical Cold War, Peter J. Schmelz (Johns Hopkins University)
Panel 5 Latin American Musical Diplomacy: The Special Case of Cuba during the Cold War, Rubén Gallo (Princeton University)
Concluding Remarks A Brand-New Spring Is to Begin, Out of the Ruins of Berlin: On the Futures of Music Diplomacy after 1945, Phil Bohlman(University of Chicago)
Co-hosted by the University of Chicago, the University of Vienna, and VICCA
This symposium, The Long History of Viennese Modernism 1900 to the Present, will examine and discuss the development of Viennese modernism since the late 19th century in the fields of music, literature, visual arts, design and architecture.
The aim of this interdisciplinary event is to identify similarities and differences as well as interconnections between the various cultural and artistic fields. In addition, the origins of Viennese Modernism, its impact in the interwar period and its reception after 1945 up to the present day will be reflected upon. A further focus will be on a comparative view of developments in other European cities, which will be incorporated into the discussion.
Playlist of all Panels, from the MAK official Youtube
Tue, June 10th, 2025, 6–7.30 pm Opening panel at the MAK Säulenhalle
Participants: Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Executive City Councillor for Culture and Science in Vienna Ralph Gleis, General Director, Albertina Lilli Hollein, General Director, MAK Markus Schinwald, Artist, Lecturer, State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe
Moderation: Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna and Chairman, Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts (VICCA)
Followed by a reception
Wed, June 11th, 2025, 10 am – 6 pm Symposium in the MAK Vortragssaal
10–10.30 am Greeting Words Lilli Hollein, General director, MAK Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna and Chairman, Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts (VICCA)
Introduction Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head of MAK Library and Kunstblättersammlung/Archiv Das MAK und die Wiener Moderne
10.30–12 pm Literature Norbert Christian Wolf, Professor of Contemporary German Literature, University of Vienna: 1900 davor/danach Bettina Hering, Dramaturge and former Director of Drama at the Salzburg Festival: „Von morgen bis mitternachts“. Zwischenkriegszeit – Exil – II. Weltkrieg Daniela Strigl, Author and Literary Scholar at the University of Vienna: Modernitäten, Avantgarden, Traditionen. Die Literatur von der „Stunde Null“ bis Covid-19
Moderated by: Klemens Renoldner, dramaturge and former director of the Stefan Zweig Center at the University of Salzburg
Presentations 20 minutes each, discussion
12–1pm Lunch break
1–2.30 pm Fine Arts, Design and Architecture Matthias Boeckl, Professor of Architectural History, University of Applied Arts Vienna: Wien um 1900 und die Folgen. Regionale politische und globale künstlerische Netzwerke Anita Kern, Designer and Cultural Scholar: „Gestalter ihrer Umwelt“. Die Zweite Wiener Moderne – Aufbruch und Vernichtung Mechtild Widrich, Professor and Director, Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Zwischen Mythos und Kritik: Feministische Auseinandersetzungen mit der Wiener Moderne
Moderated by: Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Head of MAK Library and Kunstblättersammlung/Archiv
2.30–3 pm Coffee break
3–5 pm Musical Awakenings Barbara Boisits, Head of the Department of Musicology, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Deputy Chairwoman, Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History (VICCA): 1900 davor/danach Anita Mayer-Hirzberger, Associate Professor of Historical Musicology, mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna: Zwischenkriegszeit, Vernichtung und Exil – NS und II. Weltkrieg Conversation with HK Gruber, composer, conductor and chansonnier: Die verzögerte Rekonstruktion der modernen Musik und Gegenwartsmusik
Moderated by: Gerald Heidegger, Germanist and head of the contemporary history/current affairs department, ORF Wissen
5–6 pm Closing discussion Wohin entwickeln sich die Gegenwartskünste in Wien und Österreich – über 100 Jahre nach dem Fin de Siècle 1900?
Participants: Daniel Ender, musicologist and Secretary General, Alban Berg Foundation, Vienna Lydia Haider, Germanist and writer, lecturer at several art universities in Vienna Peter Kogler, Artist and Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich August Ruhs, specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapeutic medicine, psychoanalyst (IPV)
Moderated by: Gerald Heidegger, Germanist and head of the contemporary history/current affairs department, ORF Wissen
Idea and concept: Oliver Rathkolb Program committee: Lilli Hollein, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, Lydia Rathkolb, Oliver Rathkolb
May 27th, 2025, 7 – 8.30 pm House of European History, Rue Belliard/straat 135, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
The House of European History is collaborating with VICCA and invites you to an academic discussion and literary reading on this burning issue of our times. The starting point will be the recently published book “Authoritarian Trends and Parliamentary Democracy in Europe”, co-edited by Oliver Rathkolb and Sybille Steinbacher.
The book is published by Wallstein publishers (Göttingen) and supported by the Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts (VICCA), with financial contributions by the Alfred Landecker Foundation, the Fritz Bauer Institute, the University Frankfurt/Main, the Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Vienna, the City of Vienna (MA7), the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, and the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria. It includes contributions by renowned scholars and writers on how to raise democratic awareness and reduce the trend towards an authoritarian age – an age that the sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf predicted in the 1990s as a consequence of the social crises of neoliberal turbo-globalization.
During the roundtable, experts will discuss models and strategies developed to tackle the growing dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy that came out as the key finding of the study, commissioned by the University of Vienna in eight European countries.
The language of the event is English. Participation is free.
Speakers
Nathalie Brack is currently Professor in Political science, researcher at the Cevipol, co-Editor of the Journal of European Integration and Member of the Steering Committee of the ECPR Standing group on the European Union. She works on the European Parliament, radical parties, Euroscepticism and the challenges to liberal democracy.
Edit Innotai is a senior fellow and board member of the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy (CEID), an independent think tank based in Budapest. She has a PhD in international relations and a background in journalism, having worked as a Berlin correspondent and foreign editor for the major daily Népszabadság. She currently works for German public broadcaster ARD in Budapest and is a regular contributor to regional news site Balkan Insight.
Oliver Rathkolb is a former Head of Department and Professor emeritus at the Department of Contemporary History, University of Vienna (Austria), founding director of the Vienna Institute of Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts (VICCA) and Chairperson, Academic Committee, House of European History, Brussels. As a visiting professor he taught at the University of Chicago and was Schumpeter-Professor at Harvard University. Prof. Rathkolb is author of several books focusing on contemporary history as well as editor and co-editor of several studies concerning interdisciplinary questions of contemporary history, authoritarianism and democracy, music history and communications & media history. He is the managing editor of the journal “Zeitgeschichte” (Contemporary History).
Sybille Steinbacher has been Director of the Fritz Bauer Institute and Professor of the History and Impact of the Holocaust at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. From 2010 to 2017, she served as Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. She studied history and political science in Munich. With a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, she carried out research at Harvard University. She was the Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She is chairwoman of the Scientific Board of Trustees of Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation.
Moderator
Steven Van Hecke
Actors
Seán McDonagh, born in Hamburg in 1982, studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. During his studies, he performed at the Thalia Theater, the Junges Schauspielhaus and Kampnagel Hamburg. From 2007 to 2009, he was engaged at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden and then moved to the Schauspielhaus Zürich, where he was a member of the ensemble from 2009 to 2013. From 2013-2024 he was a permanent member of the ensemble at Schauspiel Köln. Seán McDonagh is a permanent member of the BURG ensemble since the 2024/25 season.
Sylvie Rohrer, born in Bern in 1968, attended the acting academy in Zurich. In 1995 she was named “Best Young Actress” by the magazine Theater heute, in 1996 she received the Boy Gobert Prize and in the same year was again voted “Best Young Actress”. Sylvie Rohrer has been a member of the BURG ensemble since 1999. In 2007 she was awarded the Nestroy Theater Prize in the “Best Actress” category. Guest engagements have taken her to the Salzburg Festival, the Berliner Ensemble and the Zürcher Schauspielhaus. Sylvie Rohrer can also be seen in various film and television roles.
Funded by
Alfred Landecker Stiftung Fritz Bauer Institut Universität Frankfurt am Main Fakultät für Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften der Universität Wien Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien (MA7) Nationalfonds der Republik Österreich für Opfer des Nationalsozialismus Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich
Curators: Oliver Rathkolb, Elisabeth Heimann-Leitner, Anne Wanner
When Vienna was liberated in early April 1945, the city was characterized by destruction, housing shortages, hunger, and cold. Nonetheless, culture came back right away. On April 27, arts events resumed on the orders of Soviet officers. Shortly thereafter, the other Allies – France, Great Britain and the USA – also became culturally active. The resulting influx of international culture was unprecedented in the city’s history.
Accompanying the country’s economic and political reconstruction, the many activities were intended to create the emotional basis for the emergence of a distinct national consciousness – in other words, the development of an identity independent of Germany.
The exhibition “Controlled Freedom” sheds light on the formative influence of the diverse cultural offerings. It documents a transformative project that lives on to the present day – the creation of a democratic Austria.
Curators: Oliver Rathkolb, Elisabeth Heimann-Leitner, Anne Wanner
Through the collaboration of the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC, the Wien Museum, the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, and VICCA we were able to take our exhibition to the US, where it can be viewed for the rest of 2025.
Viewings are available on Tuesday and Thursdays, excluding U.S. and Austrian holidays, between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm. Rgistration is required, please send an e-mail to washington-id@bmeia.gv.at.
The exhibition is accompanied by publications in German, English, French and Russian with contributions from Thomas Angerer, Wolfgang Duchkowitsch, Veronika Floch, Christian Glanz, Richard Hufschmied, Monika Knofler, Marion Krammer, Michael Kraus, Johanna Maria Lerchner, Wolfgang Mueller, Agnes Meisinger, Karin Moser, Manfred Mugrauer, Wolfgang Pensold, Hans Petschar, Monika Platzer, Oliver Rathkolb, Peter Roessler, Günther Stocker, Markus Stumpf, Margarethe Szeless.
Noch nie zuvor wurde die Wiener Bevölkerung in kurzer Zeit so intensiv mit internationalen Kultureinflüssen konfrontiert wie nach der Befreiung im April 1945. In diesem Buch werden die Auswirkungen alliierter Kulturpolitik auf Bildende Kunst, Film, Literatur und Bibliothekswesen, Musik und Theater, Pressefotografie, Printmedien, Rundfunk und Sport sichtbar. Junge Künstler*innen kamen erstmals in Kontakt mit der zuvor verbotenen kritischen Moderne. Die politischen Ziele der alliierten Kulturoffensive reichten von Entnazifizierung über die Konstruktion einer nicht-deutschen Identität bis zum Kampf um die ideologische Positionierung Österreichs.
Edited by Oliver Rathkolb and Agnes Meisinger Translated by John Heath
Following liberation in April 1945, Vienna was characterized by destruction, cold, hunger, and an acute housing shortage. Yet cultural life soon returned: as early as 27 April, Soviet officers ordered its revival. It was not long until the other Allies – France, Britain, and the USA – launched their own cultural campaigns. The many cultural activities under Allied occupation were intended not only to underpin economic and political rebuilding, but also to promote an Austrian national consciousness – a separate self-image independent from Germany. This volume is the first to show the impact of Allied cultural policy in the fields of fine art, film, literature and libraries, music and theatre, press photography, print media, radio, and sport, thereby documenting an achievement that can still be felt today: the creation of a democratic Austrian identity.
Edited by Oliver Rathkolb and Agnes Meisinger Translated by Béatrice Pellissier
Après la libération de Vienne en 1945, la vie quotidienne fut marquee par la destruction, la pénurie de logements, la faim et le froid. Pourtant, la vie culturelle reprit rapidement. Dès le 27 avril, les activités culturelles furent relancées sur ordre des officiers soviétiques. Peu de temps après, les autres Alliés – la France, la Grande-Bretagne et les États-Unis – firent également leur entrée sur la scène culturelle. À côté de la reconstruction politique et économique, les nombreuses activités culturelles lancées durant la période de présence alliée visaient à poser les bases émotionnelles d’une conscience nationale autrichienne – c’est-à-dire l’élaboration d’une identité propre, indépendante de l’Allemagne. Cet ouvrage collectif met pour la première fois en lumière les effets de la politique culturelle des Alliés sur les arts plastiques, le cinéma, la littérature et les bibliothèques, la musique et le théâtre, la photographie de presse ainsi que sur les médias imprimés, la radio et le sport.
248 pages, with 40 illustrations/graphics
ISBN: 978-3-8471-1906-7
EUR 36,00
Свобода под контролем: оккупация Вены союзниками. Культурная политика, 1945-1955 гг.
Оливер Раткольб (изд.) Перевод Наталии Бакши
The Russian-language edition (without illustrations) is available as a free PDF via PHAIDRA (University of Vienna). If you are interested, please contact: jana.jodlbauer@vicca.at
The production of the publications in English, French and Russian was made possible thanks to the generous support of the following institutions and individuals:
UniCredit Group Rektorat und Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät der Universität Wien Institut für Historische Sozialforschung (IHSF) Arbeiterkammer Wien Verein zur wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung der Zeitgeschichte Institut français d’Autriche Österreichisch-Französische Vereinigung Dipl. Ing. Alain de Krassny (Eigentümer der Donau Chemie Gruppe, Präsident der Französisch-Österreichischen Handelskammer, Vize-Präsident der Wirtschaftskammer Wien, Berater des Ministère du Commerce Extérieur de la France, Commandeur dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, Großer Tiroler Adler-Orden, Großes Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich
Vienna 1900 has become a hallmark for the city’s outstanding innovative capacities in formulating modern thought and highlighting the paradoxes of modernity. Renowned experts from Austria, the US and Great Britain will present the latest research on this topic and reflect on potentialities for cultural and societal innovation in the 2020s.
from left to right: Linda G. Mills, president of NYU; Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science; Prof. Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna; Helga Rabl-Stadler, former President of the Salzburg Festival; Misha Glenny, Rector of the Instititue for Human Sciences, Vienna
Welcome speech by the Rector of the University of Vienna, Sebastian Schütze.
from left to right: Linda G. Mills, President of NYU; Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science; Prof. Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna; Helga Rabl-Stadler, former President of the Salzburg Festival; Misha Glenny, Rector of the Instititue for Human Sciences, Vienna
Welcome speech by the Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum NY, Susanne Keppler-Schlesinger.
from left to right: the President of NYU, Linda G. Mills; and the Vienna Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science, Veronica Kaup-Hasler
in the audience, among others (from left to right): Conductor Maria Alsop, Prof. Denise Kandel, Prof. Eric Kandel, Dr. Lydia Rathkolb, Dr. Claus Müller
first panel on music, from left to right: Prof. Christian Glanz, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna; Prof. Rubén Gallo, Princeton University; Leon Botstein, President of Bard College; moderator Gerald Heidegger, chief editor TOPOS, ORF.at
second panel on design and architecture, from left to right: Richard Cockett, The Economist, London; Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel, MAK Vienna; moderator Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna; Mechtild Widrich, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Anita Kern, German University in Cairo
third panel on psychoanalysis and literature, from left to right: Daniela Finzi, Scientific Director of the Sigmund Freud Museum Vienna; Prof. Alys George, Stanford University and ifk fellow; George Makari, Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, NY; Katharina Prager, Vienna City Library at the Town Hall; and moderator Gerald Heidegger, chief editor TOPOS, ORF.at
from left to right: Daniela Finzi, Scientific Director of the Sigmund Freud Museum Vienna; Prof. Alys George, Stanford University and ifk fellow; George Makari, Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, NY; Katharina Prager, Vienna City Library at the Town Hall; and moderator Gerald Heidegger, chief editor TOPOS, ORF.at
from left to right: Susanne Keppler-Schlesinger, Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Misha Glenny, Rector of the Instititue for Human Sciences, Vienna; Helga Rabl-Stadler, former President of the Salzburg Festival; Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science; Sebastian Schütze, Rector of the University of Vienna; Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna; Melina Tsiamos, Austrian Cultural Forum New York
Evening Concert performed by Soprano Lydia Rathkolb (right), former soloist Vienna State Opera and pianist Thomas Lausmann (left), The Metropolitan Opera
Oliver Rathkolb and ORF-Journalist Katharina Gruber conduct a series of interviews with experts of various fields – from medicine and politics to art – on how they assess the changes their disciplines went through in Vienna pre-1900, and the consequent affects on modernism.
ORF Topos on the first interview with Herwig Czech and Daniela Finzi, including a video recording of the whole discussion
ORF news on the interview with Bettina Hering and Norbert Christian Wolf
ORF Topos on the interview with Bettina Hering and Norbert Christian Wolf, including a video recording of the whole discussion
ORF Topos on the interview with Barbara Boisits and Christian Glanz, including an audio recording of the whole discussion
ORF Topos on the interview with Peter Eigner and Hans Petschar, including a video recording of the whole discussion
ORF Topos on the interview with Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel and Johannes Wieniniger, including a video recording of the whole discussion
ORF Topos on the interview with Monika Platzer and Werner Telesko, including a video recording of the whole discussion
ORF Topos on the interview with Katharina Prager and Andrea Winklbauer, including a video recording of the whole discussion
Program:
22.01.2024: Herwig Czech (Medizinische Universität Wien) and Daniela Finzi (Sigmund Freud Museum Wien) on The History of Medicine and Psychoanalysis
20.03.2024: Bettina Hering (Vienna) and Nobert Christian Wolf (Universität Wien) on Literature
22.04.2024: Barbara Boisits (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) and Christian Glanz (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien) on Music
10.06.2024: Peter Eigner (Universität Wien) and Hans Petschar (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) on Economic and political framework of art 1900
26.09.2024: Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel (Museum für angewandte Kunst) and Johannes Wieninger (Vienna) on Applied Arts and Design
17.10.2024: Monika Platzer (Architekturzentrum Wien) and Werner Telesko (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) on Art and Architecture
21.11.2024: Katharina Prager (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus) and Andrea Winklbauer (Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien) on Women artists and salonières in Vienna pre-1900
11.02.2025: Johannes Feichtinger (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften) and Marianne Klemun (Institut für Geschichte) on The History of Science (rescheduled from 10.12.2024)
In cooperation with ORF TOPOS, Ö1, and in collaboration with ORF RadioKulturhaus
Ensemble-members of the Vienna Burgtheater – Annamária Láng, Tobias Moretti, Martin Schwab und Marie-Luise Stockinger – present excerpts from literary texts by contemporary authors of eight European countries which were part of two studies (2019, 2022) on authoritarian attitudes and democracy. The results of the latter study (2022) – a survey on views on national history, democracy and its principles, and authoritarianism in their respective conutries and Europe at large – will be presented, followed by an expert panel discussion.
Live Recording, March 17th at the Vienna Burgtheater
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo (France) Sabine Gruber (Italy) Michal Hvorecký (Slovakia) Dorota Masłowska (Poland) Terézia Mora (Hungary) Kathrin Röggla (Germany) Antonia Scurati (Italy) Gerhild Steinbuch (Austria) Tena Štivičić (UK)
Panel discussion: Misha Glenny (Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM), Cathrin Kahlweit (Correspondent Süddeutsche Zeitung for Central- and Eastern Europe, Political Scientist), Sylvia Kritzinger (Professor at the Department of Government, University of Vienna) and Oliver Rathkolb (Professor at the Department of Contemporary History, University of Vienna, and Chairman of the Vienna Institute for Cultural and Contemporary History and Arts, VICCA)
In cooperation with the Burgtheater and the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna
Sponsors: Alfred Landecker Foundation Berlin; Fritz Bauer Institute Frankfurt/Main, Association for the Academic Reappraisal of Contemporary History; Culture Department of the City of Vienna; National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, and Zukunftsfonds.
As part of a panel of experts of cultural history and art– which he helped put together – Oliver Rathkolb joins a discussion with Larry Diamond, Daniel Froschauer, Nadine Rossol und Franz Welser on the arts and what they can tell and predict about their time, as well as its politics and society. The discussion aims to compare the current conditions with those of the “anything-goes” society of the 1920s, which ultimately led to the fall of democracy and a rise of authoritarianism.
