Austria’s leading art fair, viennacontemporary, returns this September with a programme as rich and dynamic as ever. Between September 11 and 14, 2025, the Messe Wien Exhibition Congress Center once again becomes a hub for contemporary art under the curatorial vision of Abaseh Mirvali, uniting renowned galleries and rising talents from across Europe and beyond.
Contemporary Lynx will be on the ground, sharing live coverage, daily updates, and behind-the-scenes moments on our social media, bringing the fair to you wherever you are. To get you ready, we’ve put together our annual guide to viennacontemporary and rounded up some of Vienna’s most exciting exhibitions and cultural happenings, all taking place at the same time, so that you can experience the city’s vibrant art scene in full.
viennacontemporary
Messe Wien Halle D
Trabrennstraße 7
1020 Vienna
When it comes to the Fair’s programme alone, viennacontemporary launched the STATEMENT section as a platform for artistic responses to current sociopolitical issues. Relevantly, this year’s edition revolves around the curatorial statement Realities Building, exploring pressing topics such as algorithmic control, digital disinformation, and technological manipulation. “Focusing on film, video, sound, and performative works, the exhibition examines how contemporary artists use time-based media to propose powerful strategies of resistance and freedom”, says curator Marcela Beccarria.
ZONE1, viennacontemporary’s platform for emerging talent, returns this year with ten remarkable artists under 40 who live, work, or have studied in Austria. Curated by Aliaksei Barysionak, the section presents solo exhibitions that explore two urgent (and intertwined) themes: migration and displacement, and critical feminist perspectives. While CONTEXT, curated by Sam Ozer, delves into artistic positions from the late 20th century. It reveals how today’s contemporary art scene has grown from a rich and recent past. The platform brings together regional and international artists, showcasing works that trace the key developments, influences, and connections shaping contemporary practice.
Of course, there’s plenty more to explore at viennacontemporary beyond the three main sections. For instance, VC Vault brings together eight emerging galleries highlighting experimental practices; individual booths from galleries across 22 countries; themed tours, including a special one for kids, and much more.
Curated By
September 5 – 7
Curated By is Vienna’s annual contemporary art festival, bringing together 24 galleries for a rich program of exhibitions, tours, and performances. This year, it explores the theme of Fragmented Subjectivity, tracing the cultural transition from modernism to postmodernism and investigating how economic, political, and digital forces fragment and reshape our perceptions of the contemporary world.
More: https://curatedby.at/program
Parallel Vienna
September 10 – 14
Otto-Wagner-Areal
Baumgartner Höhe 1
1140 Vienna
PARALLEL Vienna transforms unconventional spaces into vibrant exhibition venues, where emerging and established artists, galleries, and independent initiatives converge. With site-specific works, performances, music events and even culinary concepts, the fair is an unmissable celebration of contemporary culture. This year, you can also get a combined PARALLEL × viennacontemporary ticket at a special price.
More: https://parallelvienna.com/
Music Theatre Tage Wien (Contemporary Music Theatre Festival)
September 17 – 27
The Viennese Contemporary Music Theatre Festival celebrates bold, boundary-pushing approaches to contemporary music theatre. MTTW presents independent productions and brings together artists from diverse disciplines, offering a glimpse into Austria’s evolving experimental theatre scene and the innovative ways performance can intersect with music, storytelling, and visual art.
More: https://mttw.at/en/
Albertina
Albertinapl. 1, 1010 Vienna
Albertina Modern: Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Vienna
Light is what we see, a retrospective of Brigitte Kowanz’s work, traces her practice from the 1980s to today to answer the question that lies at its core: What is light? Meanwhile, Albertina Modern showcases a collection of Damien Hirst’s Drawings, offering insight into this lesser-known facet of the renowned artist’s oeuvre alongside some of his iconic works.
More: https://www.albertina.at/
Belvedere 21. Museum of Contemporary Art
Arsenalstraße 1/21er Haus
1030 Vienna
Belvedere 21 – an architectural icon in and of itself – hosts the first major institutional solo exhibition of Maria Hahnenkamp, exploring themes of “void, space, craftsmanship, and ornamentation”. Featuring around 100 works, the show spans photographs, video, installations, and more. The museum will also present Jonathan Monk’s exhibition Limited Company – the artist’s self-reflection on repetition, doubling, and serialism in the form of a custom-made fabric installation integrated into the museum’s architecture.
More: https://www.belvedere.at/en/belvedere-21-museum-contemporary-art
Kunsthalle Wien
Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier: Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna
Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz: Treitlstraße 2, 1040 Vienna
Burn the Diaries, Read Them Out Loud, conceived as a “group exhibition in progress”, explores the central role of text in contemporary art through performances, readings, discussions, and exchanges. Works installed at the opening engage in an ongoing dialogue with live interventions happening at and around Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz. The full programme is worth checking out, notably, with Nora Turato’s performance pool7 on September 17 and Prosopopoeia’s workshop Reader, my neck is your neck on September 20.
More: https://kunsthallewien.at/en
Kunst Haus Wien
Untere Weißgerberstraße 13
1030 Vienna
Antimatter Factory offers an in-depth look at Mika Rottenberg’s diverse practice, featuring her acclaimed films and installations, kinetic and partly interactive sculptures, as well as her newest series, Lampshares. Rottenberg’s signature blending of organic natural forms with synthetic materials invites viewers to question the boundaries between reality and imagination, creating a world where the mundane and the fantastical intersect. Additionally, every Tuesday, Kunst Haus hosts Art meets Nature – an open discussion on the themes of ecology and sustainability from an artistic perspective (in German only).
More: https://www.kunsthauswien.com/en/
Künstlerhaus (Artist House)
Karlsplatz 5
1010 Vienna
The Imagining Piece exhibition challenges visitors to step into the realm of artistic imagination, embracing ideas that may seem unlikely or surreal at first glance. Works on display invite active participation by engaging with pieces that shift, transform and can be rearranged to prompt reflection on the very role and power of imagination. On September 10 and 12, artist Alice Kammerlander will take visitors on an introspective journey through her art while inviting them to work with her on porcelain, and on September 13, you can participate in a panel discussion Between Imagination and Responsibility.
More: https://www.kuenstlerhaus.at/
MAK Museum Vienna (Museum of Applied Arts)
Stubenring 5
1010 Vienna
Sidekicks is a captivating exhibition devoted to exceptional accessories – particularly rings and bags – from the museum’s collection. These masterpieces of fashion, design, and craftsmanship step out of the background to take on a leading role. On September 7th and 14th, you’ll be able to join a guided tour combining Sidekicks and the garden of Geymüllerschlössel – another place of dialogue between the historical and the contemporary.
More: https://www.mak.at/en
mumok (Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien)
MuseumsQuartier
Museumsplatz 1
1070 Vienna
Set aside an afternoon to see three exhibitions currently on view at mumok. I’ll Never Ask You marks the first solo museum exhibition of Japanese artist Kazuna Taguchi, whose monochrome, surrealism-informed photographs probe how the female body is represented through the medium of photography. Mapping the 60s – Art Histories from the mumok Collection examines how the sociopolitical movements of the 20th century continue to shape contemporary issues.
Finally, The World of Tomorrow Will Have Been Another Present moves beyond a linear art-historical narrative, highlighting moments within mumok’s classical modernist collection that continue to reverberate in the present. Also, on September 12, you’ll be able to participate in mumok’s monthly open workshop – just remember to register!
More: https://www.mumok.at/en/
Weltmuseum Wien
Neue Burg – Teil der Wiener Hofburg, Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna
Theseus Temple: Volksgarten, 1010 Vienna
Weltmuseum Wien’s current special exhibition explores the 3,000-year legacy of trousers, combining historical artefacts with contemporary art to playfully engage with the eponymous question: Who’s Wearing the Pants?. On September 10, you can join a guided tour with the curator, Barbara Pönighaus-Matuella (in German only). Meanwhile, at the Theseus Temple, visitors can experience – for the first time in Austria – Washerwoman, a multimedia sculpture by interdisciplinary artist Shannon Alonzo, created as a tribute to the timeless struggle of working-class women.
More: https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/
viennacontemporary
September 11 – 14, 2025
Vienna, Austria
