The University Gallery of the Angewandte 

Outline

The University Gallery of the Angewandte (University of Applied Arts) in Heiligenkreuzer Hof provides a platform for art and cultural studies as well as artistic practice. The close ties to research and teaching as well as the collaboration with the Collection and Archive of the University of Applied Arts are the basis for exhibitions, programs, open formats and publications that deal with current issues regarding art and society. Works of art from the collection serve as references to historical and contemporary topics and allow access to cross-disciplinary areas of art, architecture, design, and fashion while embedded in an international context and linked to extensive networks.

History

The University of Applied Arts has been using the premises of the University Gallery located in the baroque ensemble of the Heiligenkreuzer Hof since 1939. The relevant records show that there is a regular rental contract, with no indications of dispossession or other unlawful interventions. The former prelature building of Heiligenkreuz Abbey and its Sala Terrena were first used as studios for commercial and industrial design courses and architecture courses. Oswald Haerdtl, the head of these courses, had most likely negotiated the lease directly with the Abbey and also signed the lease contract together with Robert Obsieger, the former rector of the university, which by that time was already under Nazi rule. After extensive restoration work, the gallery was reopened in the 1980s and has since been used for exhibitions, symposia and lectures. The history of the University of Applied Arts during Austrofascism, under National Socialism and in the post-war era is subject of an ongoing research project under the title "Sonderfall” Angewandte. For further information please click here.

Advisory Board 

Katharina Birkmann, Manon Fougère, Anette Freudenberger, Robert Müller, Cosima Rainer, Jenni Tischer