Exhibition „Unlimited City: Otto Wagner (1841-1918)“

Pinacoteca Aldo Locatelli, Porto Alegre, Brazil

31.7.2023–16.9.2023

Curated and designed by Andreas Nierhaus (Wien Museum) and Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna).

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Otto Wagner is one of the most important architects of the turn of the 20th century. His project “The Unlimited City” was a proposal for the expansion of Vienna, then a city of millions, into an endless city with a high quality of life for all its inhabitants. In contrast to many contemporaries, Wagner’s view of the modern metropolis was thoroughly positive. He was convinced that the grave part of the people would rather live in the city than in the countryside. As chief planner, the architect was to ensure that art played a decisive role in urban planning. For only a beautiful city, Wagner argued, was also a livable city.

These aspects were represented in the exhibition by high-quality facsimiles of drawings and photographs from the Wien Museum collection.

The exhibition is divided into four chapters: Introducing Otto Wagner, Otto Wagner’s Vienna, the boundless city and Otto Wagner’s urban planning and large-scale projects, and his development from historicism to modernism, which is shown through his most important buildings and projects.

The exhibition “Unlimited City: Otto Wagner (1841-1918)” was first shown in 2018 at the Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tehran, 160 years of diplomatic relations and 25 years of interfaith dialogue between Austria and Iran, and the 100th anniversary of the death of the great Austrian architect Otto Wagner.

The exhibition was on display in “Abadan Museum of Contemporary Art” in 2019, in “International Gallery of Contemporary Art“, Kish Island in 2020, and „The Central Library of Yazd Province” in 2022.

In cooperation with:

VIENNA MUSEUM

The Austrian Embassy, Brasilia

The Austrian Consulate, Porto Alegre

With the kind support of:

City of Vienna, European and International Affairs International Office, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

ZV, Central Association of Austrian Architects

CDEA – Center for German and European Studies

Municipality of Porto Alegre

Vienna University of Technology

Architecture studios and universities in Brazil

Plus A Art & Architecture Association