Vienna Ugly
10:30 - 13:00
09.
Feb
2019
2019
Augarten park entrance, Obere Augarten Strasse 1, 1020 (opposite Ob. Augarten Str 40, 1020 Wien
10€
Everyone knows Vienna is beautiful. But we want to take you to the dark side, and explore some very ugly mistakes, on a walking journey.
We want locals to explore their own city from an innovative perspective. A tour of beautiful palaces would not interest many of them, but this will. There is a fascination with death, failure and melancholy in Vienna, and this walk connects with that Ulrich Seidl mood.
Through humour, we want to make some serious points about the role of fashion, the popular press, city-planners, gentrification, postmodernism, UNESCO and greedy developers.
We want to start a debate – and so participants vote on the attractiveness of each building. This is one of the cities with the biggest gap between its fantasy and reality. We want to explore that gap, and maybe close it a little. Vienna is more interesting than its reputation. In the spirit of Conchita, we want to transgress, and surprise people. To show another Vienna, beyond the tired cliches of Sissi and Schnitzel, a city which is more creative, contemporary and adventurous.
You have to come on the walk to find out which buildings we consider ugly! We include old and new architecture. Some structures are both beautiful and ugly. Only through ugliness can we discover true beauty, and the two have an interesting relationship in Vienna. Beauty can be boring – but ugly never is. And we love the cinematic qualities of Vienna at night, so some of our walks start at midnight.
