2018
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’d like to get locals exploring their own city from an innovative perspective. A walk 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 the media, city-planners, fashion, gentrification, postmodernism, UNESCO and greedy developers.
We want to start a useful debate – and so people will be asked to 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 a lot 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! It will 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.
Current tours of Vienna focus on the old city. We need new stories to tell.
Beauty can be boring – but ugly never is.