We have the Niederösterreich Card which gives you free entrance to a lot of museums and activities around Austria. On Saturday we decided to go somewhere we have never visited before, so we headed over to Succession. It was a nice walk through the Naschmarkt to get there on the coldest day in Vienna I have ever experienced! We are slowly learning how to wear enough layers to keep warm on the coldest days.
The kids have always wanted to see what is inside Succession since they love the outside of the building, especially the gold dome.
Some interesting information about Succession: “The Secession Building is an exhibition hall built in 1897 by Joseph Maria Olbrich as an architectural manifesto for the Vienna Secession, located in Vienna, Austria. Secession refers to the seceding of a group of rebel artists from the long-established fine art institution. The motto of the Secessionist movement is written above the entrance of the pavilion: “To every age its art, to every art its freedom””
Succession hosts a variety of art exhibitions from international artists. The first exhibition we saw was by Avery Sailor from New York, whose art is exploring the mechanisms of digital media. Elora said she likes the Art History Museum better and the three older kids went through the exhibition very quickly, but surprisingly James was fascinated by the art work and took his time really looking at each piece. The kids are all pictured in front of their favorite piece from the exhibition.
The next exhibition was really interesting and we all really enjoyed it. The artwork was from the artist Francis Alÿs and featured 111 small paintings on blocks of wood that he has worked on for over two decades. There were magnifying glasses that could be used to look at the small details, and also various stories or bits of poetry written on the wall. This was not a super kid friendly museum and as far as visiting with children, I think we lucked out by coming when there was a very interactive exhibit. Some of the workers didn’t like the kids getting so close to the art, but they were being very careful and so interested! The kids looked carefully at every painting. I love living where we can show the kids a wonderful variety of art, museums, music, and history.
Then we headed back out into the cold for a kebab at the Naschmarkt. I think I need to buy more scarves to make it through the winter.
