Quartier21

Established in 2002, this collective of about 60 cultural initiatives is a rare contribution to art and culture of the 21st century at the MuseumsQuartier Wien.

The main focus is digital culture, fashion, and design with a spectrum of activities ranging from media art, conceptual art, and sound art to game culture, street art, fashion, design, photography, and literature. New subject areas and innovative approaches to production and presentation position the cultural initiatives in quartier21 outside of the traditional museum landscape.

The underlying concept is that most often contemporary culture is not produced and negotiated in museums, but in small studios, offices, agencies, archives, editorial departments, and event spaces, each acting autonomously and contributing unique elements. For young cultural initiatives, quartier21 therefore represents a great center where artistic synergy is born.

Several initiatives specifically focus on public space. Five of the passageways  that bring visitors from courtyard to courtyard have been transformed into micro museums, such as TONSPUR_passage, KABINETT comic passage, STREET ART PASSAGE VIENNA, Typopassage Wien, and Meteoritenpassage and provide 24/7 access to cultural phenomena like sound art, comics, street art, typography, and ancient time capsules like meteorites.

The freiraum quartier21 INTERNATIONAL exhibition space hosts experimental and interdisciplinary exhibitions at the cutting edge of contemporary culture. The Quartier für Digitale Kultur (QDK) is a venue for workshops, lectures, and discussions on current issues relating to the digital age. Numerous events and exhibitions are offered free of charge.