Directors' News
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Dear Friends of the Museum,
The year 2015 was the most successful in the recent history of the MAK. We traced the numbers back to 1980 (though not all the way to 1864) and can be pleased in every regard with our record year 2015. We saw an impressive growth of 44 percent in the number of visitors compared to 2014, and there was even a 167-percent increase in MAK Annual Tickets sold. The media response in Austria and around the world was also overwhelming in the past year. Of course, there were a series of highly attractive major exhibition projects such as WAYS TO MODERNISM: Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, and Their Impact, the VIENNA BIENNALE 2015: IDEAS FOR CHANGE initiated by the MAK, the exhibition STEFAN SAGMEISTER: The Happy Show, which will continue until 28 March 2016, and the show JOSEF FRANK: Against Design, which opened in December and has been extended until 12 June 2016. But we see many signs that the MAK is receiving new attention overall and reaching broader sections of the population and additional tourists beyond a specialized audience. We would like to thank all of you for your curiosity and your enormous interest in our diverse offerings. This success validates the repositioning of the museum at the intersection of art and the everyday which began in 2011, while also spurring us on to become even better.
Of all of the major art museums around the world, the MAK is a “life museum”—and we remain dedicated to this approach in 2016. In the exhibition FREDERICK KIESLER: Life Visions, another multitalented artist of Viennese Modernism will be thoroughly re-evaluated. The search for insights from an earlier era of modernity is all the more important today because we find ourselves in the middle of a new age of Digital Modernity. The current relevance of handicrafts will be explored in another major exhibition. Contemporary fine art is also inspired by Viennese Modernism, as Josiah McElheny’s The Ornament Museum will demonstrate. Asian art will be an additional focus in 2016 as part of the global lab of cultures. With these and many other projects, we aim to enthrall and inspire you. We hope that you will remain loyal to the MAK and recommend this museum to as many people as possible who mean something to you. We look forward to a lively exchange of ideas and your feedback!
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Director, MAK
The year 2015 was the most successful in the recent history of the MAK. We traced the numbers back to 1980 (though not all the way to 1864) and can be pleased in every regard with our record year 2015. We saw an impressive growth of 44 percent in the number of visitors compared to 2014, and there was even a 167-percent increase in MAK Annual Tickets sold. The media response in Austria and around the world was also overwhelming in the past year. Of course, there were a series of highly attractive major exhibition projects such as WAYS TO MODERNISM: Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, and Their Impact, the VIENNA BIENNALE 2015: IDEAS FOR CHANGE initiated by the MAK, the exhibition STEFAN SAGMEISTER: The Happy Show, which will continue until 28 March 2016, and the show JOSEF FRANK: Against Design, which opened in December and has been extended until 12 June 2016. But we see many signs that the MAK is receiving new attention overall and reaching broader sections of the population and additional tourists beyond a specialized audience. We would like to thank all of you for your curiosity and your enormous interest in our diverse offerings. This success validates the repositioning of the museum at the intersection of art and the everyday which began in 2011, while also spurring us on to become even better.
Of all of the major art museums around the world, the MAK is a “life museum”—and we remain dedicated to this approach in 2016. In the exhibition FREDERICK KIESLER: Life Visions, another multitalented artist of Viennese Modernism will be thoroughly re-evaluated. The search for insights from an earlier era of modernity is all the more important today because we find ourselves in the middle of a new age of Digital Modernity. The current relevance of handicrafts will be explored in another major exhibition. Contemporary fine art is also inspired by Viennese Modernism, as Josiah McElheny’s The Ornament Museum will demonstrate. Asian art will be an additional focus in 2016 as part of the global lab of cultures. With these and many other projects, we aim to enthrall and inspire you. We hope that you will remain loyal to the MAK and recommend this museum to as many people as possible who mean something to you. We look forward to a lively exchange of ideas and your feedback!
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Director, MAK
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