VIENNA.- From 19 to 25 November 2018, Vienna is once again celebrating art. Promising Paradise is the promising motto of this year’s VIENNA ART WEEK, when the art hub Vienna enters the limelight with a high-profile program ranging from classical offerings to avant-garde art. Approximately 200 events from no less than 70 program partners offer boundless opportunities to explore the city’s vibrant art scene.

The ambiguity of the programmatic title Promising Paradise is part of the concept of VIENNA ART WEEK 2018. Is it about a promising paradise or about a promised paradise? Is it about a “paradise found” or about a “paradise lost”?

Artistic Director Robert Punkenhofer on the concept of this year’s VIENNA ART WEEK: “We examine how art deals with the myth-enshrouded concept of paradise and take a look at images associated with paradise as a non-place that often only seems to exist by virtue of its absence.”

VIENNA ART WEEK’s sensational program includes a performative interview marathon at the MAK, as well as exhibition openings, performances, special guided tours, talks and debates. Successfully introduced in 2017, the Alternative Space Open House has become equally popular with the public as Open Studio Day, when around 100 studios keep their doors open to visitors. Numerous guided tours of artist studios, artist-in-residence studios, galleries, and art projects in public space offer a great opportunity for visitors to look behind the scenes of art production.

Illustrious guests invited to VIENNA ART WEEK include the distinguished, New York-based performance expert RoseLee Goldberg (USA), artist Joep van Lieshout (NL), artist Kaucyila Brooke (USA), and composer and actor Christopher Chaplin (CH), who will perform during the performative interview marathon.

VIENNA ART WEEK is a cooperation of Vienna’s major exhibition venues, art spaces and galleries. Their input and top-class programs are the backbone of the art week, which has long established itself as an annual fixture in the city’s art agenda in fall since it was launched in 2004. Attracting approximately 30,000 visitors from Austria and abroad, the festival further enhances Vienna’s profile as an international hotspot of art.

Martin Böhm, President of the supporting association Art Cluster Vienna: “It is a pleasure each year to see the abundance of artistic offerings during VIENNA ART WEEK. The festival makes Vienna an ideal place for international experts and art lovers to come together and exchange views in the city’s unique atmosphere.”