VIENNA.- The 12th edition of Vienna Art Week came to a close last Sunday with Family Art Day. Once again, the festival showed art at its finest, with this year's motto “Seeking Beauty” serving as a fascinating point of departure. VIENNA ART WEEK boasted over 200 events from around 90 program partners, drawing a considerable crowd of art-interested guests and experts from all over Austria and around the world.

A first highlight came at the start of the week with the multi-hour performative interview marathon “Seeking Beauty,” held in the Columned Main Hall at the MAK. French artist ORLAN surprised attendees with an artistic intervention after her lecture; the afternoon line-up included a series of high-caliber lectures and performances by artist and philosopher Elisabeth von Samsonow, performer Doris Uhlich, and curator Mark Evans from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

An artist talk with Francis Alÿs as part of his exhibition at the Secession, the opening of the Peter Dressler and Nasan Tur exhibitions at KUNST HAUS WIEN, and the panel discussion on beauty at the Albertina also met with special interest during the course of the week. The city’s major museums and exhibition halls offered an abundance of talks, tours and film screenings, while galleries welcomed visitors to Open Gallery Night. The Curators' Picks program brought four international curators to Vienna – not only to discuss the importance of beauty for their curatorial work, but also to take part in special tours and studio visits, enabling a more in-depth look at the city’s vibrant art scene.

Some 70 alternative spaces and special projects including flux23, New Jörg, Marcello Farabegoli Projects, Apartment Draschan and Raumteiler created special programs of their own tied to this year’s festival topic and motto. The popular Open Studio Day once again offered a look behind the scenes of art production in the Austrian capital, with around 70 artists welcoming guests to their studios, while Family Art Day included guided tours and workshops at the Albertina, KHM, Secession, and 21er Haus, among others, drawing another successful VIENNA ART WEEK to a close. Around 35,000 people attended this year’s festival.