Join us for a visit to a hidden idyllic courtyard of the WUK Cultural Centre where you will find the Kunsthalle Exnergasse, or KEX, in the second floor. The former locomotive factory offers space for exhibitions and all sorts of innovative, experimental and contemporary art projects.
The old factory became first the Higher Technical School but the school was closed, too, and the building was going to be demolished. Luckily in 1981, however, it was given to a non-profit art centre, Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus WUK where KEX was opened for artists to show their work. An advisory panel selects the exhibition programme that includes a wide range of interdisciplinary events, such as symposiums, lectures, readings, concerts and catalogue presentations.
Since 2012 KEX also awards grants for artist and research residencies at the KEX Studio lasting from one to three months.
In the anniversary year 2022 KEX also - finally! - became barrier-free. An elevator goes up from the courtyard to the first floor. Andreas Fogarasi decorated the railing of the new elevator crossing with a historical metal ornament. Three lifts, 44-meter ramps and barrier-free loos make the whole WUK compound accessible.
There is no museum shop at KEX nor café but in the compound there are several you might wish to check, or perhaps it might be an idea to go back to the centre to enjoy some truly Viennese delights.
The entrance if free.
Kunsthalle Exnergasse KEX
WUK Werkstätten un Kulturhaus
Währinger Straße 59, 2nd entrance, 1st floor, 1090 Vienna
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