Preview “maybe manifested”

In 2019, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna organised a competition for students in cooperation with the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and the Verein zur generationsübergreifenden Kunst- & Kulturförderung: Students were invited to submit works that dealt with the theme of the manifestation of secular and spiritual power.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is now exhibiting the three prize-winning works. The exhibition boldly brings together the Imperial Crown and the so-called Gregor Plate, two major works of Western cultural history that are over 1000 years old, with works by students and graduates from the recent past. In this way, the mission first formulated for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1878 ‘to bear witness to the artistic sense and munificence [generosity] with which the rulers of Austria have always endeavoured to cultivate and support art and science’ is reinterpreted in a contemporary way: It offers an open society space for discussions about tradition and innovation.