Where art, politics and social change converge in Vienna: WUK performing arts

The Purpose
Responding to Vienna’s legacy of excellence within musical and performance theatre, WUK performing arts is an interdisciplinary platform showcasing dance, theatre, fine arts, performance and choreography as well as new media, including video and text art. It ensures that the city’s experimental art scene is as active, visible and accessible as Vienna’s more conventional cultural venues.

The Challenge
Vienna’s formalized cultural organizations often compete with non-institutional forms of art-making for governmental funding. WUK performing arts offer a counter-narrative to this paradigm and are crucial players in Vienna’s rapidly emerging independent and alternative performing art scene. It actively integrates with Vienna’s LGBTQ and feminist communities and provides a platform for newcomers to the performing arts scene.

WUK performing arts receive an average of 200,000 visitors per year and hosts 150 autonomous groups.

The Solution
WUK performing arts is a programmatic area of the WUK: a state-funded art and culture hub that spans 12,000 square metres in an ex-locomotive factory in Vienna’s eighth district. It specializes in long-term collaborations with artists focusing on audience engagement and socio-cultural agendas. It has quickly built a strong international reputation as an experimental, socially-minded cultural centre that fuses art, politics and social progression. WUK performing arts works with an annual budget of €8.3 million (2013) and integrates alternative educational resources, counseling, concerts, workshops and interactive exhibitions to promote artistic practice, labour, and political engagement.

The Impact
WUK performing arts receive an average of 200,000 visitors per year and hosts 150 autonomous groups, collectives and artists, including activist groups, performance and dance artists, traditional craft groups, visual artists, musicians, and more. It has ongoing partnerships with both local and international institutions, further expanding its influence and reach. It also produces a quarterly publication to share ongoing work and research practices, making these nascent forms of creative culture and subcultures more accessible and visible in Vienna’s cultural landscape.

Source: World Cities Culture Report 2022