This Town Is Big Enough
Miriam Stoney
Institute of Arts and Society, Art and Knowledge Transfer
2026S, scientific seminar (SEW), 4.0 ECTS, 2.0 semester hours, course number S05682
Description
In this course we will take the city of Vienna as a case study with which to observe, examine and reflect the multi-faceted relationships between built environments and the artistic practices housed in and by them. This term, the focus will be on infrastructures and architectures of water in Vienna.
Visiting buildings, institutions, exhibitions, collections and archives, we will examine the role of water – as a resource, public good, capital, symbol and material – in the production of the city's image. We will consider these relationships with specific reference to Vienna – a former imperial capital whose urban policies have been defined by over a century of social democratic values, inaugurated by “Red Vienna” in the interwar period.
Students are invited and encouraged to find a critical stance towards the city’s infrastructure, which also recognises the inevitable interplay between architectural sites and artistic practices. In doing so, we will hopefully see the broad potential that lies in reflecting the role of the built environment within our own work in and on the arts today.
Examination Modalities
Regular participation and contributions to discussions.
As a discursive seminar requiring no specific prior architectural or art historical knowledge, we will work with diverse textual practices that connect our study of historical/archival/material objects with students' individual practices and their sites. This approach can manifest in any number of ways within a project, including but not limited to: prose and poetry; titles and material lists; slogans, manifestos and statements; concepts and framing; reading and performance; criticism and commentary or more ephemeral text forms.
The form of the submission is open and negotiable. Each participant will work towards one, longer text to be handed in at the end of the term.
Comments
Suggested reading:
River / Fluss, Esther Kinsky
Plainwater, Anne Carson
Strategie "Wiener Wasser 2050", Stadt Wien Wiener Wasser
Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas
Site-Writing: The Architecture of Art Criticism, Jane Rendell
Relevant sites:
Donaukanal, Donauinsel, Kaiserbrunn Water Pipe Museum, Über unten Wien, Freibäder/Hallenbäder, Bezirksmuseum Wieden (Tröpflbad permanent exhibition), WirWasser Jubiläumsbrunnen von GELATIN, among many others.
Key Words
architecture, concrete poetry, text, context art, art in public space, cultural politics, public space
Dates
Thu, 12 March 2026, 14:00–15:00 (preliminary discussion)
Thu, 19 March 2026, 14:00–17:00
Thu, 26 March 2026, 14:00–17:00
Thu, 23 April 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Thu, 30 April 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Thu, 07 May 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Thu, 21 May 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Thu, 28 May 2026, 14:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Thu, 11 June 2026, 10:00–17:00 Seminar Room 30
Course Enrolment
From 02 February 2026, 09:00 to 31 March 2026, 09:01
Via online registration
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 067/003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/003.80
Art Education: subject tex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 071/003.80
Art Education: subject dae (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 072/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 074/003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/003.80
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/003.01
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Art & Knowledge Transfer 537/080.26
Stage Design (2. Section): Kunsttheorie und Kulturwissenschaften: Kunst- und Wissenstransfer 542/207.05
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Kunst- und Wissenstransfer 566/208.14
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Kunst- und Wissenstransfer 567/208.14
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 2: Art and Knowledge Transfer 568/006.19
Design: Specialisation in Design and Narrative Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Fundamentals: Humanities 576/203.02
Design: Specialisation in Communication Design (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 577/203.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Media Theory,Art&Knowledge Transfer,Th. of Architecture,Th. and Hist. of Design 605/202.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Free Electives out of Scientific and Research Practice 605/202.80
Design: Specialisation in Applied Photography and Time-based Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 626/203.02
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible