Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts tagged ‘Margareten’

Vienna in (the) 5: artist Julia Bugram

(“Raising Hands”)

The sculpture provided the introduction three years ago. Two clasped hands, each as tall as a person. Each hand made of 1-million 1-Eurocent coins. Seen in 2022, next to St. Stephan’s Cathedral. Seen next in 2023, the sculpture moved near the big fountain at Schwarzenbergplatz. A wonderful crowdfunded project, created by Austrian artist Julia Bugram.

This past spring, I receive a kind invitation to visit her studio. It’s July and I’m in Vienna’s 5th district. I make my way up to the 2nd floor of an “Altbau”, and arrive at a cozy working art-space shared between Julia and another artist.

Julia is presently exploring themes surrounding community and society; and how art can create, enhance, and strengthen connections among people. Artistic influences include: Hilma af Klimt, Mela Diamant, Renate Bertlmann, Margot Pilz, Jakob Lena Knebl, Martha Jungwirth. Her “Raising Hands” sculpture is presently in storage, waiting for new benefactors and fresh eyes.

We spoke at some length about the economic and cultural challenges contemporary Austrian artists face in the creation and distribution of their work, as well as the difficulty of commuting between Vienna and her home in Burgenland. Despite challenges, I’m looking forward to seeing what she’ll create in the near future.

Links to her website and Instagram.

Working art space shared by Julia Bugram and Elisabeth Hansa. (I’ve greyed out their contact numbers.)
Julia’s recent book with images of her recent art pieces, including extensive discussion and the context of her work: “Widerstand & Neugierde: Kunst, die Veränderung fordert.” (Resistance & Curiosity: art that demands change).
Back cover.
Most who directly supported the publishing her book are from Vienna, other parts of Austria, and Europe.
Her triptych creation, “Fut – Mut – Wut”, presented here in alphabetical order with carefully selected wallpaper-like background motifs. Three words of equal length that rhyme, each word an expression of an essential facet or dimension for a woman.
Defiance and empowerment, body autonomy, questioning the gaze, control of their own narratives.
Many of the pieces on the wall include sketches of plants, emphasizing her desire to commune with and derive inspiration from nature.

My thanks to Julia for her invitation and her time. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 11 July 2025. I received neither support nor compensation for this piece. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

25T70 Vienna: chasing marks in the 15., 10., & 5.

E69, V17.

By chance, the math happened to work out very well today. I wandered into three city districts for some “list clearing” activity. Here’s what I found, even with me ending up in the inner city.

15. Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus

As a boy, Friedrich Stowasser lived in the area with his Jewish mother, Elsa. In 1938, they were forcibly moved out to a relative’s apartment in the 2nd district, where they survived until war’s end. That boy became the artist known as Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), whose influence is visible as an “onion dome” on top of the advertising column in the background. The City of Vienna inaugurated the small plaza in his name in 2007.
Onion dome. Hundertwasser.

5. Margareten

On the outside wall of the building at the corner of Leitgebgasse and Stöbergasse are three panels each protected by transparent plexiglass. Each panel is a visual record of what was required of residents during Allied air-raids in World War II.
The arrow shows the direction residents could go for additional shelter, pointing southeast towards Margaretengürtel (Margareten belt road).
The two arrows point to “NA” for Notausstieg, or emergency entry to an air-raid shelter below ground during World War II.

10. Favoriten

Ceramic mosaic of architect Eduard van der Nüll (1812-1868), by Fritz Rocca-Humpoletz (1894-1971). Van der Nüll and Sicardsburg designed Vienna’s Opera House whose public unveiling brought reviews so poor, they drove van der Nüll to despair and suicide.
Giant wall mural (2021), by Viennese artist nychos, at tram stop Knöllgasse. I saw this in June 2024, but to see this again in-person is neither chore nor burden at all.

1. Innere Stadt

Inside the Frauenhuber café.
“Yellow Fog”, by artist Olafur Eliasson for Verbund whose headquarters are located at Am Hof. The dynamic sculpture is active only at dusk.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 16 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.