ABOUT

XX ART FLÂNERIE is an international, decentralised and transdisciplinary Arts and Culture Festival in Vienna, which presents and promotes projects that focus on the contemporary resonance of historical and demographic contexts as well as the examination of current social developments. With art as a wide-ranging medium of communication and means of social co-design, the participating artists use the public spaces, numerous galleries, project spaces and cultural institutions during the 8-day festival in order to open up new fields of dialogue, to make diverse perspectives visible and to unfold and make tangible the potential of social cohesion. The aim of the festival is to connect cross-national subcultures and cultural practitioners by providing an institutional framework and to create a cultural, academic and institutional exchange within a sustainable collaborative network.

NEVER GO BACK

This year‘s theme is „Never go back“ and deals with migration and the importance of public transport and trains. A train that keeps returning from terminus to terminus, at the same moment for some passengers with one-way ticket, has a different weight and can represent the way to a new life.

The theme, as every year, is multi-layered, it also refers to the tragic event of this year, to the Russian Invasion and following war in Ukraine and the social and political issues related to it, and shows parallels with past conflicts in Europe, to which we never wanted to return. Also the literal burning question of energy supply and its alternatives, are included in the title, which demands from our generation: to look forward. In doing so, we see ourselves committed to the task of art, in addition to the depiction of the beautiful, to pose unpleasant questions and, in the tradition of the Enlightenment, to enable a discourse on difficult topics to a broader audience.

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