Austrian Cultural Forum New York

The Austrian Cultural Forum (ACF ) in New York City is one of Austria's two official cultural representatives in the United States (the other is located in Washington, DC) and part of the network of cultural forums of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

History

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York was founded in 1942 by Austrian emigrants as Austrian Institute to maintain Austrian culture in New York. 1963, was opened at its present address 11 East 52nd Street, in the central district of Manhattan as an official cultural representative of the Austrian Federal Government. Since 2002, the renamed Cultural Forum institution has a new building.

The Cultural Forum is the responsibility of the Austrian Consulate General in New York. The first director of the Austrian Institute was Wilhelmschlag (from 1957). Third Head was 1970-1975 Richard Sickinger. He was followed by Fritz Cocron. 1984-1987 was the later Viennese culture Councillor Peter Marboe ladder, from 1988-1999 Wolfgang Waldner. By 2007, then headed Christoph Thun- Hohenstein, the ACF, out of 1 September 2007 to August 2013 Andreas Stadler, the diplomat Christine Moser, previously held Austria's ambassador to the OSCE followed.

Building

The previous building on the same site was in the 1980s at the general restoration. However, the State Department decided to use a new building. 1992, an architectural competition was conducted; The international jury evaluated the design of Raimund Abraham as the best of 226 submissions.

In 2002, the completed building is situated in a mere 7.5 meters wide vacant lot in Manhattan. Not surprising, therefore, that the building, which has 24 floors and an overall height of 84 meters, representing an architectural feature. The facade of the building, in a number of graduations inclined to ultimately withdraws several meters upwards, is made of glass, zinc and aluminum. The building is considered one of the most interesting architectural projects of the recent New York history. It has exhibition rooms, a theater, a library and music library, offices, seminar and reception rooms as well as apartments for the head of the institution.

Activities

The ACF has been used since its inception as a place of cultural exchange between Austrians and Americans and exhibits contemporary Austrian artists before the U.S. space.

It is responsible for the cultural and scientific cooperation with all states in the United States, excluding only Washington, DC, which has as part of the Austrian Embassy has its own culture forum. Both the own events as well as the promotion of cooperative projects with diverse cultural institutions in the U.S. are made ​​on the basis of a clear orientation to the contemporary, artistic, socio-political and scientific relevance.

Events

Exhibitions

In the building of the ACF, there are a total of 5 floors that serve as exhibition space for contemporary art mainly, and in which take place three major thematic exhibitions per year in the rule. In between, there is also room for smaller events like installations.

Music and dance

Concerts and performances take place partly in-house auditorium, partly outsourced to a wide variety of venues in New York. The latter bears the cooperation with U.S. partner institutions invoice, events have already been held at Carnegie Hall or at the Judson Memorial Church.

In the spring of 2005 in the electronic music scene high-profile event of the Austrian electronic and experimental musicians took place, for example with moving patterns.

Film

In ACF films are part of a year-round series on the one hand demonstrated with reference to Austria, on the other hand find thematically with other events of the Cultural Forum in relationship standing special screenings instead.

Discussions and readings

A wider range of activities in the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York make a variety of panel discussions, readings and book presentations.

Library

The library of the ACF is on the 4th floor of the building and has a collection of over 10,000 books related to Austrian art and culture. The library is currently being digitized, the title previously recognized are on the system of the Austrian Library Network available online.

Consulting services

The staff of the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York are each in their fields for consulting and network services for Austrian and American artists and scientists available.