{"id":21264,"date":"2019-12-05T04:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T03:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=21264"},"modified":"2025-02-10T18:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T17:34:55","slug":"katharina-heigl-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/katharina-heigl-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Katharina Heigl photography exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/weltmuseum1.jpg\" alt=\"Weltmuseum sign\" class=\"wp-image-21273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/weltmuseum1.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/weltmuseum1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Regrettably, organised religion often finds use as a tool to drive political and economic conflict. Katharina Heigl&#8217;s <em>Faces at Prayer<\/em> series of photos in Vienna&#8217;s Weltmuseum reminds us that religion also offers a shared human experience; one that encourages empathy and solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Portraits of people from multiple faiths at prayer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Excellent illustration of our common humanity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Dec 5, 2019 to Sept 6, 2020<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Just needs a normal museum entrance ticket<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/weltmuseum\/\">Weltmuseum visitor and ticket tips<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#photography\">photo exhibitions<\/a> in town<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faces in Prayer<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/facesinprayer.jpg\" alt=\"View of the Faces at Prayer exhibition\" class=\"wp-image-21274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/facesinprayer.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/facesinprayer-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Exhibition view \u00a9 KHM-Museumsverband)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One unhelpful tendency in the modern world is to use religious affiliations as a means of division and polarisation&#8230;to highlight differences and encourage a &#8220;them and us&#8221; perception that can be exploited and abused for political and economic gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Faces in Prayer<\/em> series of photos fights this trend by reminding us of what we have in common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept is quite elegant: Katharina Heigl visited churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, and other places of worship in Austria and Israel to photograph people at prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their faces form a series of portraits across the walls of the gallery, but no labels tell you who is praying to which God or Gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is remarkable in its effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first, you automatically try attaching religions to the subjects. &#8220;That&#8217;s a Hindu, that&#8217;s a Sikh&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But after a few photographs, the desire to label each individual according to their faith becomes pointless and, frankly, faintly embarrassing. So you stop doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, you&#8217;re simply left with images of &#8220;people&#8221; stripped down to their common spirituality and humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of Heigl&#8217;s subjects seem lost in thought, some earnest, some questioning, some at peace, and others almost in ecstasy. But each face acts as a witness to a shared experience, untainted by the politics of division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of this fits nicely with the Weltmuseum&#8217;s broader remit to examine both cultural differences and &#8220;that which all people have in common.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Incidentally, Katharina Heigl is also a well-known film director in Austria, with an extensive body of work (particular in the field of documentaries).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Faces in Prayer<\/em> runs from December 5th, 2019 to September 6th, 2020. An ordinary entrance ticket for the Weltmuseum is all you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get to the exhibition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Weltmuseum occupies part of the Neue Burg wing of the Hofburg palace complex. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/weltmuseum\/\">here<\/a> for tips on reaching the museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once inside, go upstairs to find the exhibition in one of the rooms overlooking the gorgeous colonnaded atrium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1asmHlbVpicbQLt1557vf6l4l0zQ\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regrettably, organised religion often finds use as a tool to drive political and economic conflict. Katharina Heigl&#8217;s Faces at Prayer series of photos in Vienna&#8217;s Weltmuseum reminds us that religion also offers a shared human experience; one that encourages empathy and solidarity. Faces in Prayer (Exhibition view \u00a9 KHM-Museumsverband) One unhelpful tendency in the modern [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-museums","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80227,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264\/revisions\/80227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}