{"id":87426,"date":"2025-12-10T12:53:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=87426"},"modified":"2025-12-15T09:44:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:44:29","slug":"helmut-lang-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/helmut-lang-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Helmut Lang exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"#tickets\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlangtickets1.jpg\" alt=\"Museum billboard\" class=\"wp-image-87520\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A name resonant with vision and distinction: the MAK draws on its Helmut Lang archives for a comprehensive exhibition around the creativity and influence of this designer and artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Insights into his innovations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Covers fields like fashion (!), interior design, advertising, and more<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Dec 10, 2025 &#8211; May 3, 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/mak-austrian-museum-of-applied-arts-tickets-l147529\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_MAKVenue\" rel=\"sponsored\">MAK museum tickets<\/a>*<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/mak\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7100\">The MAK museum<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#design\">Design exhibitions in Vienna<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">S\u00e9ance de travail 1986-2005<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlangtaxi.jpg\" alt=\"Taxi ad board with Helmut Lang written on it\" class=\"wp-image-87430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlangtaxi.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlangtaxi-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\">((Helmut Lang was the first luxury brand to use New York&#8217;s taxi tops for ad purposes; New York City Taxi Top, advertising, 1998\u20132004; MAK Helmut Lang Archive, LNI 649; photo: MAK\/Christian Mendez)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former fashion designer and label founder (and now artist), Helmut Lang is one of those names whose influence defies easy description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some people ride the waves of art and design, while others (like Lang) make those waves themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When words like pioneering, revolutionary, visionary, and distinctive collide, you&#8217;re left with a maelstrom of creativity whose whirlpools and eddies shift the surrounding cultural landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An exhibition at the MAK museum presents Lang&#8217;s continuing impact on fashion &amp; design aesthetics and the wider socioculture, with a focus on the years 1986 (which saw his first runway collection) to 2005 (when he retired from fashion).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang2.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a fashion show\" class=\"wp-image-87431\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang2-300x200.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\">(Helmut Lang, video still, Helmut Lang Collection Hommes Femmes S\u00e9ance de Travail D\u00e9fil\u00e9 # Hiver 94\/95 (1994). Depicted person: Kirsten Owen. MAK Helmut Lang Archive. Courtesy of hl-art)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>S\u00e9ance de Travail<\/em> exhibition dips into the museum&#8217;s unique Helmut Lang archive to offer insight into, for example, his approaches, processes, and spheres of influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We discover that those spheres of influence extend far beyond fashion design into advertising, store architecture, and other realms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Artists Louise Bourgeois and Jenny Holzer, for example, created location-specific installations for Lang&#8217;s flagship stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Largely ignorant of all things fashion, I can only offer up my personal observations from a wander around the exhibition galleries\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Lang&#8217;s innovations in fashion was to change the traditional runway show into a more authentic and raw experience. Show notes, clothes, photos and other documents (including budget lists) allow us an intriguing glimpse of the paddling beneath the water of the show swan.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang3.jpg\" alt=\"Large gallery in a museum\" class=\"wp-image-87432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/helmutlang3-300x200.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\">(MAK Exhibition View, 2025 \/ Chapter S\u00e9ance de Travail; HELMUT LANG. S\u00c9ANCE DE TRAVAIL 1986\u20132005 \/ Excerpts from the MAK Helmut Lang Archive; MAK Exhibition Hall; press photo \u00a9 kunst-dokumentation.com\/MAK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One huge gallery even reproduces the floor plan of the kind of show shown in videos elsewhere in the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;d recommend doing what I did: stride confidently along the paths taken by models to get a smidgen of an idea for what it must feel like. Particularly as you pass seats marked with such names as Anna Wintour, Vogue, Le Figaro, New York Times, Elle, Harper &amp; Queens, GQ, and Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back to those videos. If we ignore the clothes for a moment, the audience feels like a paradox of transience and intransience. Their enthusiasm, curiosity or affected coolness seem a constant at such events, yet the faces would inevitably change through the decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition certainly gives you a feel for Lang as designer, disruptor, innovator, brand manager, collaborator, artist, copywriter and communicator. Most of us struggle to succeed at just one of those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So a doff of the (well-designed) hat to Mr Lang. And to the MAK for bringing us the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dive into the world of Helmut Lang from December 10th, 2025 to May 3rd, 2026. An entrance ticket for or from the MAK includes <em>S\u00e9ance de Travail<\/em>, which takes place in the main ground floor exhibition space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)<\/p><div data-tiqets-widget=\"availability\" data-layout=\"full\" data-venue-id=\"147529\" data-partner=\"visitingvienna\" data-tq-campaign=\"AW_MAKVenue\"><\/div><script defer src=\"https:\/\/widgets.tiqets.com\/loader.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>See my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/mak\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7100\">main MAK page<\/a> for travel tips, but the museum sits close to the Stubentor station on both the U3 subway line and tram line 2 that seems to go just about everywhere in Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1G1JqCaIFJT9xk7v01SX4IL93otIsKj2D\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A comprehensive exhibition around the creativity and influence of this designer and artist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87519,"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-87426","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\/87426","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87426"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87523,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87426\/revisions\/87523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}