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Angelika Fitz is the new Director of the Az W

FOLLOWING A TRANSITION PERIOD, FROM 01.01.2017 THE ARCHITEKTURZENTRUM WIEN HAS ANGELIKA FITZ AS ITS NEW DIRECTOR

At the press conference at the Architekturzentrum Wien on 17 February at 10.30am, the future director and successor to founding director Dietmar Steiner is introduced to the public by Hannes Swoboda, president of the Board of the Architekturzentrum Wien, Josef Ostermayer, Federal Minister for Arts and Culture, Constitution and Media, Maria Vassilakou, Executive City Councillor for Urban Planning, Traffic & Transport, Climate Protection, Energy and Public Participation, as well as Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, Executive City Councillor for Cultural Affairs, Science and Sports.

The appointment is the result of an international call for applicants in July 2015. The selection committee consisted of the Board of the Az W (president Hannes Swoboda, Heide Schmidt, Josef Schmidinger, Johannes Strohmayer, Thomas Madreiter, Thomas Höhne, Elisabeth Mayerhofer, Bernd Riessland) as well as the external experts Claudia Haas, haas:consult, and Markus Bogensberger, HDA Graz. The Austrian culture manager and culture theorist Angelika Fitz prevailed over 32 other candidates from Austria and other countries, so becoming the successor to Dietmar Steiner, who founded the Architekturzentrum Wien in 1993 and has been managing it very successfully to this day. Under Dietmar Steiner's leadership the Architekturzentrum Wien has developed to become the Austrian architecture museum, with an extensive international network and far-reaching significance. Special attention is paid to the architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Angelika Fitz will continue to develop and position the centre's programme. In doing so she wants to "build on the special DNA of the Architekturzentrum Wien". Under founding director Dietmar Steiner the Az W has become "an international ground-breaker of architecture mediation that engages with the social role of architecture", according to Angelika Fitz. She wants to drive the internationalisation and to intensify the interface between architecture and urbanism and the urgent issues of our time from the building culture's perspective. This includes, topically, the subject of community and participation in a culturally diverse society, but also new ideas for the sustainable management of resources as well as possibilities for democratic spaces in architecture and urban development. In this context, the new director is interested in creating spaces, too, for the users' perspective to connect institutional knowledge with civic know-how. The achievements of Austrian architecture are to be placed in and inspired by an international context — with both relevance to the collection as well as to current events in architecture. Together with the experienced team of the Az W, she intends to engage with international topics and impact proactively on Austrian building culture.

The Architekturzentrum Wien is delighted to have gained, in Angelika Fitz, a highly-qualified culture manager and an accomplished culture theorist for the years to come who enjoys an excellent reputation and acceptance in architecture and culture circles. The combination of significant international experience as an exhibition maker and knowledge of the Austrian architecture scene will combine well, flowing into her work at the Architekturzentrum Wien and providing the institution with fresh impetus.


© Pez Hejduk 

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Angelika Fitz Is The new Director of the Az W


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Information:
Ines Purtauf
Tel.: +43 (1) 522 31 15 - 25
Fax: +43 (1) 522 31 17
Email: purtauf@azw.at

 
 
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