BIG CITY / SMALL FORMAT:
Vienna in Postcards

Postcards can seem like old-fashioned ephemera. In truth, they are among the defining mass media of the 20th century. Their rapid spread around 1900 caused a veritable “image revolution,” making them the first truly global picture format. And it’s not done yet, despite the competition by various other media. To this day, postcards play an important role in the perception, representation, and documentation of our urban surroundings.

The exhibition is the first attempt at a comprehensive history of the picture postcard in Vienna. The focus lies on illustrations and representations of the city, its streets, squares, and buildings. From early on, postcards were more than vehicles for tourist greetings featuring prominent sights. They also showed the side streets and inns of the suburbs, recorded important current events, and and featured as popular collectibles. Only recently were they reduced to kitschy hallmarks of mass tourism.

Using Vienna as its example, the exhibition reconstructs the use of postcards as a medium of communication and advertising, and traces their status as an art form and collector’s item. How have postcards changed over the course of more than 100 years? What images of the city have they conveyed? What attempts are there today to adapt the picture postcard in new ways? And how do present-day social media dovetail with its history?
 

Curator:
Sándor Békési

Curatorial Support:
Andreas Gruber, Christine Koblitz, Ursula Storch, Elke Wikidal

Consultants:
Walter Lukan, Helfried Seeman

Exhibition Design:
Christian Sturminger

Graphics:
Cati Krüger

The exhibition is based on the Wien Museum's collection of postcards, supplemented with numerous loans, including important objects, from private collections (W. Lukan, H. Seemann) as well as Vienna's Technical Museum.