Mission Statement

Since its foundation in 2019, the Viennese initiative QUESTION ME & ANSWER (QMA) has pursued the vision of a Vienna art scene where heterogeneity is the norm, a constant influx of new artistic perspectives is given and there is free access for all. The initiative implements several yearly programs aiming at proactive networking between newcomers and established members of Vienna's art and culture scene. Through close collaboration with Viennese art institutions, QMA offers guidance to international artists new to Vienna and curates regular events for the general public, showcasing artistic positions of artists still underrepresented in the city.

Enabling interdisciplinary collaboration

One of our main goals is to provide space for interdisciplinary work. We believe in the power of transcending beyond one’s own medium, experimenting with disciplines unlike one’s own and thereby building stronger human connections. Collaborating on one artwork together, like artists do as part of the QMA Artist Collective, can be very challenging, but exactly this challenge makes artists grow immensely. As part of the QMA Artist Collective, established Viennese artists are paired with artists new to Vienna. Over the course of several months, they work on one artwork together, starting off by getting to know each other and finding common themes. This provides space for reflection on one’s own artistic practice by seeing oneself through the eyes of another. By enabling collaborative processes based on mutual respect and understanding, we support the building of communities of care in the art sector that function independently from barrier-laden institutions such as the art universities or expensive studio spaces. As part of QMA, artists don’t compete, instead they collaborate to uplift each other.

Introducing new artistic perspectives

Each year many professional artists from all around the world choose to make Vienna their home. In our programs alone, we’ve worked with artists from over 37 countries. They come here with an art education possibly guided by different principles that those established in Austria, a novel way of seeing the world and a differing perception of the realms of possibility when creating art. This is an immense opportunity for Viennese art institutions and artists to get exposed to streams of thought and ways of producing art not yet established in Vienna. However, this opportunity is still not used enough. 

The established Viennese art scene is an exclusive circle that is very hard to access. And those who have found their way in, are often disappointed by the lack of fresh and exciting perspectives. Vienna-born artists are often stuck in their art school milieu, and new and unexpected collaborations happen very rarely. Several factors contribute to this, including a general Viennese mentality that is wary of new people. There are studies showing that 48% of people moving to Vienna find it difficult to become friends with locals. From conversations with galleries we also know that it’s very hard to sell art of non-Austrian artists, since the collectors prefer buying from Austrian artists or at least those that have studied art in Austria. QMA implements several programs aiming at changing the status quo and supporting the growth and inclusivity of the Vienna art scene.

Supporting in navigating the scene

Artists who have not lived in Vienna for long often find it difficult to get the right information to be able to pursue their artistic activities here again. For artists who have had to migrate or flee to Vienna, it can sometimes take a long time to find the right contact points and build the necessary network to enable them to resume their artistic career. This often has to do with discriminatory practices in the Vienna cultural scene that stand in the way of equal access. Find more information on this on the page Advocacy. QMA facilitates this network-building process and promotes collaborations between artists who have been living in Vienna for a long time and those who have recently arrived - for more mutual support, a flattening of hierarchies and the democratisation of "insider knowledge". To this end several support programs are implemented, such as lectures by gallerists, curators and bookers, aimed at providing the necessary knowledge.

Disrupting systems of exclusion

Vienna is a city with a wide range of diverse nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and genders. Still, most programs are either very homogenous and don’t acknowledge this multitude of artistic presentations or focus explicitly on marginalized groups in a way that tokenizes representatives of such groups. QMA implements programs that aim at establishing the existing heterogeneity of artistic expression in Vienna as a new normality and providing space for artistic self-expression, recognizing the presence of tokenizing structures and trying our best to disrupt them

The Vienna art scene is permeated by a multitude of barriers that are hard to overcome for newcomers. Amongst others, these include administrative and language barriers, as detailed in the Manifest M we produced in spring 2023 with a representative group of artists in cooperation with the researcher Oliver Meurer. You can read it here. The issues brought up in this manifest guide our work. By regularly including new people in our programming, we try to also challenge our own perspectives, working with possibly conflicting ideas and innovative ways of rethinking what it means to do inclusive cultural work.

In this pursuit we work with like-minded organisations occasionally, such as Kulturhaus Brotfabrik or Brunnenpassage. Of course, we’re also part of D-Arts, a network of Austrian cultural institutions advocating for more diversity in Viennese cultural programs.

Our programs

In order to meet the needs that we currently see in the scene, QMA is constantly developing new innovative approaches. At the moment (April 2024) we implement four different programs.

• The QMA Artist Collective facilitates artistic collaborations (visual art, performance, sound, dance, multimedia, etc.). Find more information here.

• QMA On Stage fosters representation of BPOC musicians in Vienna. Find more information here.

• The QMA Artist in Residence brings artists from all artistic mediums with migration or refugee experience from the federal states to Vienna for one month. Find more information here.

• The QMA Consultation offers individual advice for artists of all disciplines who are confronted with systems of exclusion and need support in navigating the scene and finding the right information

. Find more information here.

Until July 2023 we also implemented the QMA Kids Summer every year, a several-day program that raises awareness for social issues, fosters interdisciplinary creativity and gives children the opportunity to make new and unexpected friendships.