Why we exist
It’s hard for every artist to find an entrance into the Viennese artist community and art market. However, it’s even harder as a person who has only recently arrived here, be it as a migrant or a refugee.
Oftentimes, people do not yet have a professional network in the Viennese art sector and don’t have the needed amount of time to organically build up this network. QM&A wants to shorten this process of network-building and foster exchange between artists who have been based in Vienna for a long time and those who have newly arrived. Active network-building constitutes a vital aspect of this initiative, which is achieved by various programs and events. Furthermore, we offer courses to convey key competences for successfully navigating the Viennese cultural sector. These include lectures by gallerists, curators and bookers. As a newly arrived artist, certain difficulties arise in finding the correct venues for your exhibitions, concerts or any other form of cultural event. For these cases, we offer counselling and direct contacts.
Another important aspect of our work is advocating for more diversity in Viennese art programs. Vienna is a city with a wide range of diverse nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and genders and we believe that art should reflect this character. Cultural institutions should be a place where each and every one of us can recognize themselves or part of themselves. We don’t believe this is currently possible and therefore aim to foster the discussion among cultural institutions to bring the topic to the agenda. The following questions should always be raised:
Are programs designed and implemented taking into consideration different perspectives?
Do the artists and curators invited correctly represent the entire Viennese population or just a small privileged part of it?
Are invited artists that are not seen as “Western” being exoticised and tokenized or is this actively worked against?
We want to support cultural institutions in implementing mechanisms for the inclusion of artists with different backgrounds living in Vienna into their regular program. A strong focus has to be laid on working against the tokenization of people belonging to a certain minority. We want to constitute a force that helps ensure that Viennese cultural programs reflect the unique Viennese character that is diverse in genders, nationalities and backgrounds.