As the VIENNA ART WEEK 2026, with its motto NAVIGATING ANGST, explores the pervasive and structural dimension of fear as the ambient noise of the present, the MAK becomes a resonance chamber for key questions: How can art provide orientation in times of social, political, and technological upheaval? And how does our understanding of art change in light of these ruptures?

The MAKtour The Design of the Secret and the Uncanny, together with the talk and the opening of 100 BEST POSTERS 25, generates a forcefield wherein uncertainty is shown to be not only a challenge, but a productive impetus for reflection and empowerment. From design in times of change through curatorial strategies for dealing with societal insecurities to the suggestive impact of posters, the events offer different perspectives onto the present.

Orientation is thereby not understood as the resolution of contradictions, but as the capacity to endure and grapple with complexity – between irritation and criticism, between analysis and imagination. Here, angst manifests not only as a symptom of our times, but also as a possible starting point for confronting its political instrumentalization.

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5.30 pm

“Working in the Prop Department” — A Conversation with Thomas Demand, Artist, and Anna Viebrock, Curator, Set and Costume Designer, and Director

Moderator: Vanessa Joan Müller, Art historian, curator

Thomas Demand, currently on view at the MAK with his exhibition THOMAS DEMAND: Rooms That Dream of the Past, and Anna Viebrock, who will stage the major exhibition BEFORE DARK. Viennese Interior Design in the Interwar Period starting in December, will discuss the topic, moderated by Vanessa Joan Müller.

Meeting point: MAK Columned Main Hall

No registration required. Admission and participation are free.