As the Beatles said, when cynicism and sarcasm don’t get the better of us, that warm, gooey emotion – Love with a capital L – can really be all we need.
The feeling is so personal, like a fingerprint, it carries bits of the emotional DNA of each of the people involved. Why we love whom we love is often...
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TO THE EDITORS:
(In response to “How to Find Urban Zen”)
Thank you for this open-minded guide to mindfulness! What a great...
Here’s the challenge: First, eradicate poverty by getting over 90 percent of the world connected to electricity. Second, save enough energy to keep global warming below 2 degrees. And get both done by 2030.
How this can be done was the topic discussed at the 5th biannual Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO),...
The politics of women’s clothing in advertising
A double billboard fills the end wall of an apartment house just off the Karmelitermarkt in Vienna’s 2nd district, heralding the beginning of summer with luscious posters of fruit smoothies and Italian beach wear. Ads always make things look good: Juicy berries and pineapple fitted with bending straws, stylish swimsuits painted onto the...
When Sebastian Kurz was asked to be State Secretary for Integration in 2011, he was 24 years old.
It was a new position, and then-ÖVP party chairman Michael Spindelegger knew he was taking a chance. So did Kurz. “I was downright shocked,” he told journalist Edda Graf in a recent interview. He still hadn’t completed his law degree. “I...
The dangerous dance with Kern, Kurz and Strache
The image alone must have sent a shiver through the souls of decent chardonnay socialists, to see their chieftain consorting with the Klassenfeind (archenemy). Yet in July 2016 Christian Kern, freshly minted chancellor and chairman of the ruling Social Democrats (SPÖ) did indeed invite the Freedom Party’s (FPÖ) H.C. Strache to his office...
For voters battered by globalization, pro-Europeans must deliver growth – and jobs
Emmanuel Macron’s decisive defeat of Marine Le Pen in the French presidential runoff was a major victory for liberal Europe. But it was a battle, not a war. The idea that one in three French citizens would vote for the National Front’s Le Pen was inconceivable only a...
Prime Minister Orbán’s assault on the Central European University has become a flash point in the struggle between democracy and nationalism in the EU
By Nicolas Kristen & Benjamin Wolf
It is hard to remember today the euphoria and optimism that swept through Central Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain. With the suffocation of soviet communism lifted, open societies...
A quick-and-dirty synopsis of what everyone's been talking about in Vienna and beyond
Trial Begins for Death of 71 Refugees
The trial against the traffickers indicted for the death of 71 refugees begins on June 21 in Hungary. In August 2015, police discovered the decomposing bodies in a parked truck in Burgenland, Austria (Metropole reported in October 2015). One day after the...
Julian Wiehl is the mind behind Vienna’s “progressive men’s magazine”, Vangardist, showcasing the savoir vivre of the gay community
In 2015, Vangardist Magazine and the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi paired up to break new ground in publishing: An issue themed HIV+, printed in HIV positive blood. Vangardist became the first and only magazine ever to win eight Cannes Lions that...
The LGBT scene has experienced a surge of acceptance in Austria, but it took a while to get here and equality is not yet a reality.
Tall and tan and young and handsome, the boys crowding the two floors of the Why Not club disco, hidden away in Vienna’s Tiefer Graben, eagerly await the Eurovision fanfare. The atmosphere is joyous and...
In the world of romance, globalization brings a new dynamic to an age-old mystery
Brexit, Trump, Strache, Le Pen. With all the gloom and doom on globalization, you’d think everyone was miserable. Think again.
One of the most profound effects of globalization is that people from everywhere are falling in love with people from everywhere else. Not that this is new:...
Head of the Standesamt Landstraße, the woman who has overseen countless international weddings never tires of love stories
Franziska Waldmann, Head of the Standesamt Wien Landstraße
Couples who get married here have come to celebrate their love – this overwhelming feeling that they have for each other.
In the 15 years Franziska Waldmann, 35, has worked as a magistrate, she has never seen a...
Whether she's playing games with gender and sexuality, or just celebrating love, music, fashion, this drag queen is an expert on being fabulous
Tamara Mascara, Drag Queen
I’m a Wiener – I love saying that. In Austria we have one Wurst, but I’m a Wiener!
When Tamara Mascara came to meet us at a little coffeehouse in the 1st district, she took a taxi. An...
She gets high on people daring to say “I do”. This bubbly expat has dedicated her livelihood to capturing celebrations of love
Michelle Mock, Wedding Photographer
“When they’re saying their vows, I still get a little choked up. It’s two who have found each other in a world of so many people, saying ‘I do,’ come hell or high water, through thick and thin – you’re my...
Whether it’s the official “I do”, or playing games with gender and sexuality, her life’s work celebrates love, sexuality and femininity
Ingrid Mack, Founder and Owner of Liebenswert
Just like eating and drinking, love and sex are basic human needs – without them, we would die.
Ingrid Mack likes to deal with her clientele in person; it helps for them to see and...
When love goes bad, many cases of violence go unreported. Here is how Vienna offers support for victims and families
Think of five women you know. Chances are one has experienced physical violence and two have been psychologically abused in a relationship.
In a 2014 EU study, interviews with 42,000 women confirmed that 1 in 3 women in Austria are psychologically...
Recent research poses that love could be “treated” like an addiction. Are we really going to medicalize l’amour?
Most of us know the pleasures of a bar of dark chocolate, the oldest aphrodisiac, while sip- ping an espresso at the end of a long day, releasing bursts of good feeling. But, nothing compares to abandoning yourself to the arms of...
Old-school bar romancer discovers the matching app phenomenon Tinder
“Meeeaaap – wrong answer??!” – twenty-four hours after not replying to Hannah, this message angrily pops up on my smartphone. My first Tinder match had reported she was “interested in me,” even though her heart was “shut at the moment.” This confession stopped me cold; I was uncertain what it actually...
For most of its long history, Vienna has taken a cavalier attitude to stepping out.
Something strange began happening shortly after I arrived in Vienna in 2015. There was more innuendo between the genders – a lot more – than in Berlin, where I’d lived for more than a decade. Handshakes that last a moment too long (one ending incredibly awkwardly with...
Or how a culinary melting pot became the city's favorite Bobo Bazaar
Even in staunchly nostalgic Vienna, neighborhoods change. The Naschmarkt is a prime example: Wedged between the left and right Wienzeiles between Kettenbrückengasse and Getreidemarkt, it is officially the city’s largest open-air market, but has been transformed since the early 2000s as about half of the stalls have given...
Your guide to the best musical performances at churches throughout Vienna.
It is obvious, but must be said: A church is not a concert hall. But music has been performed in houses of worship for as long as they have existed. The churches of Vienna are wonderful, huge acoustical spaces, with centuries worth of compositions written just for them, long...
A plethora of genres and styles define this venerable festival.
Attracting household names and promising newcomers from contemporary jazz as well as ambassadors of soul, pop and rock, the Jazz Fest Wien is a fixture in the city’s cultural calendar, thanks in part to spectacular locations like the Staatsoper and City Hall. A prestigious stop on the international summer circuit...
Notable tributes and newcomers make this year a salute to musical innovators then and now.
June in Vienna just wouldn’t feel the same without thousands flocking to the Donauinsel, the city’s cherished recreational island, for Europe’s biggest annual open-air event. Sponsored by the city’s ruling party the Social Democrats, the festival beckons with free admission and eight stages featuring acts...
Art brut and its origins are laid bare at Museum Gugging.
Amongst the many startling visions on display at the Museum Gugging is an unassuming pencil sketch of a man dressed in a mundane suit, shirt and hat, drawn by Jaime Saguer, an institutionalized former farmhand and alcoholic born in 1896. Unassuming, that is, until your eyes chance upon the...
A new group show at the Kunsthalle encourages us to shed our preconceptions and love the things that set us apart.
The tempting possibility of a Utopia, a perfect world where we all get along and behave decently towards the planet and one another, has inspired artists, writers and even fashion designers since Sir Thomas More penned a satirical book...
Nikolaus Habjan shines a light on religious fundamentalism in Nathan der Weise.
With refugees reaching Europe in record numbers, it often seems that the humanistic approach is under fire. Yet strife in the Middle East and pleas for tolerance are as old as the hills, as the Volkstheater’s adaption of the classic Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) shows. Written...
The Bard’s illustrious comedy of errors makes landfall in Vienna.
With lust, jealousy, deception, inebriation and greed all tied up in a convoluted yet charming love story, Shakespeare’s beloved farce Twelfth Night certainly lives up to its alternate title What You Will. Leaving no human vice untapped, TNT Britain and the American Drama Group Europe make a stop on their...
No Mission is Impossible
A damsel in yellow silk pressed tightly against his body, special agent Ethan Hunt (alias Tom Cruise) is roping down from the roof of the Vienna Staatsoper. It’s a spectacular scene crowning the 2015 blockbuster Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, made possible by the behind-the-scenes efforts of the Vienna Film Commission. Celebrating 8 years of supporting filmmakers...
An intimate story of an autistic boy changed by Disney movies.
A plea for the astounding powers of moving pictures, the documentary Life, Animated follows the life of Owen, son of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, who at the age of three abruptly stops talking. Doctors diagnosed autism, but all standard therapies fail. Eventually, Owen finds relief in the “magic...
The silver screen – coming to a park near you.
Every summer, Vienna’s cinephiles are spoilt for choice with a large selection of open-air cinemas screening classics under the balmy night sky. But while the venerable Kino Unter Sternen (sadly cancelled this year) and Kino Wie Noch Nie capitalize on their breathtaking backdrops (Karlsplatz and Augartenspitz, respectively), Volxkino goes a...
Societal upheaval, as shown by Japanese cinema.
Influenced by the French nouvelle vague and a budding generation gap as postwar children came of age, Japanese cinema underwent tectonic changes during the late 1950s and 1960s. Facing commercial and cultural irrelevance after youth-oriented blockbusters by rivals, Shōchiku, Japan’s oldest film studio, decided to break tradition by proclaiming a “new wave” of...
Proudly presenting an alternative to heteronormative cinema and queer since day one, the biannual Identities Film Festival holds the rainbow torch up high
Providing a soapbox for discourse on queer identity and equality between all, for ten days, the Gartenbaukino, Filmcasino and Metro Kino will serve up an expansive buffet of queer cinema of all stripes, including both mainstream and...
Vicki Baum’s classic international bestseller Grand Hotel: a lucid, affectionate depiction of a society in crisis
The Vienna-born novelist Vicki Baum made history with her novel Grand Hotel, published under the title Menschen im Hotel in 1929. Her work ethic, her curiosity and her openness towards things new and modern were contributing factors in her rise to literary stardom during...
Peter H. Wilson asks us to reimagine the premodern world in The Holy Roman Empire
It was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire – or so we learned in school. Voltaire’s deprecating but irresistible quip was aimed with scornful élan at what we today term a failed state. Its sentiment, shared by Hegel and James Madison, rests upon the...
Sometimes love deserves its own realm, far away from the prying eyes of the outside world. Where better to have a romantic escape than at Vienna’s legendary no-tell hotel: the notorious Hotel Orient. Amid decadent drapery and imitation artwork, these young women can be whoever they want to be. For our “Love is Love” issue we invite you to...
Nordic by nature? These brands certainly wear their heritage with pride. Scandinavian fashion takes on different faces, from eccentric runway looks to légère summer frocks and geeky streetwear.
Wood Wood
Wood Wood is not a pretentious label and that’s probably what keeps bringing me back to its fashion and lifestyle products. Founded in 2002 in Copenhagen, the weird anti-look has been...
They go unnoticed by the mainstream and are treasured by a chosen few. We selected a sample of Vienna’s boutique landscape to get you through June.
Runway
On the corner of Neustiftgasse, a street known more for rush-hour traffic, less for boutiques, you’ll find a sleek concept store welcoming lovers of Austrian and international design. If you are looking for an...
The Fesch’markt returns to Vienna with 220 independent designers offering their wares. Look out for these three labels, champions of eco-social awareness and tradition.
Doris Darling
Nomen est omen: The Super Strong Lamp by Viennese Doris Zaiser-Grossauer not only illuminates a room, but sparks attention with its fierce design. Admittedly, the unique look, which started out as an art piece, is...
The Weinviertel has as many philosophies as vintners
“Popsicles. With lychee aroma!” René Willmann of the Poysdorf Weinmarkt (wine market) scoffed, a staunch defender of classical Austrian winemaking and not overly impressed by the trendy tipples in Generation Y’s watering holes. And he has good reason: The 30 winemakers whose nearly 500 wines are on display in his Vinothek are among...
Vienna’s legendary drag party celebrates 10 years of queer
A trailblazing testament to progressive fin de siécle Vienna, the Otto Wagner Pavillion on Karlsplatz is the crown jewel of Vienna’s Jugendstil subway stations. Gilded, flamboyant and long defunct with trains now routed through the adjacent modern terminus, its exterior remains a definitive landmark while its interior houses the rather soulless...
The spirit of tapas lives on in a new guise at Paco
The philosophy of tapas is very much about sharing – be it the small servings, a bottle of sherry or lively conversation. The new restaurant Paco has this at its heart, being as much about conviviality as cuisine.
Only open since October, Paco is quickly becoming a neighborhood hangout,...
A Persian New Yorker transplants Brooklyn grub to Kirchengasse
At Treubleiben, one of the more recent additions to the Kirchengasse gastro-strip, Kaveh Tabatabaie has recently revamped the menu, doing what so many expats have done before him: bringing his culture’s cuisine to his new home.
Comfort food is the name of the game, and it fits the establishment: Treubleiben means stay...
The Wachau region is just a stone’s throw from Vienna and its secrets and treasures can be all yours for an afternoon.
The dream of slowing down – of escaping the city to spend endless afternoons in the countryside – has always seemed like something for old people. But when I got the opportunity to visit the Wachau Valley, I...
The Vienna Nightrow is a fun tradition that defies preconceptions about rowing
Everywhere you look, long-established sports are getting shorter, sexier and closer to spectators. Cricket has Twenty20. Rugby has Sevens. Motorsport has Formula E. And rowing has started to pull its oars in the same direction – as fans of the Vienna Nightrow know all too well.
Now getting set...
A new collection of local hot spots and events to discover! To advertise please contact ads@metropole.at
Michaela Arl de Lima – jeweler & goldsmith 1070
Jewelry is meant to inspire, touch and delight the wearer, underlining her femininity and radiance. When you’ve found your favorite pieces, your love for them will last a lifetime. Get handmade, individually fitted jewelry and wedding rings for...
To be truly integrated in Vienna there are certain terms no dictionary or Deutschkurs will properly explain.
But you’re no stranger, so here’s this month’s cheat sheet
GSPUSI
Colloquial Viennese for a casual, informal liaison; sometimes used to refer to the person you’re having said liaison with. Orig. Italian, from sposa/sposo (bride/groom). Far less regimented than a mistress or kept man but...
