9 February 2021

Annotation on 19 April: Exhibiton extended to 23 May 2021.

Preview of the street exhibition 'Almost. Viennese World Tours 1873 / 2020' with souvenir photos of Vienna World's Fair 1873 and the imaginary travel photo series by Wojciech Czaja at the fence at Wien Museum Karlsplatz

'Traveling', 'travel warning', 'fit to travel' are terms which are defined by the Austrian administration for setting restrictive measures along flexible 'borders' inside the country. These borders can be a non-visible construction of a circle with a diameter of a few kilometers or - such as currently happening as Covid-19 measure in Austria - a 'travel warning' that only affects a single Austrian federal state.

It's definitely travel time in Austria! Fashion.at searched for alternative views on the subject of travel and found the press information about the upcoming open air exhibition 'Almost' at the construction site fence at Wien Museum Karlsplatz. From 11 February until 28 March 23 May visitors can literally 'travel' at the fence and enjoy photographic works of 'Vienna World Tours 1873 / 2020'. The images from the year 1873 are from the Vienna World's Fair where cultures, technological developments, agricultural innovations,... from the whole world were presented. The world exhibition was negatively impacted by the cholera epidemic which caused less people from abroad than expected to visit Vienna for the fair (history of Vienna World's Fair). Now Vienna and the whole world are living again in challenging times. The second series of photos was captured in 2020. Publicist and architecture journalist Wojciech Czaja has started in spring 2020 the project 'Almost', the name giver of the exhibition. On Vespa-motorcycle rides through Vienna, the journalist captured buildings, landscapes which reminded him of far away countries and metropolitan cities. The imaginary travel series by Wojciech Czaja was published at the end of last year in book form as a photographic novel "Almost. 100 Städte in Wien" (232 pages, 100 color images, publisher Edition Korrespondenzen).

Wien Museum invites viewers of the street exhibition 'Almost' to step into a time and world travel by following the dialogue between the two series (1873 / 2020) for new views on authenticity and similarity, image formation and cliché, memory and imagination.

Images: Preview of selected images on show at the open air exhibition 'Almost. Vienna World Travels 1873 / 2020' from 11 February 28 March 23 May 2021 at the construction site fence at Wien Museum Karlsplatz in the 4th district (Wieden) of Vienna.
Left: 'Almost Costa Brava' (4th district of Vienna, Mozartplatz) by Wojciech Czaja. Photo: © Wojciech Czaja.
Right: 'Fountain of Sultan Achmed II' was one of around 200 temporary buildings of the Vienna World's Fair 1837 which happened on an area of around 230 hectares at the Prater. The image is a souvenir photo by the 'Wiener Photographen-Association' from the collection of Wien Museum. Photo: György Klösz/Wiener Photographen Association © Wien Museum/Birgit und Peter Kainz.