In 2025, Parallel Vienna, now in its 13th edition, returns for the third time to the historically charged Otto Wagner Areal!

The central Jugendstil Theater once again functions as the main entrance, while the fairgrounds will be restructured and reimagined. The Sculpture Garden relocates from the lawn into the theatre’s grand hall. The Kitchen, previously known as the art fair’s party venue, reveals its potential this year as a unique exhibition space.

The Parallel Vienna site forms a quadrangle comprising the Theater, the Kitchen, and Pavillions 7 and 13, where over 100 participants engage in a temprary use of the site with predifined, yet highly individual spaces, featuring: Gallery Statements, Artist Statements, Project Statements, Coop Statements, Interventions, Institutions, Special Exhibitions.

First highlights 2025

Performance

On 10 September, the Verbund collection will present, together with Dorothea Zeyringer, a reenactment of Deflorazione (1977) by artist Renate Bertlmann. This will be followed by an artist talk led by Gabriele Schor, founding director of the Verbund collection, with Zeyringer and Bertlmann. As part of the opening, Christian Falsnaes will invite active fair visitors to follow his instructions and become part of a performative experiment in the theatre!

Der könig wohnt in mir (The king lives within me). Installation by Christoph Schlingensief

Christoph Schlingensief's Der könig wohnt in mir opened in March 2008 at Kunstraum Innsbruck. After almost 17 years, the installation is now being reconstructed and presented at Parallel — in consultation with the Christoph Schlingensief Estate and in cooperation with Kunstraum Innsbruck as well as curator Stefan Bidner.

The installation consists of films and photographs created in December 2007 in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, including scenes from Hindu funeral rituals. With this autobiographical work, Schlingensief confronts challenging questions of impermanence, redemption, personal limitations, and the meaning and meaninglessness of art.

Art + life

Between the exhibition buildings, the Mochi team curates and activates the outdoor space with a variety of culinary stations.

We celebrate the Opening on September 10 and the Closing of the fair on September 14 with performances, live acts across the grounds, and on two floors inside the Jugendstil Theater.