Based on a promise to ‘Pay Attention‘, this is one of six blogs with the good intention is to publish a photo a day of my six month adventure in Vienna with a caption and thoughts on the image. Note that the publication date and the date when the photos were taken are not the same. Enjoy my (manly) scrap-book for future memories… take that future dementia!
PS… Be patient and wait for the pictures load. Also because May is a thematic month, it is best to view the images from the bottom to the top.
May 31: The last photo for May and, well small town fire halls share a similar familiarity even if they all come in different shapes and sizes. See you next month whilst I ‘Pay Attention’.
Small Town fire hall – Zeiselmauer.
May 30: Some more public art. The one on the left is from a bakery near my apartment, the bishop looming over tenants and passersby on an apartment building the abstract art covers a metro ventilation grill near one of the train stations.
Private and public art examples.
May 29: Behind closed doors on the street is often a passage leading to a central courtyard. These courtyards could contain nothing more than an over grown garden or car park. Sometimes though they contain beer gardens, a well maintained garden refuge from the summer heat or even a red carpet to a business display…
Business conference off Herren street
May 28: there are some very nice artisans in Vienna. A few have made their appearances previous photos per day but today a twist with the Viennese coffee culture.
Coffee rings and ear rings.
May 27: A few more views of the Spittelau plant. On clear days it is an icon visible from most parts of the city.
Three different perspectives on a burning bit of art work.
May 26: What better place to have public art than an… incinerator, yeah! The festooned Spittelau waste incineration plant produces enough power for 60,000 homes by buring the trash from Vienna.
120,000 MWh of ART
May 25: Perhaps the best view in the city? Note the angular buildings set juxtapose to the more traditional buildings.
Best Seat in the house…
May 24: A very cool and practical application of bike-technology for a crowded city – a pedal powered UPS delivery vehicle. I did not see an electric assist so looks like this fellow is getting a good daily work out. Not so pleasant in the rain I suspect however.
Pedal Powered UPS
May 23: Design of course extends well beyond an intended work of art. I have always admired this bridge over the Vienna river for its combination of functionality yet elegance. For those who have been to Edmonton, a bit like the High Level Bridge, industrial beauty.
U-Bahn bridge over the Wien fluss.
May 22: Normally I am intrigued by the more gritty examples of public art, a slightly grimy mosaic for instance. This set of statutes on top of the post office is a perfect example of well crafted sculptures looking down from you in all corners of Vienna.
Watch art from atop the post office.
May 21: A glimpse of an intimate moment in the Sigmund-Freud-Park through a detail of an iron sculpture… and no, there is no deeper meaning to the photo, sometimes a sculpture is just a sculpture.
An intimate moment glimpse through public art.
May 20: Public Art in Vienna comes a number of forms, including the whimsical.
Seeing pink bunnies in the Inner City…
May 19: Grape vines grown in a shopping cart. I have not gone back to look but I would think they are now in full bloom.
Mobile Grape Vines
May 18: A return to the public art theme, two building murals (left and top right) and a sculpture near a kindergarten. I can’t decide if the yellow paint vandalism adds tor takes away from the piece.
Two murals and one sculpture
May 17: Another quintessence Vienna vista. Not the succession of big buildings but the listing of the date of construction on the social housing on this building. In this case, this one was built between 1932-33.
Vienna Vista of Buildings
May 16: More public art found on public buildings, this time south Vienna.
Examples of public art found on buildings in Vienna.
May 15: I saw this scene whilst riding this past weekend. Vienna is not far on all sides from small hold farms and bucolic vistas. This was two women cross the Schwechat River with a little boy and girl. To get across one woman lead a pony while one of kids rode on the pony. A beautiful warm day and wonderful moment for two little ones to play near the water and I imagine for one of the women (a friend, aunt, grandmother?) to share a love of animals and a bit of nature.
Crossing the Schwechat on a pony.
May 14: I am always on the look for things like public art and vistas in Vienna. This slice is a very typical impression of the city. Left to right, notice the facade on the building, a bit of greenery from the apartment owner, the modern non-descript brown building, the graceful older building with likely an addition put on after its construction and finally the greenery.
A cross section of Vienna.
May 13: Alas not all pictures are happy and this is one in which I say adieu (of sorts) to my much beloved Dahon-Mu, my folding bike. Alas it turns out that the tolerances on things like the frame hinge are beyond the safety range for a person of my impressive characteristics (plain english, I am too large for the bike to safely handle me). I managed to rent a bike from the good folks at www.citybiker.at.
Good bye Dahon-Mu, our brief time together was a lot of fun.
May 12: An introduction to the murals found on many public buildings and in particular social housing complexes. The image in the bottom right is an example of brutalist architecture on the Vienna River, note the hole made to accommodate the tree.
Public Art Murals and a bit of brutalism.
May 11: A break from local public art… a good old prairie evening thunderstorm a few days ago complete with hail, driving wind, lightening and a torrential downpour. Could have been worse I guess, I could have been this carriage driver trying to get back to the stables. Across the street is the University of Vienna.
A prairie’esque evening thunderstorm.
May 10: Art is functional as well, off the Danube Canal.
Note the mosaic under the portal.
May 9: Art is not limited to free-standing statues, on much of the public housing (IN which many Viennese live) murals are common. The first of many such images this one an intricate cement mosaic.
Intricate cement mosaic above an apartment buildings entrance.
May 8: Continuing with the theme of public art, the Virgin Mary on a bridge over Danube Canal.
Virgin Mary Statute
May 7: For the remainder of the month of May, a focus on the public art on display within Vienna. Much of it on social housing and others part of government building installations.
Bronze statute of reclining woman with the Ministry of innovation in the background.
May 6: The last of the labour day series, a farmer and a local chatting south of Vienna near the farmer’s vineyards.
Farmer south of Vienna
May 5 (cinco de mayo): Two for one deal, firetrucks in the inner city of Vienna.
Detail of an inner-city fire station
One of the numerous touristic carriages against a ladder truck.
May 4 (be with you): More labour day themes!
Used horseshoes for sale!
May 3: Continuing on a labour-day theme, a vineyard south of Vienna in early foliage.
Vineyard with early leaves.
May 2: Continuing on a workers theme, one of the most famous statues in Vienna of Johann Strauß II.
Monument to Johann Strauss II
May 1, 2018: In honour of international labour day, a few pictures of work in Austria (and thereabouts). The first in honour of my oldest brother and nephews, digging holes in Vienna.
Replacing water mains near my apartment.
Organizational Biology 