University of Applied Arts Vienna


The University of Applied Arts Vienna is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university status since 1970.

History

The predecessor of the Angewandte was founded in 1863 as the k. k. Kunstgewerbeschule, following the example of the South Kensington Museum in London, now the Victoria & Albert Museum, to set up a place of advanced education for designers and craftsmen with the Arts and Crafts School in Vienna. It was closely associated with the Österreichischen Museums für Kunst und Industrie.
It was the first school of its kind on the continent. In 1941 it became an institution of higher education. 1941-45 it was called "Reichshochschule fuer angewandte Kunst", and in 1948 was taken over by the Austrian state as an academy. In 1970 it was awarded the title of a university and in 1998 it was renamed the Universität für angewandte Künste.
Famous artists such as Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser, Vivienne Westwood, Karl Lagerfeld,Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Paul Kirnig, Jil Sander, Pipilotti Rist, Matteo Thun, François Valentiny, Hugo Markl and Stefan Sagmeister were part of the university's staff or student body. Today its faculty includes many distinguished artists and teachers, such as Judith Eisler, Erwin Wurm, Hartmut Esslinger, Greg Lynn, Wolf D Prix, Peter Weibel and the philosopher Burghart Schmidt.

Present

The university has currently ca. 1,800 students and c. 380 faculty. The students come from 70 different countries to study in the 29 disciplines of the school, structured in 60% Austrians, 25% Europeans and 15% from other countries. The outcome of their processes is made public in ca. 200 exhibitions a year and a multitude of different events and other public presentations.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni from the University are