No one needs an excuse to come to Vienna – as the portfolio of talents in the current issue of Twin proves. Vienna Art Week each November grew out of the contemporary art sales at the Dorotheum, the second oldest auction house in the world. It is essentially a celebration of exhibitions and events across the city is chance to see some stunning work – much of which is still on view for the rest of 2018. Here are five highlights of works to see in Vienna right now.

Giorgio Griffa

This painting on raw jute was the highlight of the auctions at the Dorotheum, amongst work by Lucia Fontana, Maria Lassnig and Egon Schiele. The Turin-based abstract painter, who is getting some serious attention in his later years, has helped redefine abstraction with a dose of quantum physics and emphasis on process. See Dorotheum.com

Spitzhaus Mummy in a coffin and other treasures from the Kunsthistoriches Museum

Film director Wes Anderson and his illustrator-art historican partner Juman Malouf have raided all the museums of Vienna to create this delightful cabinet of curiosities grouped together thematically. If you wanted to see what it feels like to walk into a Wes Anderson film, visit here. 

Donna Huanca

Bolivian-American artist Donna Huanca, who works with Berlin’s Peres Projects, has been given carte blanche to fill the classical surroundings of the Belvedere museum with her large scale paintings and performance works, where bodies covered in paint give a much needed injection of life into the history of sculpture and classicism. For more info check out Belvedere.at.

Pieter Breughel

This is the biggest Breughel exhibition you will ever see in your life is also on at the Kunsthistoriches and the work is on another level. One special highlight is this very strange countryside fantasy and sci-fi politics and reinforces how truly incredible the 16the century artist really was. Visit khm for info.

Chadwick Rantanen

Project space Guimares has a brilliant exhibition of small works entitled Schmaltz on until January 19. It includes this very weird and very wonderful twitching pulsating kinetic sculpture made from a hacked battery powered toy by American artist Chadwick Rantanen, alongside works by Thomas Jeppe, Ken Kagami and Urara Tschuiya. Visit here for info. A

Tags: Art, exhibitions, Vienna

When Polaroid collapsed in 2008 it was the death of a Twentieth Century icon. The instant film, beloved of artists and image-makers for decades, allowed photographers to not only record the party, but be part of it too.

A casualty of the bankruptcy was The Polaroid Collection, a 4,400 strong collection taken by 800 artists from around the world; started in the Sixties after Polaroid’s founder and inventor Edwin Herbert Land decided to provide artists and photographers such as Ansel Adams and William Wegman with free cameras and film to experiment with.

In the liquidation carve-up a chunk of the collection was auctioned off by Sotheby’s. Luckily the WestLicht Museum in Vienna managed to acquire the European part of the collection. Now the WestLicht has put together POLAROID (IM)POSSIBLE, featuring over 350 photographs from their stash, with shots ranging from a self-portrait by Andy Warhol to a Helmut Newton nude.

Running alongside the exhibition is a pop-up shop by The Impossible Project. The collective, made up of former Polaroid employees, managed to save the last Polaroid production plant from closure. Since then they’ve continued to produce Polaroid products so that the world can still get its quick photographic kicks. The exhibition even includes new photographs by contemporary artists shooting on Impossible film. It’s an analogue revolution.

POLAROID [IM]POSSIBLE is at The WestLicht Museum, Vienna until August 21.
westlicht.com

Tags: Ansel Adams, Chuck Close, Edwin Herbert Land, Polaroid, Sotheby's, The Impossible Project, The Polaroid Collection, Vienna