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MARCH 2016 issue no. 05

UNCERTAIN TIMES 1

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AUSTRIANS, MONEY AND THE ROAD AHEAD

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Man plans and God laughs

Margaret Childs Editor in Chief

There are very few sure things these days.

Throughout the early months of this year, media headlines celebrated the weak euro, telling investors “Europe is the top stock pick for 2016.” But while the pundits see euro-products as a good bet and predict the currency’s eventual recovery, no one can ignore the unanimous mood of caution.

With Europe’s low interest rates continuing to fall, political tension across the Union, and a general rise in market volatility, even the experts are at a loss. In Austria these sorts of challenges are nothing new. Here, planning for the future means gradually testing the waters, rather than plunging right in. If history has taught Austrians anything, it’s that uncertainty comes of its own accord, unbidden, so one should err on the side of caution.

Today we wonder how the stock market will react and where it will leave the euro in the long-term. We speculate on how the influx of refugees will affect society and the economy. How should we plan? How can we prepare?

Our Central European correspondent Martin Ehl writes about the inability to plan in CEE, where the rules are constantly changing (p 7). To give an idea of how Austrians feel, we’ve looked into their history. Our cover story (p 12) looks at 120 years of economic upheavals and how they have shaped financial behavior. We also venture into social banking projects

that broaden access to financial services (p 20). In times like these, Austrian caution could be just the ticket, so check out “How to… invest like an Austrian” (p 26).

Chocolate may be sweet but the business is tough; the Austrian Josef Zotter has made it sustainable (p 28). In our Profiles we meet long-term thinkers; a family-run bespoke shoemaker, a renowned local artist in the 2nd generation, a labor-market analyst and an urban planner (p 22). You’ll find out why the 20th century Austrian School’s influential economic theories leave most contemporary Austrians cold (p 32). And learn how these ideas have played out in Europe post 2008 in the review of Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea (p 36). Then in City Life, Kemal Smajic – a Bosnian who came to Vienna with the wave of refugees in the 1990s – shows what today’s integration efforts can learn from the past.

Finally we’ve given the Last Word (p 66) to Killian Kleinschmidt, formerly the manager of the world’s second largest refugee camp in Jordan. He wrote to us about how the newcomers will impact society and the economy.

In the interest of your long-term happiness and wellbeing we have gathered the best, freshest and most relevant events, insights and reviews.

Since we never know what tomorrow will bring, enjoy today and... don’t be a stranger,

MASTHEAD Company

Editorial

Publisher: Dardis McNamee

Editor in Chief: Margaret Childs

Cover Illustration: Tom Mackinger, tomillu.com

Communications: Catherine M. Hooker

Executive Editor: Dardis McNamee

Contributors: Mary Albon, Simon Ballam, Tristan Bath, Michael Bernstein, Veronica Buckley, Christian Cummins, Martin Ehl, Alexander Fanta, Michael Lee, David Mathews, Tom Middler, Janima Nam, Cynthia Peck, Roxanne Powell, Andrew Standen-Raz, Gregory Weeks, Benjamin Wolf

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General Manager: Margaret Childs Published by: Home Town Media GmbH. www.metropole.at Universitätsstraße 4/5, 1090 Vienna T: +43 1 961 074860 office@metropole.at

PHOTO: MICHÈLE PAUTY

Graphic Design: Karin Dreher www.karin-grafikdesign.com Print: Ferdinand Berger & Söhne GmbH Wiener Straße 80 A-3580 Horn

Managing Editor: Binu Starnegg Photography: Tristan Bath, Christopher Klettermayer, Catherine Margaret Proofreading: Michael Bernstein, Jane Duesterberg,Simon Ballam facebook.com/metropolevie

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march 2016

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We’ve been getting great feedback from our readers over social media.

Thanks very much for your thoughts, ideas and insights, and make sure to like us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

To the Editor

MONIKA MAXIMILIAN +43 676 580 09 85 monika.maximilian@swisslife-select.at Financial Planning Center Wiedner Hauptstraße 120-124/1.OG 1050 Vienna

Who knows what the future will bring?

Be prepared for yours.

When looking for financial advice, you need someone who speaks your language.

Monika Maximilian helps expats adapt their financial needs for their life in Austria.

Whether you’re looking to analyze your current policies, plan your pension strategy, find new ways finance your goals, or tailor your investments to fit your risk tolerance, she is there to guide you through it… in English.

Great article by Andrew Standen-Raz (“Private Lives”, MET, Feb. 2016). It seems like nowadays we are torn between the conveniences that the digital era has brought us and the new risks it has created.

What most people haven’t quite understood yet, and in this light Mr. Standen-Raz’s article is very pertinent, is that the standards of safety are different online. Currently, encrypting your data and changing passwords often has become as much of a necessity as making sure you have your wallet is in your front pocket while walking around busy areas.

Pedro Henrique De Melo Vienna To the Editor

But perhaps especially because if something is so complicated, we must do something about it.

But I’m so impressed with your angle of writing about it – amazing to see many interesting facts from the history here. Fascinating!

Nobody is writing about contemporary problems anymore in a larger context, and I think this is extremely important. I’m so impressed with the amount of research involved here too.

Cannot wait to read your next story!

Rita Pollozhani Vienna

To the Editor

Re: “Private Lives”, MET, Feb. 2016, by Andrew Standen-Raz. A fantastic article on a highly important and relevant topic. Currently I cannot agree more with Solms, that people don’t yet understand enough how important their privacy is, and why, I fear, we are not protesting enough.

This is our generation’s strongest topic of “democracy” and “civil rights”, and we need to get more active about it. Although, I also agree it’s a very difficult and complicated issue to tackle, as you also well describe the challenges of where to draw a line.

Re: “Top Seven Vienna Bars for Non-Smokers” by Doris Neubauer, in Food & Drink / 27.9.15, [metropole.at online edition]. Smoking in pubs, cafes and restaurants was one of those things I didn’t like in Vienna. I remember when I went to the Kleines Cafe [1., Franziskanerplatz 3] or the Bukowski Pub [7., Siebensterngasse 8], I smelled exactly like an ashtray afterwards.

In Poland, where I actually come from, smoking in the public places is forbidden since 2010 and to be honest I almost forgot how it was...

Until I moved to Vienna. It was like traveling back in time.

march 2016

The On Stage review of Ayad Akhtar’s The Invisible Hand (MET, Feb. 2016), by Rory McCluckie, contained several errors: The character of Imam Saleem was played by David Wurawa, not Ihsan Othmann.

Further reference to two of the characters should have read “Nick and Bashir,” not “Dave and Bashir.” Also, the photos were by Ine ­Gundersveen, not Paramount Pictures Germany.

Dear Ms. Kaniak Thanks for writing and describing your experience. It is interesting that so much has changed in Poland. As we’re sure you’ve discovered, there are more and more non-smoking establishments in Vienna, as well as many that have divided the space.

This approach offers pubs and restaurants over 60m² the option to divide the space between smoking and non-smoking and allows smaller spaces to choose one way or the other. However, the split approach may fall to EU regulations.

The Editors

Ewa Kaniak Gliwice, Poland

“Negative feedback is better than none. I would rather have a man hate me than overlook me.

As long as he hates me I make a difference.”

Hugh Prather, author of Notes to Myself

4

CORRECTIONS: In the books review of Philipp Blom’s Fracture (“The Theater of Modernity,” MET, Feb. 2016), by Dardis McNamee, the location of the Karl Marx Hof was ­misidentified. The famous Gemeindebau is in ­Heiligenstadt, in the 19th district, not Hietzing.

CONTENTS

12

28

41

48

26 HOW TO… invest like an Austrian: In a financial culture that abhors risk, savings accounts, real estate and tangibles are king.

By Margaret Childs

PHOTOS FROM LEFT: OENB, ZOTTER SCHOKOLADEN, CATHERINE MARGARET, WWW.LUPISPUMA.COM/SCHAUSPIELHAUS GRAZ, BEIMIR

COVER STORY 12 BANKING ON THE LONG RUN How Austria handled economic hardship in the past reveals the reasons for certain traits in the nation’s present fiscal mentality.

By Gregory Weeks

28 BUSINESS & CAREER Non-conformist chocolatier Josef Zotter aligns his long-term goals with high principles and unusual methods.

By Michael Bernstein

18 INTERNATIONAL Ethical banking methods are gaining traction in post-­ financial crisis Europe.

By Simon Ballam

32 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY The Austrian school of economic theory has far-reaching influence on fiscal policies – just not in Austria.

By Benjamin Wolf

22 PROFILES A shoemaking dynasty, a musician, an ­economist and a city planner give us their views on long-term planning.

By Janima Nam

35 BOOKS Adam Sisman writes a biography on spy novelist John Le Carré; Mark Blyth presents a scholarly critique of fiscal austerity. By Mary Albon & Benjamin Wolf

FEATURES

53 ON TONIGHT Beimir brings exquisite and original cocktails to Ottakring’s outer fringe.

By Christian Cummins

OUT & ABOUT 37 CITY LIFE Vienna’s last influx of refugees from Bosnia holds lessons for today.

By Alexander Fanta 40 SCENE The Marriott descended into football fever on Superbowl Sunday.

By Tom Middler 1 GRÄTZL 4 The riverside ­Weißgerberviertel mixes innovation with the past. By Andrew Standen-Raz 44 ON DISPLAY Austrian op art mesmerizes with clever illusions at the 21er Haus. By Veronica Buckley

53

46 ON MUSIC Things come in threes in Péter Eötvös’ Tri Sestri.

By Cynthia Peck

54 ON THE MENU Zum Schwarzen Kameel has been a gourmet’s place to be seen – since 1618.

By Simon Ballam

48 ON STAGE The Volkstheater stages the existentialist drama The Misunderstanding with puppets.

By David Mathews

55 BE MY GUEST Chef Fuad Vojic gives us slow food for lent: snails and artichoke ravioli.

By Simon Ballam

50 ON SCREEN Patrick Vollrath’s short film Alles wird Gut gets an Oscar nomination.

By Janima Nam

56 ON THE VINE A look at Austrian ­organic wine, as made

by Weingut Kloster am Spitz. By Michael Lee

52 ON SALE Vienna’s record stores are ready for the vinyl revival. By Tristan Bath

57 ON THE ROAD Sölden’s Ice Q in Ötztal is 007th heaven. By Christian Cummins

DEPARTMENTS 03 Editor’s Letter 04 Letters 06 Ed/Op-Ed 09 March Agenda 10 Quotes, Stats & Numbers 60 Events 62 City Map 65 Classifieds 66 The Last Word

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EDITORIAL

The Right to be Ugly The Brenner: Past?

It seems like a case of unintended consequences. Under enormous pressure from the public and simply the numbers themselves, Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner announced February 18 a fixed upper limit of 37,500 asylum applicants this year, 80 a day, until the limit is reached.

A major new clearing center has been opened in Spielfeld, in southern Styria, and fences are going up to support the orderly processing at another 12 border crossings.

The most disputed: The Brenner Pass on the Alpine border between Austria and Italy. For more than a half a century, the Austrian Federal State of Tyrol and the German-speaking Italian region of South Tyrol have tried, step by step, to overcome the

artificial separation created at the political bargaining table after the Great War – a decision Woodrow Wilson is said to have regretted – and again after World War II. A boundary on the map need not be one in daily life, Tyroleans on both sides feel, and since 2001 have been part of a cross-border joint entity, the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.

The fact that Austria should have chosen precisely this place to put up a fence and reintroduce controls is stirring up deep emotions on both sides.

“The Brenner Pass is no normal border,” warned Regional Governor Gunther Platter. “It has very high symbolic value.”

And a fence is giving entirely the wrong message.

The Imperial’s New Clothes For years, the bar at the Hotel Imperial was one of the spots for a late night drink – with an inconspicuous entrance off the Ringstraße, lush and intimate, with thick carpets, red satin, braided rope and Baroque, all the subdued, comfortable elegance of a club library.

There were shared spaces and quiet corners, a round mahogany bar where you could be alone or find a conversation, or just listen to Thomas on the piano. A place to toast a special occasion or decompress after a concert and for all its distinction, surprisingly uncomplicated.

A recent invitation at “the Imperial Bar”, however, took us to a completely different

6

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part of the hotel – to a yawning Festsaal off Bösendorferstrasse, with ornate wall panels, parquet and mahogany, magnificent, but cold.

Where was the bar?

With discomfort bordering on irritation, a clerk reported there had been renovations…. The bar was gone.

Then, just days later, the news was out: The Hotel Imperial has been purchased (for €78.8 million) by Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor. Among his plans: to return the café and the bar to their “original condition.”

It sounds like good news.

Particularly if it means that the Hotel Imperial will again become part of the daily life of the Viennese.

Eugene Quinn’s irreverent campaign to reimagine Vienna, and break down hidebound rules of trade

By Dardis McNamee

If you stare at something long enough, it can start to give you ideas – at least that’s what happened to Eugene Quinn coming out of his front door on Karmelitermarkt every morning to gaze on the preposterous, new-age rainbow facade of the apartment building across the way.

This wild paint job at Leopoldsgasse 39 is now the crown jewel of Quinn’s walking tour “Ugly Vienna”, whose provocative wit has gotten him gleeful notice in the media from Vienna to London and New York, and as improbably far afield as Myanmar.

Quinn has been less well received by the Wiener Wirtschaftskammer (WKW - Vienna Chamber of Commerce) – not as you might imagine out of wounded pride for their beautiful city, but for daring to lead interested souls around the city without a proper license as a Fremdenführer, or Tourist Guide, a defined trade in Austria that requires a demanding two-year course of study (costing €6,000) and a very tough exam that, like that for the bar. Many fail on the first try.

This, says the Wirtschaftskammer, is as it should be. They say the tour guides are the face of Austrian and Viennese culture to many visitors and the story they tell should be the right one. But this makes it extremely hard for any new ideas, and new narratives, to break through. This is where Quinn’s good-natured civil disobedience strikes at the heart of a question that modern, “Smart City” Vienna needs to face.

Tradition matters, and standards matter. But in a living city, there must also be room for the new.

A PARTIAL ‘AUSTRIAN SOLUTION’ In Quinn’s case, there was a loophole, at least at first, a classic “Austrian solution,” proposed last spring by the WKW itself.

As long he only talked about “Ugly Vienna” – and not any of “positive sites of interest” in the city, he would not be stepping on the toes of the professional guides. An interesting take, to say the least.

He should also, they advised, get a less demanding license as a Reisebetreuer, a travel manager, the sort who arranges accommodations, counts heads, and makes sure the bus shows up on time. This option is both much cheaper and requires only a one-year course – which, buses aside, should cover things, as long as he doesn’t “go into too much detail” on Austrian history or culture – the purview of the licensed Tour Guides.

Unfortunately, and perhaps predictably, the next course for Reisebetreuer is not scheduled till next September. Until such time, Quinn has been told to “desist and cease.” And pay a €350 fine. A second offense will cost 10 times as much.

Quinn thinks this is silly. “They clearly don’t like me,” he said, as amused as he is perplexed.

“But they have the problem that the tour is popular and has gotten a lot of media attention, so they can’t quite bring themselves to just shut it down.”

OP-ED

The Short Long Term

With Central European governments constantly changing the rules, it has become impossible for families and businesses to plan for the future

by Martin Ehl

A quarter century might seem like a long time, surely time enough to plan to pay off a mortgage or save into private pension account. Not so in post-communist Central European countries, where any change of government could bring a policy shift that makes a mortgage impossible to pay off or wipes out a private pension account.

Just look at the pension reforms in Hungary or Poland or at the constant pressure of the Slovakian leftist-populist government on savers from the second pension pillar – the private funds – to bring their money back into state system, as has already happened in the Czech Republic.

And already infamous loans in Swiss francs in Hungary and Poland are now being converted into local currencies after the huge pressure placed on banks by the national governments.

General opinion is these loans were not to be allowed by financial regulators. They might look attractive during boom times but during financial crisis with little support from populist policies and volatile financial markets, they have proved to be an unbearable burden.

While in Hungary the issue of foreign currency loans has already been solved after years of quarreling between the government of Viktor Orban and foreign-owned banks, a similar fight is now going on in Poland, where parliament is working on a similar proposal – to convert any loans in Swiss francs to zlotys.

Since 2010, there have been political changes in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, all of which have demonstrated that any longterm planning is tricky. October elections in Poland brought to power a culturally very conservative government that emphasizes a strong state role in the economy. The new government and parliament quickly changed many laws reminiscent of the decisive changes in Hungary after the sweeping Fidesz victory in 2010.

The result: Not only do the victorious political forces quickly put down deep roots but also changes are unpredictable and their impact is not clear. Now in Poland there are many complaints about new laws, mainly politically motivated. Least often does one hear any critique of the economics, the argument that, for example, with new taxes for retail or new social benefits for children, there were no proper models, no analysis or accounting.

Therefore nobody really knows what the im-

pact would be on the state budget or on family spending. Polish banks are already increasing some fees following a new bank tax recently adopted by Parliament.

Hungarian experience has already shown that quick and constant changes and revisions of ill-prepared laws create uncertainty among local as well as the foreign business community, which then hesitates to make investment or development decisions in Hungary.

NEEDED: STABILE INSTITUTIONS A different trend is at work in Slovakia, where the current ruling party Smer is the favorite for elections scheduled for March 5. So we can expect continuity of the hidden deals among party insiders, unpredictable and rotten court decisions and a populist program of free rail pass on national trains for a full half of the population. It is not an environment for predictable long term planning for a family mortgage – even as the rates are at historical lows.

Central Europe is not the only region currently affected by populist policies. But it is clear that if you do not have stable institutions, an efficient and independent judiciary or a professional state administration, it can be quite hard to stabilize the decisions of voters that sometimes go wildly off track following strange promises of even stranger people.

When any election could bring a substantial change of political orientation – or at least the notion of such change which is now the case of Poland – the situation becomes dangerous, especially in the harsh international environment we face now during the EU economic and migrant crisis. Central European societies shaken by the political change twenty-six years ago have not settled down, and have not yet found a stable new foundation.

To go through political, economic and cultural changes all at one time has proved much too demanding, particularly with a financial crisis interrupting this process.

So it looks as though “long term” thinking in Central Europe must be short.

Martin Ehl is the Chief International Editor of the Czech economic daily Hospodarske noviny and a syndicated columnist, writing on Central European issues.

Victorious political forces quickly put down deep roots; the changes are unpredictable and the impact unclear.

march 2016

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MARCH AGENDA

FOOTBALL FANS GET READY FOR THE EURO 2016

12 When: Mar 26 (Albania)

AUSTRIA GETS TOUGH ON ITS SOUTHERN BORDER After the tightening of asylum regulations – an upper limit of 35,000 asylum claims per year has been announced – the Austrian government is stepping up controls along the southern border. Beginning in mid-February, 13 border checkpoints in Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol and Burgenland will be more tightly controlled by border police and the Austrian Bundesheer (army).

& 29 (Turkey) Where: Ernst Happel Stadion

Between 450 and 650 men will be on duty at key spots, like the southern Styrian crossing at Spielfeld. The new s­ ystem aims to limit asylum applications in Austria to 80 per day and refugees in transit to Germany to 3,200 per day.

A public debate Refugees in Europe: How Can We Handle It? is scheduled at the Burgtheater (in English and German) .

10 When: Mar 13, 11:00 Where: Burgtheater More: burgtheater.at

THE DIAGONALE 2016 DRAWS IN CINEASTS

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

While everybody across the pond is warming up for the Oscars, the native Bundesland of Arnold Schwar- zenegger is getting ready to host the yearly “Festival of Austrian Film”.

Taking place from March 8th to 13th in the Styrian capital of Graz, the Diagonale 2016 will showcase the quality and variety of Austrian film production. At last year’s festival, over 27,000 movie buffs watched a total of 157 films, 97 of which competed for one of several prizes. With 50 first releases and 25 Austrian premieres in 2015, the festival also offered plenty of new, never-before-seen ­material. This year’s Diagonale is set to repeat this feat while laying a special emphasis on diversity.

On March 8th, International Women’s Day brings a host of events throughout the city. The Rathaus (city hall) offers workshops between 15:00 and 22:00 on women’s empowerment, a room for “Girls and Technology,” as well as a new exhibition with the title Vienna. City of Great Daughters. In fact, Vienna was part of the first ever IWD, on March 19th, 1911, which was celebrated by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. In Austria-Hungary, over 300 demonstrations took place, including a march on the Ringstraße – a testament to the long and proud history of Austrian women fighting for equality.

When: Mar 8 - 13 Where: Graz

32 When: Mar 8 Where: Rathaus

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PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:AILURA-CC, ERWIN-SCHERIAU/ APA PICTUREDESK, DIAGONALE/PELEKANOS

“France, we are coming” wasn’t without reason, the chant of 2015.

This summer, the Austrian national football team will take part in the final tournament of the European Championship for the first time in recent memory, having not only qualified but finished first in their group (their appearance in 2008 was for being the host country, with unsurprisingly poor results). March is the last chance for fans of Alaba, Fuchs and Almer to buy tickets in the final round of the UEFA-ticketing process. Those who miss out can look forward to the two international matches – versus Albania and Turkey – in Vienna’s Prater.

SCHOOL. ARTS. BOARDING.

» My school is a place where excellent schooling meets my passion for music and the arts. «

Caroline K., Student

WE INVITE YOU – 14 October 2015 | Open House | 09:00 – 15:00 | AV – 13 February 2016 | GALA Concert | Musikverein – 08 March 2016 | Open House | 09:00 – 15:00 | AV – 12 May 2016 | Open House | 09:00 – 15:00 | AV

AMADEUS VIENNA – WHERE EXCELLENCE MEETS PASSION INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL – MUSIC & THE ARTS – SUPERIOR BOARDING Bastiengasse 36 – 38 | 1180 Vienna | Austria + 43 1 470 30 37 00 | info@amadeus-vienna.at | www.amadeus-vienna.com

QUOTES, STATS & NUMBERS

Migration in the long run According to the genetic and 足 aleontological record, Homo sapiens p started to leave Africa between 60,000 and 70,000 years ago. The earliest people to colonize the Eurasian landmass likely did so from present-day Djibouti to Yemen. They expanded rapidly along the coast to India, reaching Southeast Asia and Australia 50,000 years ago. Slightly later, a second group headed to the Middle East and southern Central Asia. From there, they were poised to colonize the northern latitudes of Asia, Europe, and beyond.

SOURCE: GENOGRAPHIC PROJECT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Annual equity returns over time Returns (adjusted for inflation) were higher after WWII than before, primarily because of higher capital gains, not higher dividend yields. The years between 1950 and 2000, provided some of the best equity returns in history. While the first half of the century had only one good decade (the 1920s), the second half of the century had only one bad decade (the 1970s).

1899-1949 1949-1999

In the past decade, technology has completely transformed banking. Over the next decade, it will continue to do so. Denmark, Sweden, The Netherlands and Finland are the most intensive users. They are not only ahead in the EU, but they are world leaders in digital. Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria belong to the medium-performance group.

Germany

Italy

Japan

United Kingdom

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Croatia Poland France Poland Portugal Italy Cyprus Bulgaria Romania

Estonia Sweden Luxembourg Latvia Belgium Malta Belgium United Kingdom France Ireland Austria Germany Lithuania Czech Republic European Union Spain Slovakia Hungary Slovakia

Finland

Denmark Netherlands

Norway

25

10

France

6,98 % 0.03 % 8.14 % -5.38 % 9.29 % -2.36 % 5.25 %

SOURCE: EC DIGITAL AGENDA SCOREBOARD, 2015

50

8

9,31 %

Australia

Online Banking

75

SOURCE: GLOBAL FINANCIAL DATA, INC., 2008

United States

World

-11.12 % 18.73 % 2.13 % 8.23 % 4.84 % 9.21 % 2.81 % 8.53 %

QUOTES, STATS & NUMBERS

Population growth on earth World history can be divided into three periods of distinct population trends. The first (pre-modernity) was a long age of very slow growth. The second period, at the onset of modernity around 1850 (with rising living standards and improving health) and lasting until 1962, had an increased growth rate. That period is now over: growth is decreasing and the rate will continue to fall, leading to a halt in growth before the end of the 21st century.

“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”

Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader (1769-1821)

SOURCE: MAX ROSER, OURWORLDINDATA.ORG, 2015

7,000,000,000

“In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is past the ocean is flat again.”

6,500,000,000 5,500,000,000 5,000,000,000 4,500,000,000 4,000,000,000 3,500,000,000 3,000,000,000 2,500,000,000

John Maynard Keynes, English economist (1883-1946) in Tract on Monetary Reform (1923)

2,000,000,000 1,500,000,000 1,000,000,000 500,000,000 0 10,000 BCE

8,000 BCE

4,000 BCE

6,000 BCE

Three main stock indices compared by decade There wasn’t a single decade in the 1900s in which the US outperformed the rest of the world for two decades in a row or vice versa.

Since 1950, Americans investing in Europe would have been able to reduce their risk without lowering returns.

2,000 BCE

Stocks—the riskiest asset class—had beaten bonds in every single country. While stocks, bonds and bills do not guarantee positive returns in the long run, stocks outperfrom the others. This graph shows returns on US investments through 2000.

7.8 % 1930s 1940s

-10.5 % -9.6 %

3.2 % 16.7 % 18.5 % 18.2 %

1970s

2.1 % 2.5 %

75 years

2.2 % 0.7 %

Stocks

-1.4 % 1.1 % 2.5 % 11.8 % 12.7 %

1990s 4.3 % Europe

11.2 %

16.8 %

14.8 %

EAFE

8.2 %

1.9 % 1.2 %

101 years

10.2 %

4.9 %

50 years

5.1 %

1980s

S&P 500 (US)

25 years 2.1 %

1.4 % 3.9 % 4.6 %

1950s 1960s

SOURCE: TRIUMPH OF THE OPTIMISTS, 2002

16 %

11 %

2015

Stocks outperform the rest in the long run

SOURCE: GLOBAL FINANCIAL DATA, INC., 2009

1920s

0

7.4 %

Bonds

Herbert Croly, U.S. political philosopher (1869-1930)

“While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.”

Madeleine Albright, American politician and diplomat (b. 1937) in 2000

6.7 %

1.6 % 0.9 %

“In the long run men inevitably become the victims of their wealth.

They adapt their lives and habits to their money, not their money to their lives.”

Bills

“In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas.”

Alfred Whitney Griswold, American historian and educator (1906-1963)

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COVER STORY

Banking on

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the Long Run

What the turbulent past tells us about Austria’s financial skepticism and its people’s caution with money

BY GREGORY WEEKS

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13

COVERSTORY

I

n 2012, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s lowered Austria’s overall credit rating to AA+, citing “significant weaknesses” in the country’s financial system. The outlook was also weaker than expected and several banks, including the Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Zentralbank, had their ratings lowered to BBB+, a significant blow for a population and an economy that prides itself on its stability and ability to repay debts.

In fact, Austrians like to be as debtfree as possible. They love cash and hate credit cards – attitudes that can surprise internationals from countries where someone with no credit rating is regarded with suspicion. One secure investment for Austrians has always been property; the other has been the passbook account. Most Austrians still have very little in the way of retirement savings, according to sociologist Rainer Münz. It may be that they don’t think it’s worth it.

Consider the country’s history. Hav-

14

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ing had five currencies over the last century – the Habsburg Krone, following WWI the first Austrian Schilling, the German Reichsmark, the second Austrian Schilling (ATS) of the postWWII Republic, and since 2002, the euro (€) – Austrians worry about how to keep their savings safe. In the transition to the common currency, gloomy predictions of inflation were common, and as it turned out, not unjustified: A price of 40 ATS often became simply €4, when at 13.79 ATS to €1, it should have been €2.90. It was easier to just move the decimal point, or “round up.” In the first few months, prices rose some 2.5%, although it felt like more. Furthermore, Austrian salaries failed to keep pace with the rest of the eurozone.

VOLATILITY, INSTABILITY AND CRISIS Following the armistice in November 1918, the tiny new Republic of Austria found itself in a dangerous currency crisis. The war had used up all of Austria’s reserves, and those who had invested in

war bonds could not be repaid. This was “the grand seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century,” American diplomat George Kennan later wrote. For Austria, this was true not only in political but also in economic terms, as the young Republic relied on loans from its own National Bank to pay its debts.

These self-financed loans exacerbated an already strong decline in the ­Krone. Four years later the currency in circulation had exploded to 14,000 times the prewar level. Local communities printed their own “inflation money,” scrip that was viewed as having more value than the national currency, while the Republic printed masses of paper money. The economic crisis reached its pinnacle in 1922 with a 2,500 percent inflation rate. In early 1923, the hyperinflation was brought to a halt with loans from the League of Nations and further alleviated by the introduction of the Austrian Schilling in 1924. Austria’s economy remained ­volatile , but the h ­ yperinflation of the

PHOTOS: PREVIOUS PAGE: OENB; AP / PICTUREDESK.COM

In 1930, unemployed Viennese protest in front of the Vienna State Opera after the economy crashed and inflation induced mass uncertainty.

COVER STORY

“Directors were appointed by the major political parties and they just looked the other way. Nowadays, you cannot afford to do this anymore.”

Kurt Bayer, former Deputy Director General, Austrian Ministry of Finance

1920s was not the worst Austria would see. The real breakdown in the system occurred in 1931 with the collapse of Austria’s Creditanstalt Bankverein, Central Europe’s largest bank, which led to the financial collapse of all of Central Europe and to the major economic depression of the 1930s that had already begun in the United States on Black Thursday, October 24th 1929.

Then in March 1938, when Austria was annexed by Germany and the Reichs­ mark was introduced, the National Socialists appropriated Austria’s gold reserves and took them to Berlin. This gold remained in Germany throughout World War II until 1945 when a portion was returned by the Allies to help restart the Austrian National Bank, reintroduce the Schilling, and boost the struggling postwar Austrian economy. The reintroduction of the Schilling was one of the great

successes of the post-WWII era, and Austrians developed an immense love and trust in their new currency.

TURBULENCE THEN AND NOW This volatile period in Austria’s past helps us better understand Austrian reactions to the current economic and fiscal insecurity that has plagued European markets since 2008.

The beloved Schilling was never fully replaced by the euro. From the start, there was widespread mistrust, and many Austrians felt they had exchanged a strong currency for a weaker one. Subsequent debacles in the Irish, Spanish and Greek economies, followed by the worldwide financial crisis and the ensuing uncertainty in 2008, made Austrians even more wistful for their old currency.

This left Austrians undecided about where to put their hard-earned money. If

How’s Austria doing?

Despite long-term increases in Austria’s GDP per-capita, household income and consumption, Austrians’ reported level of overall life satisfaction remains a consistent “naja.”

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you don’t trust the euro, where do you invest your funds? The majority of Aust­ rians have reverted to the old reliables of property and savings, while some have chosen precious metals. Uncertainty remains, however.

Other banking crises, too, have left their impact – like the rotten deals of BAWAG and Hypo-Alpe-Adria, not to mention the spectacular Bernard Madoff-Medici Bank scandal of 2011, in which Austrian collaborator Sonja Kohn, from her suite at the Sacher Hotel, channeled nearly half of the €51 billion in lost assets. A 25% share in Kohn’s Medici Bank was held by Bank Austria, which had helped her acquire her banking license.

She was, the prosecutor said, “Madoff’s criminal soulmate.”

In the case of the Hypo-Alpe-Adria, wild expansion into the Balkans in the 1990s, followed by bad loans, and poor due diligence, led to extreme losses in one of the largest banking scandals in post-war Europe. The bank was sold by the state of Carinthia to Bayern LB in 2007 and then the financial crisis hit, causing massive losses. In 2009, Austria bought Hypo-Alpe-Adria back from Bayern LB for a token amount and nationalized it. The Republic of Austria has reportedly already poured more than €5 billion into the ailing bank with the rescue expected to cost taxpayers as much as €3 billion more. Kurt Bayer was working for the European Bank for Social Development at the time. “Everyone said that Hypo-Alpe-Adria was doing business the other Austrian banks wouldn’t touch. There was no due diligence.

Where was the financial market authority during all of this?” he wonders. “Directors were appointed by the major political parties; everything was based on Proporz, and they just looked the other way.

Nowadays, you just cannot afford to do this anymore.”

As a result, “civil society is now stronger,” Kurt Bayer confirms. However, “there is no public debate, no public dis-

march 2016

15

COVER STORY

“This situation is not alarming. If interest were higher than inflation, then it would be alarming.”

cussion. Laws are written in the ministries, not in the parliament. Politicians use civil servants to advance their interests. And the money just disappears within a complex system.”

This hardly bolsters consumer trust in the banking industry, together with the roller-coaster ride of banks elsewhere in Europe, their cutting costs to ­o ffset shrinking earnings, and the attempt by Bank Austria/UniCredit’s to unload its retirees into the Austrian state-run pension system to free up capital.

However, says Rainer Münz, Austrians really have little to worry about. Currently the government can borrow money at 0% interest to finance a recovery and as long as inflation stays low, the economy will eventually come out of its slump. It is just a matter of holding on, says Münz.

“This situation is not alarming. If interest were higher than inflation, then it would be alarming.” After all, Great Britain experienced a thirty-year recession after World War II, he says, and while the country did not thrive, it also did not go under.

SAFEGUARDS AGAINST CORRUPTION While few are alive today who remember the collapse of 1931, it remains in the national consciousness. Austrians are aware that calamity can strike again. Is it all a house of cards? The answer seems to depend on whom you talk to.

After 50 years of researching the Austrian market, anti-corruption expert Bayer sees the corruption as endemic to a system that is closely knit and protective. “The structure in the public sector is still that of the old Grand Coalition,” says Bayer.

“They make all these deals. They don’t make any radical decisions. That explains some of the risk aversion of politicians and also of the population.”

On the one hand, he says, “a system of nepotism is more prone to corruption. On the other, it is consensus-oriented, which has advantages in tough times. In the long run, this is a positive thing.”

The situation has improved under the European Union. “The EU helps to get away from this insider dealing,” he says.

“But you can still see it in the Salzburg case

1892 – 1924

or the Hypo-Alpe-Adria deal. Modernization here has not been very successful.”

In the Salzburg case, a local civil servant, Monika Rathgeber, misappropriated funds and invested in dodgy schemes to help local communities and increase available resources, lying about their use – significant, says Bayer, “because it wasn’t really corruption.”

He puts it succinctly, “There are a lot of unsolved problems ahead, essentially budgetary tricks to circumvent EU rules.

These are not considered government debt. Nobody is willing to clean it up. It’s not a very courageous system.” The two major political parties simply “try to prevent the other party from being successful and winning anything.”

THE END OF ISOLATION For the optimists like Rainer Münz, the crisis is just a passing phase. For the pessimists like Kurt Bayer, it could become a lot worse. Liberal market rules, say some, make it easier for those with criminal intent to manipulate the system.

1925 - 1938

1938 - 1944

The ­hyperinflation led to the monetary reform of 1924 and the introduction of the Schilling, each one worth 10,000 Krone.

After the Anschluss, Austria adopted the Nazi Reichsmark, exchanging their Schilling at a 3:2 rate. Austria’s gold and currency reserves were taken to Berlin.

1920

The Krone replaces the imperial Gulden, but by 1920 post-WWI inflation led many local communities to print their own Notgeld.

1922 16

march 2016

PHOTOS: SPÖ PRESSE UND KOMMUNIKATION

Rainer Münz , sociologist and head of the Research & Knowledge Center (Erste Group)

“Austria is not an isolated country anymore,” says Bayer. “There’s globalization.”

We must hope that banking safeguards will prevent a system collapse. Another major bank could fail; the risks taken by the Hypo-Alpe-Adria Bank make this very clear. Still, the central banks have been doing what they should, says Münz, namely keeping interest rates and inflation low. A 0% interest rate is still well below 2% inflation.

Although the tabloids are using the ­current 5.8% unemployment to spread doom and gloom, the numbers are not so bad; higher than Germany but well below France, Italy and the 9.3% of 1933. After instability in the first half of the twentieth century, Austria enjoyed a period of growth and prosperity, culminating in its entry into the European Union in 1995, introduction of the Euro in 2002 and adoption of the Schengen Agreement in 2004, opening Austria’s borders to its EU neighbors. Now, all of this is being called into question.

WHERE IS AUSTRIA HEADED? Futurologist and mathematician John Casti paints a bleak picture: “Europe is in the process of collapsing, at least in the sense of the EU.” He has predicted seven shocks for Austria, ranging from winters with too little snow and a loss of tourism to a collapse of the German market with which Austria conducts 30% of its trade.

In fact, there is no single scandal that has undermined trust in banks and markets. The high profile corruption cases h ave o nly i nte n s i f i e d Aus t r i an s’ long-standing mistrust of bankers. One is reminded of Bertolt Brecht’s quip: “Real criminals don’t rob banks, they found them.” The legacy of the 1920s and 1930s has left a lasting generational impact.

IS MY MONEY SAFE? In the United States from 1946 to 1981, real interest rates were above inflation.

Despite this being the opposite today, Austrians still haven’t changed. “Most Austrians spend what they earn,” insists Rainer Münz.

And they do not like stocks, which are, of course, coupled with risk. “Inflation does not disturb the saver,” he continues.

“There just isn’t any interest.”

The present disarray in the markets reflects shifts in society as a whole. As new structures come, the ability of financial institutions, companies, and workers to adapt will be tested. How they deal with change will predict the outcome of these unstable years.

Of course, extreme events are not necessarily bad. John Casti, citing economist Joseph Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction, says “Success always begins with failure.”

In real terms, the current depression has been mitigated by Austria’s effective net of social safety programs, ranging

from insurance on bank deposits to nearly universal healthcare, generous unemployment benefits, and mandated minimum welfare. Still, says Münz, “I don’t know how things are going to turn out.”

Nor does Kurt Bayer. ”It is all very shortterm oriented, and this creates the lack of confidence you see in the population.”

More broadly, the system does not inspire trust. The 2008 financial crisis has not led to any significant restructuring of the European banking sector. Even worse, says Bayer, “it has been propped up by taxpayers.”

Much has changed since the 1920s and 1930s or even the post-1945 period. Financial markets are a lot better regulated, and despite scandals and corruption, there is no buying of stocks on margin or a reliance on the gold standard. That said, both Austria and Germany are bringing their gold back from abroad. By the year 2020, the Austrian National Bank wants half of its 280 tons of gold reserves held in Austria, in the National Bank itself and at the Austrian Mint. The other 50 percent will be split between London (30 percent) and Zurich (20 percent). There may be trust in the markets; there is more in bringing Austrian gold home.

Still, present market volatility may not be as bad as it seems to the casual observer: “I hate to defend the Austrian system,” admits Bayer, “but it’s still a very successful society.”

1944-1945

1945-1947

1947-2001

2002

Immediately following the war’s end, a provisional Schilling was introduced by allied occupation forces.

With the restoration of the Republic, the Austrian National Bank begins printing the Schilling notes.

Only two years later, the Schilling was devalued to a third of its worth, to comply with requirements of the Marshall Plan. The “new” Schilling would last more than 50 years.

The euro is introduced as cash and Schillings are exchanged at 13.76:1 – a difficult mental conversion that led, many believe, to “euroflation” in Austria.

march 2016

17

One of the beneficiaries of social banking, Romanian farmer Sorin Chiosea has used loans from the Erste Bank’s good.bee credit scheme to modernize his equipment.

Is Social Banking Europe’s Future?

18

march 2016

Banks have reacted to the post-2008 crisis climate in different ways. Some have focused on squeaky clean ethical transparency, others on special programs to help the needy

BY SIMON BALLAM

T

here is nothing new in bank bashing: Post 2008 anyone claiming to “like” banks is suspect in enlightened liberal circles. This side of ­utopia, no one can seriously imagine a world without them. The issue then is the future: Must banks change? Can they change?

For a start, they may need to re-invent themselves for the younger generation. Not only is 50% of banking now online, but half the under 30s told Gallup Austria they could

imagine using non-banks for online transactions, particularly tech brands like Apple or Google. Trust is the key factor, and also the banks’ trump card: When it’s important, people still want the reassurance of personal contact. Yet many banks have not understood the psychology, warned Michael Nitsche of Gallup: “People are sick of call centers with endless waiting and the first thing you see in any bank are machines!

People want people.”

There are encouraging signs and one of these shifts is happening

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: GOOD.BEE CREDIT, BERND HOFMEISTER, ERSTEBANK

INTERNATIONAL

“It is well that people do not understand our banking system, for if they did, there would be a revolution tomorrow” Henry Ford

right here in Vienna – “social ­b anking.”

The idea is not new. The concept of the common good was sparked by 19th century critics of capitalism like John A. Hobson, leading to the Friendly Societies (customer-owned loan banks) and Friederich Raiffeisen’s self-help structure for the rural poor in Germany’s Rheinland.

In 1819 a priest in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt founded a savings bank to help his poorer parishioners, the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse, now Erste Bank. Today, Dr. Gerhard Ruprecht is one of the movers in die Erste’s social banking program and proud of his bank’s return to its roots: “Working for the common good was our founding mandate.”

A BANK FOR THE UNBANKABLE The debt trap is a universal problem.

Until 2008 banks were offering easy cred-

it, making products like smart phones with €0 cost of entry and l­ uxurious furniture suites on apparently zero interest payment plans irresistible. Up to 80,000 people in Austria cannot get a bank account and most are victims of the debt trap. The Erste Bank has a solution for these “unbankables” – die Zweite Sparkasse. Costs are kept low: the bank operates out of modest premises resembling an unemployment office and worked by unpaid volunteers, mostly current or retired Erste Bank staffers. Many applicants are referred from the Schuldnerberatung, the city’s debt advisory service.

Director Alexander Maly is a likable man and no system basher, but he is not shy about assigning responsibility: “The debt trap is a combination of poisonous products and Austria’s Metternich style debt collection,” he says, “I have nothing against the market economy,” but people underestimate their commitments and then the trap snaps shut with the Austrian Insolvenzrecht (bankruptcy law).

In Austria, you can only clear your debts after going bankrupt by paying 10% immediately and a fixed amount over 7 years. This may seem like a generously long time, but with cumulative interest

the sum owed can double every four years – not an easy hole to climb out of.

Then comes the Gerichtsvollzieher, the cleanly efficient (read, brutal) Austrian debt collection system, indeed a hangover from Prince Metternich’s legendary police state.

By comparison, in Germany you pay nothing up front and have only five years to make payments. For Alexander Maly, a change in the law towards the German model would already be an enormous help.

Recent Basel agreements tightening lending rules have reduced the banks’ enthusiasm for questionable loans.

Maly’s nightmare: qualitative easing from Frankfurt’s European Central Bank setting off a new round of temptingly cheap credit.

EVERYMAN ACCOUNTS – A NIGHTMARE FOR THE BANKS? From September 2016 an EU directive establishes a basic payments account as a fundamental human right. The legislation will enable a functioning payment account even for those with a negative credit record, who will get a bank card but no online access and zero credit.

[One exception – parking garages! Try

Freidrich Raiffeisen (above) saw how poor farmers were caught in the cash-flow trap: sporadic cash for crops, but continuous costs. His bank advanced cash and provided storage for the crops. Parish priest Johann Weber (right) took practical steps to help poor perishioners in 19th century Vienna. Christian Felber (far right), activist for a Common Good Economy.

march 2016

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RUBRIKE INTERNATIONAL

leaving late at night with zero balance] In Germany, about two million such accounts have been opened. Not surprisingly, major banks are already working o n gu i d el i n e s ( D e u ts ch e Kr e d i twirtschaft) that will still justify declining an account, largely on the usual grounds of insufficient funds, misrepresentation, or – beautifully elastic – rude or threatening behavior to bank employees. Even without the big stick of legislation, commercial banks are already less inclined to demonize bad-credit customers and are adopting a more tolerant (almost) social banking attitude.

LOONY LEFT MEETS MAINSTREAM Of course in the world of squeaky-clean idealists, commercial banks are the proble m, no t the s olution. Chr i s tine Tschütscher is founding board member of an alternative start-up, Bank für Gemeinwohl, Austria’s first banking venture into the Common Good Economy.

“We’re not a classical bank dedicated to making money, we’re a transparent facilitator,” she told METROPOLE. It’s a different business model: There are no big investors expecting paybacks.

Common Good Economy ideology can also save money: management salaries will never be more than five times the lower wages. Costs to customers will be at market levels, so this will not help those at the bottom, rather it replaces the existing model with one based on ethical principles.

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Christian Felber is one of those providing the intellectual under-pinning to the Gemeinwohlökonomie (Economy for the Common Good) movement. He is co-founder of the activist group Attac and tireless advocate. Banks will continue to play a role in a Common Good economy, he says, but have to be different. Felber’s future charter for banks is a mix of solid mainstream demands and wilder student flysheet polemics. Eminently reasonable center-left expectations are a concentration on core business (savings, loans and payment systems) and not speculation. Closer to the edge, there will be no dividends and no interest. Loan creditworthiness will be judged on ethical values, such as human dignity. Banks would be (as now) subject to external auditing, but the balance sheet would be a mix of financial and ethical criteria. Considering how far other values like fair trade have moved from the loony left to the mainstream – well, why not?

“It’s not as ambitious as it looks,” he says disarmingly. There are already around 300 companies and a number of banks in Europe practicing ethical economics. For the final step Christian Felber fuses an ominously dictatorial

construct with an airy vagueness. “Our present democratic system often does not implement the will of the majority,” he says, citing the Iraq war. The answer is “sovereign democracy” which would delegate power to communities, putting policy in the hands over a 100,000 decision makers. Anyone who has watched the 183 Austrian parliamentarians debating their way to a decision (or sat with a dozen people trying to reach a consensus) will raise an eyebrow.

NO QUICKSTEP “Common Good” and “Sovereign Democracy” are stirring battle cries, but at present it looks like the much maligned commercial banks are actually closer to providing realistic banking solutions for lower income people. As Surek put it: “The ethicals are looking to improve transparency in the system. We focus on poverty-­ endangered clients – if we do it well, it’s more than ethical.” Even the lumbering EU is moving forward with its “everyman account” established as a human right. Of course things go more slowly than most would wish, but it needs time. Christian Felber, who also trains rigorously as a dancer and understands this: “You cannot dance in a hurry,” he says.

PHOTO: ERSTE STIFTUNG

PIGGY BANK ECONOMICS The Erste Bank international arm is already rolling out a tailor made Social Bank Concept for the neighboring CEE countries. In the cavernous new atrium, Peter Surek outlined the good.bee credit program in Romania, where over 40% of the population (Eurostat) is RoP (at Risk of Poverty). Simply put, people who can hardly cover the cost of survival. Over 80% of small farmers helped were able to invest in vehicles or something else productive, typically livestock. Almost nothing is saved. “If I have money I buy a pig, if I need money I sell a pig,” they told him. This may not sound like good business, but it is sustainable, and re-invests any profits in the scheme, Surek said.

“Social banking is not an on-top project, it’s who we are.”

Back to the roots: Die Zweite Sparkasse’s modest premises is situated in Vienna’s ­Leopoldstadt, where the Erste österreichische Spar-Casse first opened for business in 1819.

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21

PROFILE

Richard Till Reiter

CEO of Ludwig Reiter with daughter and assistant Magdalena Reiter “Gustav Mahler said, ‘Tradition is not the worship of the ashes, but the preservation of the fire.’ “ Over four generations, the Ludwig Reiter Shoe Manufactory has withstood the test of time. For Till Reiter, the founder’s great grandson and current CEO, keeping up with the latest trends was never the goal. “I like making a distinction between short-term fashion, and style, which is the result of a way of living.”

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Reiter, 54, is the second oldest of three brothers who are all part of the company, a 130-year-old manufacturer of classically handcrafted shoes, but the sons taking over was never a given, “In fact, at one point, it even looked like none of us would,” Reiter remembered. Dressed in a blue-checked shirt and tweed jacket, Reiter, is a tall, elegant man, who shows no signs of the pressures his level of responsibility entails.

“Running a family business has great benefits, and not necessarily material ones,” he said, “it’s more about how you can arrange your life. This is very important to me – not to have a job from which the money comes and then a life to which the money goes, but rather to have a symbiosis.”

At Ludwig Reiter, the next generation is already on hand: Reiter’s daughter Magdalena, 25, tall, blue-eyed, and refined like her father, works as his assistant. Like her father, she was never pushed. “It was never required,” she said, and then paused, considering. “It was just something I grew up with, that evolved through observation.”

Her father looked on proudly: “I am impressed by her ability,” he confided, and she is already finding her sea legs. “A decision is only made under conditions of uncertainty; when you don’t really know what will be better. It comes from your gut and not from your head,” he said.

“That’s the skill that a good entrepreneur needs to have.”

Timna Brauer Singer

“My father opened a lot of doors for me, of course. But then you have to be alone in the room.”

Her father, Arik Brauer, is a living legend whose astounding range of talents – painter, musician, writer – comprise too long a list to include here. The impressive scope of his career is paralleled by his biography: a child of Lithuanian Jews, he lived through and survived the Nazi regime in Vienna and then married an Israeli woman with Yemenite roots.

Following in his footsteps would be daunting for anyone, but Timna Brauer is equally well-known – a household name in Vienna. An accomplished and highly respected musician she is at home in three cultures and four languages and has performed worldwide. Among her many albums in German, French, English and Hebrew, her latest CD, Chant for Peace, brings together Christian and Jewish sacred music, and recently went gold.

Having a famous father didn’t hurt Brauer’s musical career, but it was her mother, also a musician, who mainly encouraged her as a child. A creative environment filled with music and art was the way things were. “Today I understand how lucky I was to grow up in this setting. At the time, I thought everyone had parents like mine.”

For Brauer, the radical diversity of her heritage is what shaped her identity.

“This is what I have inherited and passed on to my own children: not to judge, to always ask yourself what the other truth is behind this truth. Whatever your tradition, religion, culture, it’s important always to question yourself, not to be sure that you’re right.” She cited her earlier album, Voices for Peace, as the perfect example, for which she learned Muslim songs in Arabic.

As founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, her father may be most respected as a painter, but Arik Brauer’s name is still most recognized by older Viennese for his 1970s self-titled number-one album. “Music is more accessible than painting,” Brauer said, and early on in the counter-culture era of folk music and early rock, it was his most lucrative way to support the family.

For Timna Brauer, music has stayed at the center of life, but painting hovers not far offstage. Only a hobby till now, it is something she’d eventually like to do more of.

“Painting is the opposite of performing,” she said. “When you sing, you are extroverted, communicative. When you paint, you have to go inside to become inspired. I think that’s why my father is so centered, because he does both.”

PROFILE

Living the Big Picture Learning from the past and looking to the future, a luxury shoemaker, a musician, an economic researcher and an urban planner told us their views about seeing life in the long run

BY JANIMA NAM PHOTOS CHRISTOPHER KLETTERMAYER

march 2016

23

Christine Mayrhuber

Research Group Coordinator for Labor ­Market, Income, and Social Security – Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) “A healthy job market ensures a solid social security system. The high unemployment rate is now putting young people’s faith in our system at risk.”

For Christine Mayrhuber of WIFO, the most important aspect of economics is putting it into a social context. Co-founded in 1927 by the Austrian economist Friedrich August Hayek, the Wirtschaftsforschungs Institut is a non-profit organization that studies the economy outside of any specific business or political context. For Mayrhuber, the opportunity to work on economic issues that are politically and socially

24

december | january 2015|2016

relevant was what drew her to WIFO. Vibrant and approachable, Mayrhuber, 47, let out a hearty laugh when I told her that before I moved to Austria, I had never given a second thought to retirement. I laughed, too, I was only half-joking. When I first arrived, I was surprised to find that pension plans came up in casual conversation, even among twenty-somethings. She was happy to explain why.

“When someone, who has just started working in Austria, looks at their pay stub for the first time and notices that 30% has been deducted for taxes, they can’t help but wonder: Where does all this money go? Does it really go to my pension fund? I think this huge difference between gross and net income is something specific to Austria.”

Austria is also known for its stability. The country’s ability to weather the financial crisis of 2008-2009, she explained, was the

result of built-in shock absorbers – the long-term political measures like part-time work and premium models, as well as employment opportunities offered by the public service sector. She also cited Austria’s strict regulations that call for ample collective bargaining agreements that guarantee a fair minimum wage.

With unemployment reaching an unprecedented high, a new storm cloud is looming over the Austrian economy and here, Mayrhuber was not laughing. And some young people here may no longer want to think in the long term.

“There is a big discussion among experts and politicians, who are saying that our pension system is no longer sustainable,” she said. “Young people have lost their trust in this system.” So while the discussions regarding pay stubs will continue, this time they may come from a totally different perspective.

Angelika Winkler

Deputy Manager, Municipal Department 18 (MA 18) for Urban Development and Planning “I don’t have a car, I bike to work, even in winter. A city is the sum of its people and each of their individual decisions. How you get to work has an influence on the whole network.”

Meeting Angelika Winkler at the Magistratsabteilung (MA) 18, next to City Hall, one would expect a Kafka-esque bureaucratic labyrinth. Instead, there was an open, sunlit landing lined with airy, glass-walled offices – transparency conveyed in the MA 18’s approach to urban planning.

Casually dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, Winkler explained how urban planning is about “change management”.

“Many people don’t like change because they’re very comfortable in their current situation. You have to talk to people and listen to their views, but also sometimes try to convince them to accept changes they might no be open to.” Recent controversies have included negotiations between drivers and cyclists for the Mariahilferstraße pedestrian zone, and between car owners and pedestrians for expanding the city’s Schanigärten (sidewalk cafés).

“You can’t make everyone happy,” she said.

“All you can do is try and do your best to make a plan that accommodates the majority.”

Vienna has a tradition of large-scale, long-term urban planning – like the drinking water supply established in the early 1800s that still provides Vienna with pure mountain spring water and, more recently, Winkler points to the construction of Donauinsel in the 1970s. This recreational park was created when the Danube was re-dredged for flood control – a testament to Vienna’s openness to practical, forward-thinking urban planning initiatives.

Winkler also credits the spirit of optimism (Aufbruchsstimmung) that prevailed in Austria following its emancipation at the end of WWII. “It was the beginning of a new era, a time for making long-term strategic plans. In a way, we were starting from ground zero on march 2016 25 many levels.”

HOW TO …

… invest like an Austrian

Austrians like to play it safe. When ­investing, many opt for ­tangibles, real estate and savings

BY MARGARET CHILDS

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march 2016

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ll over the world, investors, bankers and financial experts are shrugging their shoulders. No one seems to know what the markets are up to, let alone where they are headed. Is this the calm before the storm?

When will the ECB raise interest rates?

Who can tell us where to invest for our children or retirement? Most global citizens have encountered different financial systems in their lifetimes and each country follows a distinct financial culture.

Austria’s is risk averse. Austrians are great savers and the wealthier among them traditionally invest in material goods, like real estate, precious metals, old timers, art, antiques... In 2013 only 3% of Austrians owned stocks.

Decades ago, back in the days of the schilling, Austria was the world champion of savings. Now a mere 6.6% of Austrians’ money is put in the proverbial Sparbuch savings account – half as much as in 2009.

For an expat, residential nomad, or citizen of the world, Austria still offers interesting ways to park and invest money.

SAVING GRACE In Austria, a savings account will typically pay out between 0.01% and 2% annual interest, depending on the commitment period. As such low rates can’t keep up with inflation, many are opting out and deeming the time-honored piggy bank or mattress a better option.

However, savings accounts remain a real option, popular among the risk-

averse, with products ranging from highly liquid, low-interest accounts for setting aside extra spending money to Bausparkassen (building society) accounts for parking larger sums with higher yields (up to 4%) over 5-10 years. The Bausparvertrag remains Austria’s most popular vehicle for savings.

At the moment, floating interest rates are generally more attractive for both loans and savings. While it’s uncertain how long interest rates will stay this low, some loan products allow switching to a fixed rate.

When state-subsidized premiums were discontinued in 2012, the popularity of Bausparer savings accounts dropped from 50% in 2011 to between 40% and 43% in 2012 and 2013, according to the mood barometer of the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung, (GfK, Society for Consumer Research). Another reason is the low interest rates prescribed by the ECB’s quantitative easing – measures meant to stimulate the economy by incentivizing people to spend their money rather than let it slowly stagnate in a savings account.

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

INVEST IN WHAT YOU KNOW As Austrians have liquidated their savings passbooks over the last decade, many have put their money into tangible assets. Enthusiasm for gold and real estate reached its zenith in 2012 and has ebbed significantly since, with investments in these falling by 8% and 7%, respectively.

But as demand for living space increases, investments in the local real estate market again become more interesting. The Austrian hobby of real estate investment may have caught on across Europe.

The Investment Market Update, Europe Q4 2015, published by the international real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, showed a 25% increase from the previous quarter, giving rise to projections that the European real estate market could hit a new record in 2016 of over €240 billion.

Private investors may find it difficult to balance substantial real estate investment while retaining enough liquidity to diversify their portfolio. However, diversification – a key strategy of any long-term investment

portfolio – requires Austrians to look beyond this small country’s borders. They often invest offshore and local financial consultants are aware of the tax and reporting requirements of such investments.

Since 2012, Austrians have also become more attracted to investment funds. As a foreign national investing here, however, it’s important to make sure you don’t run into tax issues. For example, the IRS can prohibit American citizens from owning or accessing certain kinds of Austrian Fonds, so make sure to get professional advice.

WILL THE KIDS BE ALRIGHT? While parents outside of continental Europe begin saving for their children’s education from conception, Austrian parents can depend on its publicly financed educational institutions. Even private schools and universities are more affordable here than elsewhere.

However, there are always other ways to support their children’s futures – whether for an apartment, world travel in their gap year, or higher education, there are plenty of options for parents with foresight.

No matter how you plan, long-run options can be a combination of reinvestment funds (thesaurierende Dachfonds) and dynamic stock components. The main thing is that, unless someone in your family has specific experience in ­f inance, it pays to have your ­investment products managed by a regional expert and adjusted according to your family’s changing circumstances.

If you do invest in real estate or other tangible assets, make sure to check with a lawyer. Since August 2008, there has been no more gift or inheritance tax, however the tax reform in 2015/2016 has changed the equation again, making it vital to review the implications of inter-family asset transfers.

Gifts up to €50,000 within one year, as well as certain kinds of property, are exempt.

All in all, Austrians diversify by collecting secure investments and saving with minimal risk.

When interest rates do return to more attractive levels, you might reconsider the Sparbuch option. Just don’t forget to secure a fixed interest rate on your loans.

As demand for living space increases, investments in the local real estate market again become more interesting

Ask Yourself Here are some questions to ask yourself before deciding how to save or invest. It's not by any means a comprehesive list, but if you answer yes to these, it pays to look in to your bank's options or contact a financialplanning expert.

Savings

Do you want a place to store money away from your checking account?

Can you afford to leave a large sum in an account for 5-10 years?

Do you have short-term goals that go beyond your monthly salary?

Loans

Can you put up 20%-50% of the required capital?

Do you have assets or a guarantor to provide collateral to the bank?

Do you have a strong argument as to why you need the funds?

Real Esate

Would you like to keep a pied-à-terre in Vienna or rent out an apartment if you move?

Are you looking to diversify your investment portfolio and have over €200,000 cash to spare?

Are you looking to have Vienna as your home base for the next 10 years and currently pay over €800 rent?

Equities Investment Do you have access to funds in different markets?

Are you looking to plan for financial independence in retirement?

Do you have existing investments in tangible assets?

Planning for the kids

Do you want to provide your children with a financial cushion for early adulthood?

Do you have assets over €50,000 that you would like to impart or gift to your children?

Are you interested in purchasing real estate to bequeath to your offspring?

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BUSINESS & CAREER

The Austrian chocolate maker Zotter puts social responsibility before maximum return and demonstrates that short-term profits and sustainable long-term growth are not mutually exclusive

BY MICHAEL BERNSTEIN

Zotter is admired for its top quality and wide ­assortment of quirky flavor combinations, like Basmati Rice & Saffron, Toasted Nuts & Lavender, or Cognac & Coffee.

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nyone who has visited its chocolate factory in Bergl, east of Graz, can attest to Zotter’s eccentricity, social philosophy and humor. There’s the introductory film at the “ChocoShop Theater,” tastings of raw-cocoa and chocolate confections, the “Edible Zoo” (a 67-acre organic farm and self-supplied restaurant), and the array of solar panels that energize the entire compound. No question about Zotter’s USP (unique selling point).

Then there’s the “Cemetery of Ideas” – an ironic memorial to Zotter’s best-intended, though perhaps overly ambitious, recipes. Buried here, under chocolate-bar shaped tombstones and graveyard candles, are the flavor creations born of divine, but shortlived, inspiration: pink coconut with fish gum (d.

2012); salt, tomato and goat cheese (d. 2001); peanuts and ketchup (d. 2011); and many other disconcerting combinations.

It begs the question, “what were they thinking?”

However, it also reflects the thought and passion that have gone into building the Zotter brand. Such short-term “missteps” have never hindered the longer-term vision of this family-run business. Founded

by Josef Zotter and his wife, Ulrike and dedicated to core principles of quality, creative innovation, variety, fairness and sustainability, Zotter has grown into a SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) with annual turnover of €20 million and 160 apparently happy employees. Ranked among the best in the world, its chocolate is sold in some 4000 outlets worldwide.

PHOTO: ZOTTER SCHOKOLADEN

Sweet Success

Going against business orthodoxy, Zotter measures growth according to core principles rather than maximization of profit. “Of course you need to make a profit to reinvest in your company, but I don’t define my success on my revenue figures. You can’t eat money,” Zotter says. “I don’t need to grab more market share. I just need better customers who value fairness and sustainability.” He prefers to remain a small, steadily growing business supplying a niche market that will pay a premium price for high-quality, fair-trade products.

EVER THE CONTRARIAN Everything about Josef Zotter seems to go against the grain. He follows his passion rather than a business plan, yet he micro-manages every step of the production process. He travels around the world to source his cocoa beans and other ingredients directly from the farmers, paying them above-market prices to help ensure a high-quality, ethically produced supply.

Instead of confining himself to only a few varieties, he offers a bewildering assortment (365 products) that can make choosing a stressful experience for buyers. To accomodate 100 new varieties each year, he takes best-sellers out of rotation, provoking loyal customers into trying out new things.

“It costs a lot of money to keep best-sellers on top – look at what Apple must do to keep its iPhone market share – and this comes at the cost of innovation,” Zotter told METROPOLE. This is a labor of love, and Zotter is here by choice. In 1987, he quit his job as head chef at

“Zotter is and will remain at the top of the world-best chocolate manufacturers and by far the most innovative chocolatier of all.”

Georg Bernardini, Chocolate – The Reference Standard

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BUSINESS & CAREER

­Vienna’s Hotel Imperial and opened a pastry shop in

Graz with his wife. In a back room, he started making artisanal chocolates by hand and hired an artist to design the packaging, which helped differentiate his product from competition.

The couple opened three additional shops, but by 1996, they were insolvent. Josef recalls, “Ulrike said: ‘Well, so let’s do the confectionery, because I’m not really sure whether the chocolate really works.’” Ever the contrarian, he replied “Okay, so we’ll make chocolate.”

RE-LAUNCHING ON A SHOESTRING In 1999, the Zotters opened their chocolate factory in a barn on his parents farm in Bergl. Word about his product spread. “There wasn’t even a sign, but people used to knock on my mother’s door and ask if they could buy chocolate.” They expanded the facility to meet rising demand, building a state-of-the-art workshop and tasting facility – the first step to creating transparency, openness and close contact with customers.

After traveling to countries where cocoa beans are farmed, the Zotters began to institute social-enter-

“When I look back at Zotter’s recipe for success, then I must say that I’ve done exactly the things we were convinced of...

We have simply always been honest.”

Josef Zotter

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prise principles into their supply chain. By 2006, they used only fair trade, organic sources and, by 2007, began producing “bean to bar” – from the raw cocoa pod to the elegant packaging – and turned the factory into a tourist destination that attracted 265,000 visitors in 2015.

Between 1999 and 2009, the Zotters invested €18.5 million into their physical plant, all reinvested profits.

Once burned, twice shy. In 2010, their story became a case study at the Harvard Business School. Two years later, Zotter published his own memoir, Kopfstand mit frischen Fischen: Mein Weg aus der Krise (Headstand with Fresh Fish: How I Got Over the Crisis). Being unconventional has helped them survive.

Zotter has taken advantage of emerging trends toward premium, high-cocoa content (and even vegan) dark chocolate – lower in sugar and fat and high in anti-oxidants. With its Fairtrade certification and ethically sourced organic ingredients, Zotter has also capitalized on heightened consumer concerns about food safety and environmental sustainability.

Both the case study and Zotter’s memoir ­question how the company could grow without destroying what makes it special.

“I tried to convince the Harvard people that the market is not divine. Actually, the market is stupid and doesn’t know what it wants,” Zotter said with a grin. “I believe that if you have talent and passion, whatever you bring to market will eventually find a niche. If I asked the market if they want insects in their chocolate, of course they’d refuse!

“But we make chocolate according to what I want and it sells!”

PHOTOS: ZOTTER SCHOKOLADEN

Zotter works with suppliers all across the world, like in the Dominican Republic (top left) and Bolivia (right). Back home in Styria, the ­chocolatier is still part of every step of the production process and involves the whole family in the enterprise.

ADVERTORIAL

A total of 122 states have signed ­agreements with the IRS, ­either to ­report U.S. ­c­itizens' ­information to their own government and then the IRS (Model 1) or directly to the IRS (Model 2).

Model 1 Model 2

HOW THE U.S. GOT ACCESS TO THE WORLD’S FINANCIAL SYSTEM Few people know that the United States is the only country (besides Eritrea) that taxes its citizens who live and earn money abroad. ­American expats have been required to file taxes for decades. However, since 2010 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has pulled foreign banks on board to enforce this. In 112 countries worldwide, banks have agreed to report the accounts of American citizen’s to the IRS. If you’re an American living abroad it’s now more important than ever to keep up with your tax filing.

In Austria, the change has not only meant an increased workload for banks, but also confusion over the requirements for Austrians with green cards, dual citizenship or shared accounts with an American spouse.

So what does this mean for me?

1

3 tax tips for Americans living in Austria

You have to declare joint accounts on your FBAR, even if the joint account holder is a nonresident alien. And you must disclose the identity of the joint owner.

2

If you are a U.S. citizen or green card holder, and your minor children are as well, remember that your minor children have an FBAR filing requirement if their foreign accounts had a balance of $10,000 or more. Also, if you sign on your children’s foreign accounts, their account balances go toward your $10,000 filing threshold, and you must disclose their accounts on your FBAR.

3

Many Americans resident in Austria have invested in various Fonds through their banks. Fonds are considered Passive Foreign Investment Companies (“PFIC”) by the U.S. and require the filing of Form 8621 with your tax return. Additionally, if certain elections aren’t made, PFIC taxation can be so harsh that it could easily wipe out any gain on the sale.

into compliance voluntarily rather than having the IRS force you. With banks, and other foreign financial institutions now reporting U.S. account holders’ information to the IRS pursuant to FATCA, it is no longer a question if you will get caught, but when.

If someone hasn’t been filing their taxes what can they do?

Many non-tax compliant U.S. citizens rush to expatriate i.e. renounce or relinquish their U.S. citizenship or abandon residence status, thinking this will solve their tax problems and failure to comply. This creates two problems. First, they were still a U.S. citizen prior to expatriation and it doesn’t retroactively alleviate them of their tax responsibilities to the IRS. Second, not being tax compliant for five years prior to expatriation causes you to be classified as a covered expatriate. This has some very negative tax consequences; there is an exit tax and your U.S. heirs will be subject to gift and estate tax at the highest rate on any gifts or inheritances received from you.

The IRS has developed several amnesty programs over the past few years to help people get back in to compliance. They have developed programs to fit most ­everyone’s needs. Programs range from those that carry no penalty for people who non-willfully failed to comply, to programs that carry a stiff penalty for those who willfully failed to comply. Even the programs with penalties are generally a better option than waiting around for the IRS to come after you. Once found, you generally become ineligible for any of the amnesty programs.

You are almost always better off getting

What are the risks of expatriating and not being tax compliant?

For a free initial consultation contact EsquireGroup by March 31st and mention METROPOLE

+43 1 364 94 08

info@esqtax.com

www.esquiregroup.com

Disclaimer: Nothing in this advertorial shall be construed as tax advice or legal advice.

No Country For Old Economists The Austrian school of economic thought shapes financial policy the world over – but remains unpopular in its land of origin

BY BENJAMIN WOLF

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n dealing with the euro crisis, the European Union is following the playbook of Austrian economists.

As is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, when designing harsh structural adjustment programs. So too are the angry Tea Party revolutionaries up on Capitol Hill, marching to their tune with downright biblical ire amid calls for lower taxes and no government interference Meanwhile, there is a small mountainous country by the river, where the policy advice of the Austrians doesn’t stand a chance: And this is Austria itself. It’s one of the strange paradoxes of the 20th century: that a country that boasts about its extensive welfare state, its Sozialpartnerschaft (the “social partnership” of government, business, labor and academia that together shape public policy), and its capital city, where

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE, ANONYM / IMAGNO / PICTUREDESK.COM, THE FRIEDMAN FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL CHOICE, AKG-IMAGES / PICTUREDESK.COM, ÖSTERREICHISCHE LICHTBILDSTELLE / ÖNB-BILDARCHIV / PICTUREDESK.COM

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The most revered founders and proponents of the Austrian School of economics. From left to right: Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Carl Menger and Joseph Schumpeter.

company or the state – purely as the result of actions and motivations of individuals, a concept called methodological individualism. If this reminds you of Margaret Thatcher’s claim “There is no such thing as society”, you are spot on. The neoliberal turn under Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s was shaped in large part by Austrian thinking, compounded by the advent of Milton Friedman’s monetarism and the fledgling public choice theory (see the review of Mark Blyth’s Austerity, page 35).

over 60 % of residents live in subsidized apartments is also the birthplace of one of the purest schools of libertarian and individualist economic thinking.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH The Austrian School of economic thought was developed in the late 19th and early 20th century by predominantly Austrian scholars in Vienna and later the United States, such as Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Josef Schumpeter and Friedrich Hayek. Significant contributions like Marginalism, the subjective theory of value and advances in price theory were relatively quickly incorporated into the economic mainstream.

However the Austrian school’s outright dismissal of econometrics (the application of mathematic and statistical methods to economic data) and macroeconomics,

both mainstays of modern economic theory, earned it a curious reputation in the 1930s and side-lined its teachings to the realm of “heterodox’” economics. So people who talk about the Austrian School today are mainly referring to its particular view of state and society.

LIBERTARIANISM TURBOCHARGED What interested the Austrian School was the full economic freedom of consumers, workers and entrepreneurs. State intervention, government activism and restrictions of any kind, they believed, should be rejected on the grounds that they not only weaken the economy but also ultimately lead to the end of political ­liberty. In this respect it’s as much a political theory as an economic one.

Economists of the Austrian school see socio-political phenomena – the market, a

AN IDEA TAKES SHAPE AND ACTION The ideas of a minimal state dominated the latter half of the 19th century, although more often in theory than in practice. After World War I had left Europe in a shambles, many states tried to discipline their way to prosperity during the turbulent 1920s. After all, the state, having led societies to ruin, was not to be trusted as an economic agent.

The newly established and much diminished Austrian Republic followed this rulebook as well. When the world economy crashed in 1929 and fell into the abyss of the Great Depression, the predominant ­a dvice from economists, both classical ­Liberals and the Austrian School’s doyen, Friedrich Hayek was to let the recession run its course.

This approach, termed “liquidationist”, was supposed to “purge the rottenness out of the system,” as U.S. President Herbert Hoover stated. According to prevailing intellectual fashion, the recovery was “just around the corner.” All one had to do was to leave the economy to its own devices, and the problems would sort out themselves in “the long run” – leading John Maynard Keynes to quip wryly: “In the long run, we are all dead.”

KEYNESIAN TRIUMPH As the Depression deepened, it became clear that these policies were only prolonging misery and impoverishment.

They were finally pushed aside by the ­extreme forces of Fascism in Europe and “crowded out” by Roosevelt’s New Deal in

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the U.S. The burgeoning demands of a wartime economy, acting as a massive stimulus, drove the nascent recovery.

The triumph of Keynesian ideas, championing massive government intervention and investment, ultimately heralded an era of thirty years of exceptionally high growth, still remembered fondly as the Wirtschaftswunder in Germany and Austria or Les trente Glorieuses in France.

During that period, tiny Austria grew to become one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Championing intense collaboration between workers, businesses and the state as well as nationalized industries, Austria’s economy was sometimes even likened to that of Hungary, only west of the Iron Curtain. Exaggerated perhaps, Austria was in fact and still is astonish­ ingly successful with an economic model that deviates extremely and fundamentally from the ideas of its namesake economic school.

THE AUSTRIAN REVIVAL In 1973, the oil crisis hit the developed world – a perfect storm for the prevailing Keynesian worldview, which had no answer to stagflation, the poisonous brew of slow growth, rising unemployment and high inflation all at the same time. This led many academics to put forward more market-centered economic ideas, and in 1974, the Austrian School’s acclaimed Friedrich von Hayek was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics – the very neoliberal turn that would soon be taken up

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by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Austria, at first, took scant notice. When confronted with rising unemployment, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky famously commented: “Hundreds of thousands unemployed matter more than a few billion schillings of debt.” In fact, the Austrian welfare state even expanded in the 1970s, while the government managed to keep unemployment and inflation low. It was then that Austria was coined the“Island of the Blessed.”

The rest of the world, however, was marching in the opposite direction. Deregulation, privatization, and liberalization became the politique du jour. In 1989, the IMF and the World Bank pledged themselves to the “Washington Consensus,” a set of ten economic policies that can be described as market fundamentalism. Subsequently, these policies were imposed on developing countries as well as on the economies of Central and Eastern Europe, emerging after collapse of the ­Soviet Union.

A NEW AGE OF VOLATILITY AND CRISES Austria too was not immune to the trends, as the privatization of the Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine in 1995 among others attest. Still, the country preserved an extensive welfare state. In the decades that followed the neo-liberal turn, overall growth returned to decent rates, at least in the developed world (developing countries were not so lucky).

The price, however, was growing in-

KEYNES VS AUSTRIANS, ROUND TWO So where do we stand today? Over 120 years have passed since the birth of the Austrian School of Economics, a good 80 years since the world turned to Keynes for salvation from the claws of the Great Depression and 40 years since the neoliberal turn, which brought many ideas of the Austrian School to the center stage of economic policy.

The 2008 crisis caused a sudden resurgence of Keynesianism in the form of massive stimulus packages, more financial regulations and deeper debate on rising inequality. However, purists like the IMF in America and many in Europe have held fast to neoliberal views, even reviving old ideas essentially inspired by the Austrian School. The massive cuts, deregulation and privatization imposed on Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy, are to some extent “liquidation”-politics all over again.

Meanwhile, a young group of economists has started to criticize this form of conventional thinking. They point to its many failings and also to economic success stories – like Austria, Denmark or Sweden – that have preserved equality and stability without giving up on growth.

If they succeed, we may look back forty years from now on an era heralded by the likes of French economists Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman, or Scotsman Mark Blyth.

For better and for worse, little Austria may have made significant contributions to their thinking.

PHOTO: VOESTALPINE.COM

Privatization is not the Austrian way.

When the goverment-owned corporation Voestalpine was privatized in 2003 protesters sported the slogan “Stop selling Austria out.”

equality, increasing instability and recurring financial crises. According to British economic historian Robert Skidelsky, the world has experienced 38 financial crises from 1945 to 1973, but a full 139 in the period leading up to 1997. Another decade later, the world economy was hit by the biggest financial crisis since the Great ­Depression, an event that has brought to the fore yet again two long-neglected ideas – the Austrian business cycle and Keynesianism.

For decades, neoliberal economists had conveniently ignored the Austrian School’s specific model of the business ­cycle, which described excessive growth of bank credit due to artificially low ­i nterest rates as the primary cause for ­r ecurring downturns – a concept that ­suddenly fit the financial crisis of 2008 ­astonishingly well.

BOOKS book review

The Real John Le Carré

A new biography by Adam Sisman deciphers the coded life of novelist David Cornwell

by Mary Albon

PHOTO: EVERETT COLLECTION / PICTUREDESK.COM

Duplicity and betrayal are constant themes in the writing of “John Le Carré”, the pen name of Cold War tale-spinner David Cornwell. In John Le Carré, The Biography, Adam Sisman illuminates the formative elements in Cornwell’s layered life that helped to make him one of the most respected espionage novelists of all time.

Born in England in 1931, Cornwell had a Dickensian childhood – one day living in high style, the next running from the creditors, or the bailiff, chasing his father, Ronnie, a world-class con artist. Charming, grandiose, sentimental, Ronnie seemed incapable of empathy, blithely bilking family, friends and strangers to feed his lavish lifestyle. When Cornwell was five, his mother fled; he did not see her again for 16 years. The search for love also became a frequent theme in his novels.

At boarding school, Cornwell developed a finely tuned awareness of class distinctions – in wardrobe, speech and behavior – taking care to conform and hide his own questionable background. He was torn between the values of honor and service he was being taught and fealty toward his father, who increasingly used his sons as accomplices: “At school David was being trained to run an empire; at home he was helping to diddle widows out of their pensions.”

CLOAK AND DAGGER At 16, Cornwell escaped to Bern to study German language and literature, a lifelong passion: “I remember not belonging anywhere and taking refuge in a foreign language,” he recalls. He did his National Service in Graz in1951, where he interrogated refugees fleeing communism and ran a network of small-fry agents. Later, as an Oxford student, he was recruited

by British Military Intelligence MI5, to infiltrate leftist groups, even reporting on his friends – a duplicity that became another frequent theme.

It was after joining MI5 in 1958 that Cornwell began to write. Publishing as “John Le Carré”, his third novel, The Spy who Came in from the Cold (1963), published while he was posted to Bonn with MI6, the ministry’s foreign intelligence service, became an international best-seller and freed him from his job and dependence on his father.

His finest novels – including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) – are set in the murky world of Cold War espionage and serve as nuanced guides to post-imperial England. His world-weary spy George Smiley is dutiful but ambivalent; the agency he works for is “England in miniature, looking back with nostalgia and contemplating the future with foreboding.”

When the Cold War ended, there was much hand-

David Cornwell, better known under his pen name John Le Carré, worked for British intelligence before making his breakthrough with The Spy who Came in from the Cold.

wringing among Le Carré fans. They needn’t have worried: He simply took up new subjects, from arms trafficking to money-laundering and terrorism. Still, his later novels are different, less nuanced and more polemical, and increasingly marked by outrage – about U.S. policies and UK complicity, human rights abuses and corporate corruption. Among the best, The Constant Gardener (2001) channels his anger into a compelling revelation of exploitation by Big Pharma in the developing world, which some claim advanced the cause of low-cost, generic drugs.

A DELICATE TRUTH Sisman provides a balanced assessment of Cornwell’s life and literary career, portraying this complex and difficult man with compassion. He touches lightly on prurient details (such as Ronnie’s alleged abuse of his children) that could have been Freudian fodder for a lesser talent. The novels are placed in context, including the people who inspired key characters and a fair analysis of literary merit. Sisman also shines a light on Cornwell’s writing process, inhabiting his protagonists much like a method actor.

At 84, Cornwell is still at work and will publish a memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life, this fall. Writing, Sisman makes clear, is Cornwell’s life force, and he is likely to continue working as long as he can hold a pen.

John Le Carré, The Biography

By Adam Sisman Bloomsbury, London 2015 pp 672 list price €22.50

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BOOKS

book events

10.03

NATIONAL LIBRARY TOURS The former imperial library is the largest in Austria and a vital repository for antique books; their weekly tours are in German, but available in English upon request for small groups of interested parties.

30 18:00, Nationalbibliothek. Register at kulturvermittlung@onb. ac.at or (01) 534 10 464

17.03

WHISKEY & POETRY

Wet your whistle with Ireland‘s finest on St. Patrick‘s day as your host and a fiddler spin yarns while participants recite poetry (their own or other‘s). Co-hosted by the Irish embassy. €12, including whiskey and snacks.

31 20:00, Palais Pallfy.

Tickets at writenow.at

19.03

AUDACITY

Audio files are a powerful tool for writers, both as a means of promotion and a reviewing aid; learn how to record your own with only a laptop in this workshop €70.

51 09:00-15:00, WUK. Register: office. writenow@gmail.com

24.03

METROPOLE BOOK CLUB

Our inaugural book club will take a closer look at Austrian nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek‘s The Piano Teacher, filmed by Michael Haneke in 2001.

20:00, location tba, see metropole.at for details

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book review

The Trouble with Austerity

On 300 dense pages the Scottish political economist Mark Blyth delivers a ringing battle cry to change course – or else.

by Benjamin Wolf

With the economy back on a growth trajectory and unemployment beginning to fall across the euro zone, politicians and economists rejoice that their harsh austerity measures have worked. Political economist Mark Blyth begs to differ.

In his book Austerity – The History of a Dangerous Idea, Blyth sets out to explain to experts and laymen alike why not only our policy response to the financial crisis was misguided, but also that our underlying convictions about why the economy tanked in the first place – and who’s to blame for that – have been fundamentally wrong.

Not by accident that a scholar – Blyth is professor of International Political Economy at Brown University – as opposed to an economist versed in econometrics, took on this Herculean task.

The topic requires a broad view and while other economists refine their mathematical models of market systems, political economists and economic historians have taken up the slack of explaining how society works.

It is a critique echoing throughout the book: Economists fail to adjust their models for changing circumstances, even when faced with mounting evidence that the models just don’t work.

Blyth calls that the fallacy of composition. Instead, and that’s the recurring tragedy, they often insist ever more forcefully, the more the reality diverges from behaving as in their models. And politicians follow suit.

THE DISMAL IDEA Blyth takles austerity on two fronts.

First he deals with its intellectual his­ tory, the history of economic thought since Adam Smith, compellingly told in the space of two chapters. The basic message is clear: Liberal economic models of all stripes have a built-in skepticism of government and a penchant for thriftiness. Their policies, thus, work just fine in good times, but fail miserably when the economy crashes. They claim that tax cuts and austerity measures restore

confidence. Experience tells otherwise.

Furthermore, austerity is more often a morality play (austerity as a penance) rather than hard economics. The neoliberal turn in the 1970s, championing a low-tax, light-regulation, minimal state, monetarism and public choice theory, compounded these tendencies.

In theory, economic and societal interaction was reduced to a mere maximization of self-interest, be it money, votes or influence. In the neoliberal world, the common good does not exist and in fact, democracy itself, as an expression of the population’s wishes, becomes the problem. The only answer, again, is austerity.

His second assault, more accessible and concrete, deals with austerity’s history. Here Blyth, the political economist, has all flags flying. We follow how countries from the U.S. to France and Great Britain devastated their economies in the interwar period by adhering to strict budget cuts while their populations sank into poverty. Reading the implications of austerity for Germany and Japan is excruciating, while references to current policies in the euro zone are genuinely worrying.

Austerity is more often a morality play rather than hard economics

WHAT IS IN IT AND HOW TO GET OUT Thus Blyth details the dangers of austerity, especially in times of high unemployment, deflation and huge inequality.

He also offers a short but concise idea of how to change course – raise taxes, regulate the banks and make central banks responsible for the people’s needs again, not only to those of a hard currency.

First published in 2013, the book has been overtaken somewhat by events.

The euro zone, is now growing again, albeit slowly, and fiscal policy has become more expansionary. These developments, however, only prove the point of the book – that growth has finally returned, exactly in the moment when austerity eased off.

And if Blyth is right, we could have done a lot better.

Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea Mark Blyth Oxford University Press, 2013 pp 204 list price €19.00

PHOTO: CARO / PICTUREDESK.COM

CITY LIFE

90,000 Refugees, No Crisis The Bosnian war brought a wave of fleeing migrants to Vienna. We somehow muddled through. How did we manage?

BY ALEXANDER FANTA

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hen the first shots were fired in a town a few hundred kilometers away, Kemal Smajic’s parents thought it might pass.

A few days later, Serbian militiamen marched through their hometown of Zvornik in eastern Bosnia and told all the Muslims to disarm. Shortly afterward, the shelling started. People began to disappear. It was the beginning of what would become the Bosnian War. In May 1992, the Smajic family fled.

“We actually had planned to go to Sweden to live with relatives of my father,” says Kemal Smajic, then 12 years old. “We even had tickets for the train, but in Vienna they told us not to get our hopes up – the Germans had closed the border.”

The Smajics were among the first families to reach safety in Austria. Others were not so lucky – in the weeks after they left, hundreds of their neighbors were killed by Serbian militia.

The violence in the multi-ethnic Balkans sparked a mass exodus. By the summer of 1992, thousands of refugees started arriving at the Austrian border – similar to the present-day influx. Then, as now, the authorities were caught unprepared. Xenophobia grew.

Yet the situation never became a “crisis” – a valuable lesson, perhaps, for the present day.

NOT AN IDEAL SITUATION In the early summer of 1992, emergency centers were set up in school gyms and event arenas. It was “not ­ideal” sleeping with 500 other people in a drafty hall on the outskirts of Vienna, Smajic remembers, but many people came to help them.

In the following weeks and months, Austria experienced a spontaneous wellspring of solidarity. Strangers came to the refugee camps, bringing food and clothes and giving language lessons. Kindly neighbors helped new arrivals find housing and employment. They were “welcomed with friendliness and a readiness to help,” remembers another former refugee, Irfan Skiljan. “All the people, soldiers and ordinary citizens in Wöllersdorf, where I stayed, were very nice to us.”

Empathy for the refugees was soon followed by a political backlash, however. In October 1992, the farright Freedom Party (FPÖ) launched an “Austria First” petition, demanding an immediate stop to immigration, more police and deportation of “criminal foreigners.” More than 400,000 Austrians signed.

Attacks on refugee centers became a common occurrence, with Bosnian Muslims particularly targeted by right-wing hooligans. “Someone threw firecrackers into our dormitory,” Smajic remembers. Yet he trained himself not to hold any grudges. “I knew, even back

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: CHRSTOPHER KLETTERMAYER, MANCA JUVAN

Kemal Smajic was 12 years old when his family was forced to flee eastern Bosnia; today he is an IT manager for the Austrian postal service.

CITY LIFE

“I am doing [charity] because back then I was helped. If someone is helped, he is more willing to give back.”

Kemal Smajic

then, which idiots from the nearby housing estates had done it – but I didn’t hold the whole Austrian population responsible.”

The ongoing, if sometimes patchy, assistance by the Austrian government and public helped many Bosnians find a place in society. From 1992 until the end of the war in 1995 and its aftermath, more than 90,000 Bosnians fled to Austria. Once the conflict ceased, authorities allowed those who had integrated to stay.

Over 60,000 of them would build lives in their new home country.

SUCCESS STORIES Today, many see the Bosnian refugees as a big win for Austria.

“Looking back, one has to say we have profited immensely,” says Erhard Busek, then Austria’s Vice-Chancellor. It re-invigorated Vienna, whose population had declined steadily from WWII up through the 80s. And the Bosnians were helped by their historic ties to Austria, dating back to the Habsburg Empire, Busek says – becoming part of the k. u. k. monarchy in 1878. “The Muslim community here has a strong tradition recognized by law since 1912. So there were already many Bosnian Muslims here.” Many Central European Muslims joined their families who had been in Austria for generations. They were quickly integrated into the labor force.

The two waves of immigration are not directly comparable, and integration has worked better for Bosnians than for other immigrant groups. According to the latest figures from 2014, unemployment among native Bosnians was 6.7% – less than half that among people born in Serbia or Turkey. Many Bosnians who arrived were skilled craftsmen in the building trades.

“Those were exactly the jobs traditionally in demand on the Austrian labor market,” said August Gächter a labor market analyst in a recent interview with the Austrian daily Der Standard. Today median monthly income among Bosnians is €1,577 – about €40 higher than that of Serbs or other immigrants from Eastern European EU countries.

Many former refugees from Bosnia have become remarkable success stories. Having arrived as a virtually penniless teenager in 1992, Irfan Skiljan developed a picture-viewing software IrfanView while studying at the Technical University Vienna. The program became an almost instant hit and is still used by millions worldwide.

Some have turned their personal experience into art.

Then 17 years old, Nina Kusturica and her family were on the last bus out of Sarajevo before the Bosnian capital was put under siege. Kusturica now runs her own

film production company and has gained international recognition for a documentary Little Aliens, about the treatment of teenage refugees.

GIVING BACK Today, Kemal Smajic works as an IT manager with the Austrian Post. The support he received back in the 1990s has inspired him to start an aid project of his own: Futurebag that provides impoverished Bosnian school children with a bag, books and writing material to improve their educational prospects. “I am doing this [because of] my own situation as a refugee in 1992, Smajic says, “because back then I was helped. If someone is helped, he is more willing to give back.”

It’s easy to draw conclusions between older and current refugee crises. Back in the 1990s, the situation wasn’t always easy. The war in Bosnia kept grinding on, seemingly without an end in sight. Politicians, meanwhile, were keenly sensitive to the growing anxiety towards immigration. As a result, Austria didn’t give refugees any guarantees they could stay once the war was over, granting only a newly created de facto refugee status. For many Bosnians, there was no clear incentive to integrate. Yet still they did.

Muddling through proved to be a successful strategy back then, yet this time integration will require a lot more effort, Busek says, including improving job opportunities, but also addressing cultural differences.

Meanwhile some former refugees try to help by reminding people that things have worked out in the past – and will again.

“I can’t do more than to advise people around me to speak openly, to listen to their fears and to try and assuage them,” says Smaijic. His own fear is it might not be an easy task.

Erhard Busek, leader of the conservative ÖVP and Vice-Chancellor from 1990-1995, was instrumental in shaping Austria’s refugee policy at the time.

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SCENES OF VIENNA public viewing

For Love of the Game

The American football faithful congregate for high mass at the Vienna Viking’s Superbowl party

by Tom Middler

With the Superbowl looming, I can barely contain myself. Everyone knows that Brits love an underdog, and so as the sweeping grandeur of Vienna’s Parkring comes into view, I’m bursting with optimism. Tonight is the screening of one of the world’s biggest sporting events, which this year will feature my once lowly team, the Carolina Panthers.

Passing by the gaze of TV cameras and ducking beneath security barriers, I circumnavigate the Marriott Hotel’s black-tie security to reach the welcome desk, where smiling girls hang my pass proudly round my neck. Tonight, my team’s the favorite: It’s our time in the sun. Or the moon if you prefer, seeing as the game will start at a very unsociable 1one o’clock in the morning.

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One of the biggest football parties in Europe brings touchdown enthusiasts together.

elicit the biggest roars from the crowd.

I’m outnumbered as Denver’s orange jerseys (white for this occasion) take on Carolina in blue helmet to helmet.

The game lasts hours, passing by in flashes of nervous play, beer-guzzling blokes and advert after big brand advert.

“Only in America,” somebody sighs during the much-vaunted half-time show. But contagious consumerism, or the beer, must have affected me too, as I straighten the extortionately priced blue T-shirt I’ve pulled on over my clothes.

Then as a Panthers kick floats up elegantly, and pings cleanly off the posts ringing like a tuning fork, my hope wanes. The writing is on the wall; it’s not my day. The Denver ticker tape turns the stadium orange; the only thing turning blue is the air, filled with expletives

from Carolina’s sector. By now it’s 04:30 and I’m flagging. I slink out, scuffing through empty bottles and soaked program pages, wondering why. Why do I even bother with this stuff at all?

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS The quiet trudge home is a contemplative one, taking me up Weihburggasse along a deserted Graben. I feel deflated.

Why do we do this? This heartache is too real.

But sport is encapsulating, it’s intoxicating (sometimes literally) and the highs feel real, too. Why else would thousands of people converge on a Vienna hotel at one o’clock in the morning to watch some boys in California throw a ball 30 yards down the field, running for their lives?

PHOTO: NUTVILLE.AT

MONDAY MORNING FOOTBALL In the midst of vibrant team colors and a seller hawking his must-have team shirts for a mere €65, I sidle along the bustling buffet queues and fill my first plate to the brim. Water is the best accompaniment for now, as the vast glass greenhouse is stifling hot. Women hold tightly to their escorts, balancing their plates. As people squeeze between bars toppling with cold beers to get a view of the huge central screen, the legends’ names stitched to their oversized ­jerseys become visible. My pocket starts buzzing with friends asking whether it’s still possible to get in. This is evidently the hottest ticket in town.

As the kickoff draws nearer, the bold blues and oranges of the competitors dominate amongst the fans. “How did you start supporting the Broncos?” I ask one huddled gathering. “I bet €50 on them! The Panthers are better though, they’ll probably win”. Friends shoot daggers of disapproval; perhaps he hadn’t been quite so forthright when they had all coughed up. “Well, you have to choose someone,” admitted another fan. He was kitted out like a squad member.

Whatever the bonds, the Broncos

WEISSGERBERVIERTEL

Art on the Riverside

BY ANDREW STANDEN-RAZ PHOTO CATHERINE MARGARET ILLUSTRATION KARIN DREHER

One sunny weekend in February, I set off with two friends to explore the Weißgerberviertel in Vienna’s 3rd district. I was curious, and “it is desire that creates new worlds,” poet Jeannie Ebner had written at the nearby Café Zartl on Rasumofskygasse. “But impatience destroys them before their time.”

So we meandered, the fresh late winter air making us glad the malodorous work of the medieval tanners, the Weißgerber, had long since moved on. Gone too are the city’s bloody execution grounds on the Gänseweide (goose meadow), busy here between the 14th to 18th centuries, the b ­ rutal pogrom in 1421 and Vienna’s sole witch burn-

ing in 1583. Crowds that once cheered regular bear and wolf baiting (hetzen) are immortalized in Viennese slang with the expression “des is a Hetz!” (This is fun!).

Bordered by the Danube Canal, the Wien river and Marxergasse, today’s Weissgerberviertel is best known for its magnificent monuments to Austria’s extravagantly eccentric artist and selftrained architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Tourists snap photos of the Hundertwasserhaus, a 1980’s “green” Gemeindebau (council housing), whose undulating pavements and walls exemplify the artist’s mantra, “The straight line is godless.”

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Nearby you can take a break in the little café and craft shop along Löwengasse, or the Terrassencafeé im Hunderwasserhaus around the corner on Kegelgasse. Two floors of the nearby Kunst Haus Wien are dedicated to Hundertwasser’s life and works, with a further two floors showcasing contemporary photo exhibitions. The current artists – Peter Piller and Anita Witek – reveal the pleasure of recombining images in unexpected ways.

Past two grinning gargoyles, my ­companions and I entered the calming neo-Gothic sanctuary of St. Othmar’s parish church of the Tanners. Lit by thousands

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of yellow stained glass squares, the church’s architect Friedrich von Schmidt also designed the Rathaus, and rebuilt the Stephansdom and the famous Cathedral in ­Cologne.

At the tiny vegetarian café Gedöhns, surrounded by Barbies and pink flamingos, a ginger tea means infused freshly sliced ginger. The Fälschermuseum, the Museum of Art Fakes has a fascinating collection of “masterpieces” from expert forgers such as Han van Meegeren, who cheated Herman Göring with a Vermeer copy. A reminder of this district’s Jewish past, the museum Für Das Kind memorializes the

Kindertransporter that carried Jewish children to safety in the UK on the eve of World War II. OLD AND NEW IN HARMONY

We’d heard much about Cafe Zartl, which has been celebrated by the Austrian writers and artists who were its regulars: These included Jeannie Ebner, Robert Musil, Heimito von Doderer and Karl Farkas. It was easy to fall in love with Zartl’s retro neon signage, satin banquettes, chandeliers, and the wood-paneled Sitznischen, where young couples chatted and elderly locals read newspapers Sonja, the Slovak

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head waitress has operated the ancient Kolschitsky coffee machine for 14 years.

Zartl hosts piano jazz on weekend afternoons as well as regular gatherings of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in the Kalanag Salon, named for a famous illusionist who performed here in 1935.

Across the street at the acclaimed ­Walking Chair design gallery for contemporary Viennese design, the co-­founder Fidel Peugeot showed me a kaleidoscope tool for the iPhone. “Design has to be fun,” he shrugged. The location, formerly the Rasumofsky Cafe, is filled with wonders like the recycled “Sister Blister” lighting

made from pill packets, and the round table-tennis table called “Ping meets Pong”.

As light fades, residents return for postwork activities – thrusting épées at the Vienna Fencing Club, boxing at the “oldschool” Garage Combat Club, or booking a table at the revamped haute-cuisine Kuchlmasterei. The S-Bahn runs regularly over G ­ arage01 on Radetzkyplatz, a restaurant where couples tango on Monday nights. For decades, the excellent Gasthaus Wild dominated the square, a cozy classic serving excellent Schnitzels.

Its neighbor Cafe Menta brings modernity to the mix.

We end at the Sofiensäle. Built in 1826 as a Russian bathhouse, it was converted to a dance hall with unparalleled acoustics, thanks to the resonant empty pool underneath the floor. Later, it showcased Strauss waltzes, Decca recordings, then club nights. Devastated by fire in 2001, it was resurrected in 2013 as the hipster Ruby ­Sofie hotel (where you can “share” guitars), The Room restaurant, a fitness center, and private apartments. The bright modern spaces surrounding the painstakingly restored ballroom and historic facade reflect the Weißgerberviertel’s mix of creativity, innovation and a past that matters.

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ON DISPLAY Op art made frequent use of stark contrasts, abstract shapes and optical illusions, as seen in these three works by Gerwald Rockenshaub.

exhibition

Abstract Loop Austria

Postwar Austrian art gets a major retrospective with works by Marc Adrian, Richard Kriesche, Helga Philipp und Gerwald Rockenschaub

The intention of op-art, declared Austrian op-artist Marc Adrian in 1964, is to bring about “the optimum integration of the beholder into the creation of the artwork”. It was a challenging idea, using illusions of shifting or swelling to reveal hidden images or create a sense of movement, which is on full display in the show “Abstract Loop Austria” currently at the 21er Haus. This generous exhibition showcases Adrian and fellow Austrians Richard Kriesche, Helga Philipp, and the younger Gerwald Rockenschaub, along with work by twelve other European op-artists. Downstairs, an attractive companion retrospective of the Dortmund-born Edgar Knoop is on show.

MESMERIZING EFFECTS Op-art is of course optical art, and the walls are hung with dozens of visually clever and playful works. They draw you in, metamorphosing as you move around them. To test Adrian’s claim, and to see what delights can be summoned from repeating patterns of white blocks, squares and circles, spend a little time with Krie s c h e ’s 3 D - P l a s t i k- M o n o c h r o m Quadratreihe, Böhm’s wood and plastic

Quadratrelief, and Philipp’s Kinetisches Objekt (70033) - they’re all in the same room.

Adrian himself uses the distorting properties of acrylic glass to mesmerizng effect. His wood and metal foil montages behind rolled glass – some black and white, some colored – remain fresh and engaging after more than sixty years.

NEO GEO Given the frequent under-representation of women artists, it’s a special pleasure to see so many works by Helga Philipp included here. Like Adrian, she uses glass to beautiful effect. Most remarkable though, is her large three-paneled black and charcoal Untitled, in graphite and acrylic on canvas, from 1982. This marvelous work is somehow straight and curving, direct-facing and in profile, static and moving, all at the same time. It’s from a private collection, so take the opportunity to see it, and get lost in it, while you can.

The exhibition includes several video series, too. To our 21st-century eyes, accustomed to every kind of on-screen graphic manipulation, these look simplistic and tentative - and not in a pioneering, exploratory way. Although fifty 1 Through May 29, 21er Haus

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years ago they must have been exactly that. Now they seem crude and, worse, predictable – and in the case of Rockenschaub’s black and white Podest, 8 Animations, puzzlingly old-fashioned, since this is not from the 1960s, but from 2002.

As one of the featured artists, Rockenschaub is handsomely represented.

Though he was born in 1952, his work seems to belong to that of the previous artistic generation. His big transparent PVC-foil cube, like “an oversized lens,” and his pink, white and black color foil on alucore, produced in 2002 and 2008 respectively, both have a strong ’60s look.

His pair of black and yellow color planes could almost be from the 1920s.

But must everything be original? It would be a pleasure to have any one of Rockenschaub’s well-executed and appealing works at home, to enjoy repeatedly at leisure. Does it matter how late the artist came to the op-art movement, or if his generation preferred to give it a new name – Neo Geo – in the 1980s?

“I want to open eyes,” said Op-Art forerunner Josef Albers in 1933. This exhibition will open your eyes wide – and leave them dancing.

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: BELVEDERE, WIEN; LISA RASTL, BELVEDERE, WIEN

by Veronica Buckley

ADVERTORIAL

A CHILD’S RIGHT TO PLAY

PHOTO: LUKAS MAXIMILIAN HÜLLER

Traveling along the Ringstraße at night, across from the Stadtpark, one façade stands out from the rest. It’s lit with a projection of a child’s face.

Every day we see a new visage, featuring both refugee and non-refugee kids, and beneath are the words “equal dreams.”

Behind the façade, at the back of the marble entry hall, a vast image spans the walls. In it, you see 350 children at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Children play in the middle, as others circle around them holding hands, united against the seemingly endless landscape of the camp behind them. The picture is titled Tree of Hope.

The Zaatari refugee camp is the second largest in the world, and is evolving into a permanent settlement. Children make up 58% of Zaatari’s 80,000 residents, and many lack basic rights. Yet these children all have dreams, and just like every child they have the right to a happy childhood and the right to play.

The camp is the tip of a vast iceberg. Over ­30 million children today have been displaced as a

result of ongoing war and conflict. When a child loses their home, it’s imperative they don’t also lose their right to play. It’s the preservation of this right that will decide how they shape the future.

The Austrians, Lukas Maximilian Hüller and Hannes Seebacher, are the artists behind Tree of Hope. It’s part of their project, the Child of Play initiative, which aims to build sustainable communities helping to integrate children and youth through artistic and cultural workshops.

Child of Play, in partnership with the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), has launched the Equal Dreams campaign. The campaign, which can be seen every night on the façade of OFID’s office on Parkring, aims to highlight the current refugee crisis from a child’s perspective, with the aim of promoting the equality of all children’s dreams.

From March through May 2016 OFID will be exhibiting artwork from the Child of Play initiative inside its buidling from 9:00 – 16:00. OFID’s Equal Dreams campaign will continue throughout 2016.

EXHIBITION MARCH-MAY OFID The OPEC Fund for International Development 1., Parkring 8 www.ofid.org www.childofplay.com

ON MUSIC The contemporary Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös based Three Sisters on based on Anton Chekhov’s 1901 “reality” play of the same name.

opera

Of Triangles and Other Groups of Three Péter Eötvös’s Tri Sestri at the Staatsoper: A cornerstone work about paths not taken, memory and farewells

By Cynthia Peck

THREE’S COMPANY Eötvös himself called Chekhov’s Three Sisters is “a cornerstone work.” He saw “no point in writing an opera which simply brought music to the Chekhovian stage and play,” he told journalist Rachel B. Willson in an interview two years after the premiere in 1998. “Instead, I took the inner configuration of the piece – its connections with the traditions of the number three, the triangle and the cast of three – and worked with that.”

The result is an opera in three sequences, with fragments of the original text

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j­ uxtaposed in new ways from the perspective of three of its characters: two of the sisters and their brother.

“The fundamental question,” Eötvös says, “is how a person can decide between two paths, when neither is good.” For the sisters, choices between men, or for their brother, between versions of a dead end life.

The new production premiering March 6th at the Staatsoper will be directed by Yuval Sharon, from Los Angeles, whose latest project, Hopscotch, was staged in 24 stretch limos driving on Southern California freeways, with singers (and audience) in each car linked via live streaming.

“In LA, I love doing things that are so out of the box they don’t even fit in a theater,” he says. “But it’s nice coming back to the ‘confines’ of a traditional theater and trying to put new ideas into it.” While his unconventional work is supported by tradition, he hopes Vienna’s tradition can be “fueled” by his innovations. “It’s a dialog.”

Sharon sees the production as “a memory piece, full of symbols.” It’s staged on

three conveyor belts moving through a room, each with a central figure who “watches their memories literally float over the stage and away.”

TO EACH THEIR INSTRUMENT What we remember are perceptions, “what it felt like to sit in a certain chair, the color of the room, the light coming through the window, the look in someone’s eyes,” says Sharon. “Those things have more value to us than the surrounding narrative. Such moments, lifted out of the stream of memory, become the objects that the characters obsessively return to again and again.”

Eötvös has divided the orchestra into two: an ensemble of 18 players in the pit and another 50 musicians in a stage orchestra behind the singers. In this production, the composer is conducting in front; a second conductor, Eötvös’s former assistant Jonathan Stockhammer, is on the stage. This second orchestra, says Stockhammer, “represents the subconscious or

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MARCO BORGGREVE, WOJTEK KIBITLEWSKI, PITPONY.PHOTOGRAPHY / CC-BY-SA-3.0, STAATSOPER

It takes only about ten notes of a lonely accordion to set the mood. All the more jarring, then, is the first line seconds later: “That music is so cheerful.”

Tri Sestri (Three Sisters), by Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös, is based on Anton Chekhov’s 1901 “reality” play of the same name. With its low mysterious atmosphere, it is full of curious ironies and haunting beauty.

ON MUSIC emotional aspects, a kind of ocean of feeling.” In the pit “every musician is coupled with one figure on stage. For example, the brother Andrei is the bassoon.” This smaller ensemble “represents the conscious impulses and motivations of the figures on stage. It’s very clear.”

Andrei’s wife Natasha is the outsider in the family, represented by a “vulgar and jazzy” saxophone, a character “absurd and disgusting at the same time.”

The part is being sung by countertenor Eric Jurenas, a 26-year-old Julliard graduate discovered last year by Staatsoper director Dominique Meyer on a scouting mission to New York.

With dozens of performances in the 18 years since its premiere, the opera Tri Sestri has become a major contemporary work. Here Eötvös has broken through the barrier of the “European fear of expression, fear of kitsch,” says Stockhammer, creating a “charged work full of shattering emotion.”

“Péter has often described the piece as being about farewell,” explains Sharon.

“But the actual act of saying good-bye is not a singular event in time. The minute you say good-bye to somebody or something – as the three sisters are doing: saying good-bye to their house and the whole way of living as a family – the memories begin.”

In the end, “the people we say good-bye to are constantly with us.”

festival

Vienna International Saxfest Classical saxophone gets its due at this festival, featuring a week of international talent performing all over town

Usually associated with jazz, this festival shows off the saxophone’s wide range in its original role in classical music: as an intermediate instrument between woodwinds and brass. Founded and organized by Lars Mlekusch, a prominent saxophonist and professor at the Vienna Conservatory, it is now in its fourth run, drawing on its (and

Mlekusch’s) reputation to attract 70 renowned masters from 23 countries, including the venerable Claude Delangle (France), the young shooting star Bartek Duś (Poland), and Gerard McChrystal (N. Ireland), who has performed with Philip Glass and the BBC Concert Orchestra. The venues are almost as varied as the musicians performing, featuring concert venues both large and small, several museums and even the Stephansdom. Among the highlights of the 13 concerts are: the opening overture at the Konzerthaus, where Mlekusch will conduct the Saxophonensemble Wien-Zürich as they play all-sax versions of Sibelius, Grieg and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The 21er Haus Postcards, where saxophonists from 15 nations will play works by composers from their homelands, including Chile, Thailand, Australia, Japan et al. At Oberes Belvedere Gold.

Berg.Werk is a reimagining of Bach’s Goldberg variations for saxophone quartet by Karlheinz Essl (junior), with the Austrian composer personally “intervening” on electronics. At the Stephansdom there will be a 20-saxophone rendition by Mlekusch and ensemble of Haydn’s Die Sieben Letzten Worte, and Coda at the mumok, featuring 20th century and contemporary composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen.

In addition, Duś , McChristal and other virtuosos such as Dragan Sremec (Croatia), the Solaris Duo (US/Georgia) Amit Dubester (Israel) and Valentin Kovalev will give free lunchtime concerts at the Alte Schmiede on Mar 15-18.

Mar 14-20, various venues viennasaxfest.com

concert

The Libertines

The garage rockers re-form and hit the road again, with a new album out

With a musical style reminiscent of The Clash with a bit of The Smiths mixed in, The Libertines rode the fuzzy wave of post-punk revival to become household names, thanks in part to puckish co-frontman Pete Doherty’s rock n’ roll lifestyle. His antics increasingly took a toll on him, leading to their dissolution in 2004.

With Doherty out of rehab however, they are now back with a new album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, older, wiser, but not much quieter. Fellow indie-rockers Reverend and the Makers open.

40 Mar, 6, 10, 13, 16, 18, Staatsoper

41 Mar 25, 19:30, Stadthalle

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ON STAGE

play

The Misunderstanding

A searing and original production of Camus’ absurdist drama, tackling notions of alienation and isolation

Director Nikolaus Habjan is a leading proponent of puppetry in theatre, both building and operating them.

Theatre-goers, rejoice! One of Vienna’s eminent theatrical institutions, the Volkstheater, is now bringing Austrian theater to an international audience. The first fruits of this endeavor can be seen in the The Misunderstanding, an extraordinary meld of puppetry and theater. Penned by Albert Camus in 1943 during the German occupation of France, and directed by 2012 Nestroy Prize winner Nikolaus Habjan, The Misunderstanding, says the program, grapples with “themes of belonging and exile, with all the weight and force of a Greek tragedy,” As the play opens, a man returns home after twenty years, to find that his mother and sister no longer know him. He resolves to stay on in their cold and unwelcoming guesthouse without disclosing his identity, to get to know the people they have become, and thus descends into a series of increasingly tragic misunderstandings.

PEOPLE AND PUPPETS PERFORM Camus, however, deflected accusations of absurdity: “When the tragedy is done, it would be incorrect to think that this play argues for submission to fate. On the contrary,” writes biographer Oliver

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Todd, “it is a play of revolt, perhaps even containing a moral of sincerity.” It is this particular insight that drives Habjan’s interpretation.

A drama of such potency would be nothing without the performances – and on this front, Habjan and his fellow performers Seyneb Saleh and Florian Köhler rise magnificently to the occasion. Combining acting, puppetry and masks, they prove themselves masters of their art. There is an especially choice moment toward the beginning where Florian Köhler (as the returned son) arrives at the guesthouse, sits down, opens his suitcase, and pulls out a puppet of himself – and it is exactly here that the theatricality of actor and puppet transcends itself. Compounding the artifice has precisely the opposite effect: reality is heightened further still.

The set, designed by Jakob Brossmann, is intrinsic to the performance. Depicting the bleak, isolated guesthouse as well as its cramped, lopsided interiors, it creates a superbly distorted sense of scale and location, seen through multiple lenses.

The puppets themselves – built by Habjan – are a marvel, their craggy, expressive faces etched deep by the weight of their purported lives. There is

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: LUPISPUMA.COM / SCHAUSPIELHAUS GRAZ, CHAMBERS TOURING LTD

by David Mathews

ON STAGE both subtlety and depth to their expressions, each tiny gesture loaded with nuance as actor and pupp e t b e co m e o n e – m e s m e r i z i n gly s o.

When the play comes to its dramatic staggering close, with complete and utter dissolution, we are part of an experience only possible through the medium of theater.

THEATER WITHOUT BORDERS This production marks the first time the Volkstheater has employed English supertitles – more commonly a staple of the opera – to actively court an international audience.

The initial impetus was the Fest für Angekommene (Celebration for the Arrived), in response to the waves of refugees fleeing devastation and war.

It is a deeply fitting play for the occasion, given that – in Camus’ own words – it “wears the colors of exile.”

Under the banner of “Theater without (language-)borders,” Stefanie Schenk Vitale (of Wortschatz Produktion) fashioned a translation that had to fulfill a number of different (and at times contradictory) criteria – capturing both meaning and poetry in a brief space, while addressing both native speakers and those with English as a second

or third language, a wide span of age-groups and reading speeds.

The Volkstheater hopes the supertitles will become standard, and that The Misunderstanding will be only the first of many – a fine omen for ­Vienna’s international theater scene.

Originally written and first performed in occupied France, Albert Camus once referred to The Misunderstanding as “the play that describes me the most.”

50 Mar 19, 19:30, further dates tba, Volkstheater

stand-up comedy

Jimmy Carr

One of Britain’s most acclaimed comedians brings Funny Business to Vienna

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Mar 9, 20:00, Gartenbau. standup vienna.com

After their runaway success in bringing live, English-language comedy to the Gartenbau with the likes of Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, Russel Brand and Eddie Izzard, Stand Up, Vienna!

-now brings another star entertainer to town: With a persona that combines a characteristic laugh, posh accent, impeccable suits and dark, snarky humor delivered with bone-dry wit, Jimmy Carr has been charming and offending (ideally simultaneously) audiences for 15 years, winning numerous awards along the way.

Known to a broad audience for his television work, most notably Channel 4’s panel show 8 out of 10 cats and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, his stand-up show sees the gloves come off, featuring edgier material than would be possible on a network. A skilled ad-libber who can

take down hecklers with ease, his style generally eschews observational humor in favor of a more classic approach, with deadpan, rapid-fire deployment of zingy one-liners often employing wordplay or a shock factor. Always moving on to the next one before the audience has time to recover, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Bob Hope – if he were from Islington and meeting Don Rickles at a Saville Row tailor’s.

Perhaps the greatest acknowledgement he has gained so far was after being caught in a tax-dodging scheme in 2012: even Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in, calling it “morally wrong”. He responded in characteristic fashion, first apologizing for a “terrible error of judgement”, then adding tax evasion jokes to his act. His current show Funny Business has already been seen by over 200, 000 people in the UK.

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ON SCREEN

short film

Riding the Wave of New Austrian Cinema For this Oscar-nominated Vienna-based director, Alles Wird Gut

By Janima Nam

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It’s been an exciting scene to be part of.

“Austrian cinema has a very good reputation in other countries,” he says. “As a filmmaker, you have lot of freedom here, it’s a very precise, very honest way of filmmaking.” There’s probably more money in Germany, but there are also a lot more filmmakers.

CASTING A SPELL

“Here, there’s not as much pressure to conform, you can try things out and therefore have more room to fail, but also to achieve greater success in the end.”

The lessons of his predecessors have not been lost on the 30-year-old auteur. In casting, for example, he takes his cue from Haneke of spending as much time as necessary.

“Casting is half the battle,” Haneke emphasized, in finding the children for his pre-WWII drama, The White Ribbon.

Likewise, Vollrath spent half a year searching for the 8-year-old protagonist of his 30-minute short. “I wouldn’t have made this film if I hadn’t found Julia Pointner.”

Indeed, the first-time actor’s remarkable performance, which critics have described as “stunning” and “superb”, is one of the film’s central strengths. But the

modest Vollrath often deflects attention from his own role in the film’s success.

A MINIMALIST APPROACH

Marion Rottenhofer, who plays the mother, gave more insight into the director’s contribution, by revealing some of the techniques he used to achieve the organic feel of the scenes and the acting style, one of which was the fact that the script had no dialogue, only situations with objectives, an approach also used by Ulrich Seidl.

“I always think less is more, and Patrick also shares this principle.” Indeed, the effectiveness of this strategy is already apparent in the opening scene, when the father comes to pick up his daughter from the mother and the two adults do not exchange a single word. What might have been a banal domestic scene reveals the searing tension of post-­marital discourse.

Rottenhofer, a seasoned actor, was impressed by Vollrath’s ability to capture effective performances. “At 30, Patrick already has the qualities that most directors only gain through more experience. He knew how to create the kind of safe environment in which things could happen without being forced and how to speak to us in an encouraging way—he’s very human, a real Mensch.”

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PATRICK VOLLRATH, UPI MEDIA, PARAMOUNT PICTURES GERMANY GMBH, THIMFILM

After decades of obscurity, Austrian “new-wave” cinema has recently reclaimed its place on the international film scene. Whether the realistic dramas of Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl, or the crafted documentaries of Michael Glawogger and Nikolaus Geyrhalter, its commitment to a naturalistic yet meticulous authenticity, a delicate balance of controlled unaffectedness, has resonated with audiences [and critics alike] and led to an innovative era in contemporary Austrian film.

This artful realism has found its latest expression in Patrick Vollrath’s short film, Alles Wird Gut (Everything Will Be Okay), nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.

Winner of the Austrian Film Award 2015 as well as a Rail d’Or at Cannes, the simple but gripping 30-minute film unfolds over the course of a day. An eightyear-old daughter of divorced parents slowly realizes that her father has decided to resort to desperate measures to spend more time with her.

Although the young director originally hails from Germany, Vollrath has considered Vienna his home since 2008 when he joined the Austrian Film Academy, studying under Haneke.

ON SCREEN film

film

Room

Trumbo

This indie drama tells a story of capitivity with an amazing cast

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue (who also wrote the screenplay), which was in turn inspired by the Josef Fritzl afffair, Room tells the story of Joy, (Brie Larson) abducted and incarcerated for seven years by a stranger, and her fiveyear-old son Jack (Jacob Tremblay), a product of rape born in captivity.

Barely touching upon the crime drama of the premise, the film instead focuses on the loving relationship of a mother and son in extremely adverse conditions. It wisely leaves many details of their captivity unshown, leaving the fortitude Joy needed to give her son some semblance of normality to the imagination; once they escape, it’s then Jack’s turn to save his mother.

Driven home with stellar performances by both Larson and Tremblay, Room lingers long after other dramas have faded.

9 13 11 Starts Mar 17, Burg, Filmcasino, Haydn

The blacklist gets the Hollywood treatment, with a standout performance by Bryan Cranston

A succinct if oversimplified recollection of a sordid chapter in cinematic and American history, the biopic Trumbo follows screenwriting legend Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) through his formative years on the Hollywood blacklist. The most prominent member of the Hollywood 10, industry professionals that were persecuted by congress during the 1950s Red Scare for Communist affiliations, he and his nine colleagues earned jail time for refusing to cooperate and were effectively banned by nervous studios from working on motion pictures.

In need of a livelihood and unwilling to give up his calling, he begins writing mostly schlock under assumed names to make ends meet. His talent shines through in spite of it all, gradually undermining the blacklist by winning two academy awards while disavowed (for Roman Holiday and The Brave One) and receiving enough work to farm out to other blacklisted writers. With the system increasingly shaky, Trumbo is finally vindicated in 1960 when mavericks Otto Preminger and Kirk Douglas openly defy the blacklist and give Trumbo his due, crediting him in their films Exodus and Spartacus, respectively.

While paying close attention to the historical narrative, deftly splicing actors into newsreel footage of the witch hunts, the film dedicates at least as much time to the human cost of

­ ersonal and professional ostracism. Demoralp ized and overworked, Dalton increasingly snaps at his family; they in turn have to cope with the stigma of their infamy, becoming alienated from the cantankerous idealist as he risks their well-being for his principles.

Directed by Jay Roach, Trumbo has received some criticism for historical inaccuracies – most notably portraying actor Edward G. Robinson as a snitch (in reality, he testified four times but declined to name names). Nontheless, Trumbo is well worth watching, with Cranston playing the lead with soft-spoken, manic intensity and supported by an excellent cast, including John Goodman as a proudly immoral C-movie producer and a venomous Helen Mirren as influential gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.

5 11 Starts Mar 11, Artis, Haydn

film

Son of Saul

László Nemes’ first feature approaches the holocaust from a personal perspective, collecting international accolades along the way

Having already won the Grand Prix at Cannes, a Golden Globe and up for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, Son of Saul attempts to make sense of the senseless by focusing on a single viewpoint, showing Auschwitz through the eyes of Saul, a Sonderkommando member – inmates charged with keeping the death camp operating before being exterminated in turn. After seeing what he believes is his son among the gas chamber victims, he becomes obsessed with saving the body and giving it a proper burial.

15 Starts Mar 17, Gartenbau

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ON SALE Sound Purchases

Wax doesn’t wane: here are some of Vienna’s finest purveyors of vinyl both vintage and new 34 RAVE UP RECORDS A decades old local institution and the go-to spot for Vienna’s keenest contemporary record shoppers.

6., Hofmühlgasse 1 Tue-Fri 10:00-18:30 Sat 10:00-17:00 rave-up.at 7 BLACK MONK Despite its size, this tiny record shop is bursting with everything you can imagine. Good for difficult-to-find prog rock from the 60s-80s.

7., Neubaugasse 51 Mon-Thu 15:00-19:00 Fri 15:00-20:00 Sat 11:00-16:00 schallplatten-ankauf-verkauf.at

45 TEUCHTLER Where Ethan met Julie.

6., Windmühlgasse 10 Mon-Fri 13:00-18:00 Sat 10:00-13:00 schallplatten-ankauf-wien.com 38 SEVEN STAR RECORDS 7., Siebensterngasse 9 Mon-Fri 13:00-19:00 Sat 12:00-18:00 Seven-star-records.at 28 MOSES RECORDS 7., Lerchenfelder Straße 33 Mon-Fri 12:00- 20:00 Sat 12:00-19:00 moses-records.at 44 SUBSTANCE 7., Westbahnstraße 16 Mon-Fri 11:00- 19:00 Sat 11:00-18:00 substance-store.com

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vinyl

Halls of Records

WIth the resurgence of vinyl going global, the City of Music finds itself punching far above its weight with a thriving record store culture

by Tristan Bath

As the rich tones of analog audio stage an unexpected comeback, so do record stores, with both established and new shops beckoning to the discerning explorer. Catering to crate diggers and metal heads, jazz cats and opera hunters, vinyl in Vienna is alive and well.

Whether you’ve just hopped on the bandwagon or never got rid of your turntable, here’s a High Fidelity- style top six.

Of all the city’s record shops, Teuchtler (see photo) is the most iconic. Immortalized in film by a visit from Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunrise, the store remains packed floor to ceiling with creaky shelves of meticulously organized opera, classical, and jazz wares. In business since 1948, this is the authoritative place to go hunt down that von Karajan or Bernstein recording you’ve been looking for. Often buzzing with customer and staff chatter, it’s just south of the bustling Mariahilfer Straße.

Head north over the main shopping street into the 7th district, and you’ll find yourself in

some classic rock and pop territory, and even discover the rarest of 21st century sights: a newly opened record store! This early in its life, Seven Star Records remains relatively basic, but what more do you need beyond a couple of rooms filled with cartons of vinyl?

From there, it’s a brief stroll to more established institutions like the wonderful pintsized Black Monk, the cozy, chilled-out recesses of Sing Sing, and the extensive ­Moses Records; among them you’re almost certain to find that out-of-print folk, kraut, or prog rock gem you thought was lost forever.

When it comes to new music on LPs, however, it’s difficult to beat the world class Substance on Westbahnstraße. They stock the very best in brand new indie, electronic and experimental music from across the globe.

The shop’s closely linked with world-renowned Austrian labels like Editions Mego and Trost – offering their brand new, sought after releases at a lower price than anywhere else on the planet.

PHOTO: TRISTAN BATH

39 SING SING RECORDS One of the most relaxed shops of any kind in the city, known for stocking imported records you won’t find anywhere else in Austria.

7., Neustiftgasse 19 Mon-Fri 10:00-18:30 Sat 10:00-17:00 schallplatten-ankauf.at

ON TONIGHT

cocktail bar

Beimir Bistu Shein

Ottakring’s new mixologist joint Beimir has filled a cocktail void

PHOTO:COURTESY OF BEIMIR

by Christian Cummins

When I moved west of Wattgasse, to the outer reaches of the down-to-earth 16th district, I hoped for many things - lower housing prices, a sort of gritty authenticity and proximity to the greenery of my beloved Vienna Woods.

What I didn’t expect is to find my local bar packed full on a Tuesday night, avant-garde electronic music and a chicly dressed barman serving exotic cocktails featuring fashionable Bulleit bourbon with a syrup derived from tonka beans and Nutella.

When you walk into Beimir, on the corner of the Speckbachgasse and Seeböckgasse, your attention is immediately drawn to the bar. An army of spirit bottles stands in massed ranks, towering over cut glasses and sliced fruit. Barman Tom Legat is working on one of his own creations; mixing and shaking away with a look of almost demonic focus as friends watch fondly from the tall bar stools.

“Tom describes himself as the creative brain behind the drinks,” laughs Matthias Habringer, Beimir’s 31-year old owner, who admits he finds some of Tom’s creations “crazy but fantastic.” One cocktail

even uses bacon as a relish. The energy and exuberance is a breath of fresh air in no-nonsense, rough-edged Ottakring. Did Matthias worry the idea would fail in these surroundings? “No,” he says simply. “I gave up worrying years ago.”

His dream was to have “a comfortable, stylish bar where people want to stay a while and would want to come again and again,” says Matthias. “Every district needs that.”

The concept of Beimir has gradually evolved over the 11 months since the former business student opened up with his savings and a little bit of help from Grandma. “At first I had the cocktail classics and just four creations of my own. I also had milkshakes and more food.” The arrival of 27-year-old Tom Legat last September complemented and perhaps completed the spirit of ebullience brought to the ­project by Matthias.

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD

Beimir is cosy; with just three small rooms, you’d be wise to book on weekends to be sure of a table. Even during the week an eclectic crowd gathers inside the low-lit

eggshell blue walls. It is not all about the cocktails: Bearded hipsters with flat-caps drink delicious Tegernseer beer out of the bottle; in a corner, a huddle of smartly dressed young women celebrate behind an ice-bucket of chilled prosecco. Around the corner, a middle-aged couple discuss something animatedly, leaning forward on a pair of opposing easy chairs. Two dogs lounge under a chair near the bar, completely nonplussed by Tom’s shaking. Oh, and the whole bar is non-smoking, a major plus in my books,. The future is slowly arriving in Vienna.

It certainly takes a bit of liquid courage to order “Flower Power” – a combination of Pampero rum, passion fruit, lime, chocolate and mint – but your bravery will be rewarded. And if that’s an adventure, then “Golden Boy”, featuring gin infused with Earl Grey tea and mixed with homemade ginger beer is simply delicious.

Beimir has enriched the neighborhood and proves you don’t have to stick to the well-trodden paths to open a new bar. So celebrate this audacity if you live nearby, and if you’ve never ventured west of Wattgasse, maybe its time to make the trip.

6 Beimir 16., Speckbachergasse 47, Tue-Thu 18:00-00:00; Fri-Sat 19:00-02:00, 0650 3666700, beimir.at

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ON THE MENU

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Zum Schwarzen Kameel 1., Bognergasse 5 Daily, 08:00-00:00 (01) 5338125 kameel.at restaurant

The Gourmet’s Who’s Who

At most top restaurants, the bar is a catchment area, but little more. Not so at zum Schwarzen Kameel on Bognergasse, where it’s the center of the action – as it has been for over a century. Guests have been carousing there for far longer – since 1618, when Herr Cameel set up his spice trading business at this address, plying patrons with food and drink.

Today, it’s in the middle of Vienna´s glitzy new shopping section the Goldenes Quartier, right across from Prada, Louis Vuitton and other credit-crunching establishments. The present Lokal dates from 1901, but sedate Old Vienna this is not. Walk into the buzzing hum: Most are standing or sitting squeezed into irregular niches with that casual air of people at home: a core of media males in well cut jeans, busy women with etched faces and chic coiffures, and a smattering of bright young things. Unobtrusive waiters snake their way with your drinks… Veterans of Anglo-drinks parties feel right at home.

Maître d’ Johann Georg Gensbichler

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knows his regulars; he has a thousand names in his smart phone and faces memorized to greet on entry. “Wien ist ein Dorf” (Vienna’s a village) and this is where one meets. Even when the house is fully booked, Herr Gensbichler always has a table for the Stammgäste. Some graze happily in the bar with wine and thickly-spread Brötchen, but for real food, move on to the restaurant, ­spacious, with small tables and restrained Jugendstil wall paneling. The menu is reassuringly manageable, short listings suggest everything is good and fresh. The quick solution is to choose one of the Menüs, typically paté or the house’s own cured ham, a soup, two entrées and a classical Viennese dessert (about €65 to €90). This is not diet-of-the-month-club territory.

We scoured the à la carte: The Rote Rüben Cremesuppe (beet soup) was served with panache: to a dish of frothy coconut and ginger cream a swirl of red beet was added. Despite the theatricals, it was delicate and subtle. My companion chose the

marinated Schwarzwurzeln (black salsify, a staple in Austrian and south German cooking, largely ignored elsewhere), pleasantly al dente, served with peas and kohlrabi mousse.

The Zander Rostbraten (grilled pikeperch) with coriander carrots and dollops of mascarpone-creamed spinach was a finely-tuned ensemble, almost too understated. Totally delicious was the Bries (little heart-shaped sweetbreads) and filet of veal with creamy balls of puréed Jerusalem artichoke and parsley, set off with black morels (they look like funky prunes, taste like creamy mushrooms).

The veal was temptingly pink, like forbidden fruit. Also impressive was the list of wines by-the-glass, mostly Austrian, with a sprinkling of the usual European suspects (prices mainly €5 to €8).

This is somewhere to linger. As the restaurant slowed the bar was still lively, just the place for a Flugachtel (“one for the road”) before sauntering off into the night.

A gem in the mosaic of Vienna life.

PHOTOS: PHILIPP HORAK

Serving delicacies to discerning patrons since 1618, the Kameel is a gourmet temple and a place to see and be seen

by Simon Ballam

BE MY GUEST recipe

Wiener Weinbergschnecken with artichoke ravioli

Viennese snails for Lent Attention You can make the pasta with a ravioli form or cutter. But a food processor and pasta machine will save time.

Instructions Put the dough ingredients into the food processor and knead until smooth. Cover and leave in a cool place for an hour.

Filling: Heat olive oil in a pan. Sauté the onion and garlic, add the artichoke and fry for 12 mins. When cool, add the other ingredients and purée with the hand blender.

Roll out the pasta into long sheets the size of your ravioli form. When using a form, sprinkle generously with semolina and lay the first sheet down over it. Spoon the filling into the depressions of the form. Then lay the second sheet on top and roll over with a rolling pin to cut the ravioli.

Tap them out of the form and put aside in a floured dish. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

In the meantime, peel and chop the carrot and turnip. Boil until al dente.

Wash and chop the zucchini. Melt the butter in a pan. Lightly fry the shallots and zucchini and add garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients to the carrots and turnip and bring to a brief boil. Add a little butter to thicken, salt and pepper to taste.

When you are almost ready to serve, simmer the ravioli uncovered for three minutes.

Plate ravioli immediately and pour the ragout over it. Drain and heat the snails and place on top. Add some grated parmesan, garnish with sage, basil and marjoram.

ca. 20 minutes, plus one hour for the pasta dough to settle

FOR THE PASTA DOUGH - 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks - 180 g flour - 20 g hard wheat semolina - 1 tablespoon olive oil FILLING - 4 fresh artichoke hearts, diced - 1 small onion,diced - 1 garlic clove, minced - 50 g ricotta - 30 g freshly grated parmesan - salt and pepper - fresh thyme SNAIL RAGOUT Note: Gugumuck’s snail farm, 10., Rosiwalgasse 44; 0650 618 5749. For the less ­adventurous, gourmet grocery stores usually stock canned snails.

- 6 pickled snails - 2 shallots - 1 small zucchini - ½ carrot - ½ turnip - 1 garlic clove - salt & pepper

PHOTOS: CHRISTOPHER KLETTERMAYER

- tomato stock - butter WINE PAIRING Riesling Velue from

the chef

Fuad Vojic

One of Vienna’s few accredited slow food chefs has a special recipe for the Lenten fast

by Simon Ballam

Fuad Vojic has created a slow food oasis at Giorgina, just behind the Burgtheater; in the heart of the city yet almost invisible. Lunchtime hums with the chitchat of political movers – SPÖ, ÖVP and die Grünen all have their party headquarters nearby, so expect to see familiar faces in off-duty mode. A sprinkling of actors from the Burgtheater adds to the buzz.

Having arrived in Vienna from Bosnia by way of Tirol and Voralberg, his kitchen philosophy can be summed up in one word: simplicity. An enthusiast for the Italian slow food movement of the 70s, Vojic serves up Viennese-Mediterranean fusion. Everything on the menu is fresh, local and seasonal. Stammgäste (regulars) can negotiate at the table and he will cook each dish individually. If you’re really serious call ahead and discuss your meal! A tip for theatregoers; although closing time is posted as 22:00, just call ahead and you won’t go home hungry.

One of his specialities is freshly made filled pasta, for example, ­Teigtaschen (think ravioli) with game and sage butter filling. For Lent, he recommends artichoke ravioli (seasonal in France) with snails from Andreas Gugumuck’s Vienna snail farm.

Zillinger in Velm-Götzendorf, Weinviertel

16 Giorgina 1., Bankgasse 2, (01) 533 3175, Mon-Fri 11:00-14:30 and 18:00-22:00, giorgina.at

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ON THE VINE

Thomas Schwarz looks over his family’s vineyards, at Weingut Kloster am Spitz in Purbach Purbach, Burgenland

Honest Wines

Perception often begins with images: Pristine Alpine meadows and the scent of Edelweiss are enough to conjure up an all-natural picture of farming in Austria.

So it is with Austrian wine, whose producers have long prided themselves in balancing the realities of economics with the preservation of Mother Nature.

Still, as is with most of the world’s mature wine growing regions, the reality is not so clear-cut.

A recent wave of organic growers are raising the bar, demanding a more intuitive, sustainable and “natural” way of producing wine, and powering a fast-growing trend in organic viticulture in Austria that has doubled since 2008.

In Austria, organic wine is made from grapes grown without the use of chemicals, particularly pesticides and herbicides. To keep out unwanted weeds and bugs, growers work more closely with nature incorporating non-invasive techniques to allow the environment to self-regulate its own ecosystem.

Less clear is what happens after the

grapes have been harvested. The law in Austria for organic wines still allows for the addition of some sulfur, as in conventional wine making, plus a number of other aggressive processes. So all that work in the vineyard can be stripped away, but still be labeled Bio Wein.

Thomas Schwarz, from the superb Weingut Kloster am Spitz in Purbach, converted the family estate from conventional to organic in 2005. This had much to do with the birth of his first child, which raised the philosophical question of what he would leave behind.

He felt he was watching the family vineyard spiral into a morass of chemical pest controls.

He decided on a more minimalistic, hands-off approach to wine making, preferring natural fermentation and longer times with skin contact, little to no fining (the use of compounds to clarify the wine), and especially with his red wines, aging in large barrels for the wine to stabilize naturally.

The answers, he believes, are in the

vines and their products, and he is there as a custodian to the process, to manage but not to interfere with the wine’s development. “Great wines,” he says, “should be honest wines.”

What does this mean for consumers?

First, that the vineyard is a healthier organism, managed in harmony with its needs. Second, that the wine making has been done in a less aggressive manner and has less residual sulfites than traditional wine.

In terms of taste, well, that jury is still out as to how this way of growing influences the resultant wine. My experience suggests that wines produced with nature in mind have a certain “aliveness.”

The are more closely in tune with the fruit’s source than conventional wines, which tend to have a generic fruitiness found in wines from anywhere.

One caution: Don’t judges a wine by its organic label. Under current regulations, you really need to know your producer to ensure that the organic production process is ­truly “vine to bottle”.

For more information visit weingut.klosteramspitz.at

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PHOTO: WEINGUT KLOSTER AM SPITZ

The Neusiedlersee region has proven fertile ground for the Schwarz family’s organic winemaking

by Michael Lee

Relax, chances are you won‘t see any real gunplay at the Ice Q restaurant

PHOTO: ÖTZTAL TOURISMUS / RUDI WYHLIDAL; INSERT: SONY PICTURES RELEASING GMBH

ON THE ROAD

On the Piste With Bond

Views to die for and the new Ice Q building were what ­attracted the James Bond producers to Sölden. The town was sworn to secrecy, but now can finally tell the tale

BY CHRISTIAN CUMMINS

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he Ice Q, a three-story glass building in the Ötzal Alps became world famous overnight late last year when it made an appearance as the icily sinister health clinic in the most recent James Bond film Spectre. The modern gourmet restaurant, perched at 3,000m on the Gaislachkogel peak above the village of Sölden, is designed, as the name suggests, to mimic an ice cube. In the film, the Ice Q’s airy, minimalist interior serves as a front for the evil-doings of arch villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who was played with devilish relish by the Austrian baddie-specialist Christoph Waltz.

If you’ve seen the film, you’ll remember the scene.

Daniel Craig’s black-clad Bond marches into the Ice Q, looking for answers in his battle against a ­shadowy global conspiracy. He narrowly escapes having to drink an alarming, slimy green health drink and instead makes off with the glamorous but conflicted psychologist Dr. Madeleine Swann, played by Léa Seydoux.

Then, this being a Bond film, the pair flee in a hail of bullets pursued by barrel-chested henchmen on a breathless chase through the mountains of the Ötztal region. This involves a race down the snaking Rettenbach glacier road, a rather unsuccessful attempt to fly a plane and the distressing devastation of some gorgeous timber huts.

Daniel Craig’s Bond marches into the Ice Q , looking for answers in his battle against a ­shadowy global conspiracy.

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All very adrenaline-doused and – for me, sitting nervously munching large handfuls of M&Ms in a ­Viennese cinema – a strange but delightful experience to see one of my favourite Alpine skiing haunts transformed into an action film set for the world’s most famous spy. How did this happen? Why wasn’t I invited?

I love the Austrian Alps and I love Bond movies. I could have played a minion! Licensed to ski, I pack my bags and set off to Sölden in search of answers.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

“It was the longest and hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep,” laughs Nicole Jäger of the Ötz Valley tourism board when, fresh off the piste, I confront her in her warm office in the center of the village. In January 2014, just one month after the Ice Q restaurant opened for business, a location scout, fresh from the Moroccan desert, turned up in freezing Sölden.

The producers were looking for modern architecture in the Alps but could also have chosen a site in Switzerland, Italy or France. The scout insisted on cloak and dagger discretion. “It was all a big secret; I couldn’t tell anyone about our conversation,” Jäger recalled. Then, shrouded in mystery, he left again.

It wasn’t hard to work out and two weeks later the scout was back in Sölden with the film’s associate producer, Greg Wilson. Soon after came Greg’s dad and boss, Michael Wilson with Barbara Broccoli, the producers of the Bond franchise. By the time director Sam Mendes showed up, plans were fairly concrete, yet ­N icole was still sworn to secrecy. Over four months, the film crew returned some two dozen times with a team of 20 people. “And I still couldn’t talk about it.”

PHOTOS: BERGBAHNEN SÖLDEN, ÖTZTAL TOURISMUS/ RUDI WYHLIDAL

Perched atop the Gaislachkogel (3000m), the Ice Q restaurant debuted in the latest Bond thriller, Spectre. Until the movie was released, the village of Sölden had to keep the production top secret.

Being Bond in Sölden There is no reason to slum it when you’re at the top of the world. Here’s how to travel like 007 in Sölden.

ICE Q This glass clollossus houses a panoramic restaurant, a protected exterior terrace and a bar, where you can sip your martini in style.

Gaislachkogelbahn 3a A-6450 Sölden, Ötztal soelden.com/iceq iceq@central-soelden.at daily 11:30 – 15:00

A VIEW TO A KILL

After speaking with Jäger, I headed up the Gaislachkoglbahn cable car to check out the Ice Q for myself. As I enter, kicking snow off my green ski boots at the door, I half expect to face the glares of surly henchmen. Instead, a friendly and snappily dressed waiter lures me to the bar, where, rather than being offered of an algae-based monstrosity, I’m free to indulge in cliché. I order a rather expensive vodka martini and get a patient, pitying half-smile when I insist it’s “shaken not stirred.”

The glass walls of the restaurant repeatedly give you a panoramic view over 250 mountain peaks (no, I didn’t count). During filming, the splendor was enough to melt the tough heart of ex-wrestler Dave Bautista, who played Blofeld’s terrifyingly muscle-bound assassin Mr. Hinx. “It’s surreal,” he said of the view. “It’s like being in a painting.”

The Ice Q is certainly enticing – as long as nobody is firing guns. It’s -15°C outside on this frosty winter’s day, a biting cold, but from within the glass walls, one could enjoy the sun-drenched mountains in comfort. So I glance at the menu, and for a millisecond, consider the three-course meal with champagne. Seeing the €73 price tag, I decide to flee at speed, like Bond before me, dashing down the mountain. It’s unlikely I’ll find a Bond girl there, but I’m suddenly more interested in a cheap and cheerful serving of hearty cheese dumplings in a wooden hut. Special agents charged with saving the world are better paid than travel journalists.

Nicole Jäger says the production team was “friendly and down-to-earth” as they prepared the

shoot, but once filming began in earnest, nobody saw much of the huge crew. You need space and privacy when blowing up planes with Hollywood superstars on board, so the mountain was cordoned off.

Back in the village, every tiny movement of star Daniel Craig, staying in the luxurious Hotel Bergland, soon became part of local legend. He was seen buying shoes in a sports shop and enjoying a sausage in a local restaurant. In a raucous Irish bar, a rather red-faced man tries enthusiastically to persuade me that Craig was in there regularly, drinking shots and playing darts with the locals.

But I’m a journalist; I wasn’t born yesterday.

TOMORROW NEVER DIES

Nicole Jäger said she was so excited before the first screening that she couldn’t sleep the night before.

Movies use every art of technical trickery to create a unique, fictional world – the original locations are merely raw materials. When the Sölden team was invited to a pre-release screening in Innsbruck, Nicole was blown away. “It was a surprise. It was amazing. I loved it. All that nervous waiting had been worth it.”

Now on Wednesday nights there is a James Bond show at the midway station of the Gaislachkogel cable car and journalists from as far away as India, China and the USA have written about the small Tyrolean village. Daniel Craig has famously said that he would “slit his wrists” before reprising the physical role of 007, but up in the Ötz Valley, James Bond fever is expected to burn for years to come.

GLAISLACHKOGLBAHN A modern moster gondola brings you to the Ice Q. It cost €38 million to build and carries riders form the base station to the middle station, where you can see the James Bond show and then venture futhrer to the top station to the restaurant at Ice Q. 17.06.-25.09.2016 daily 8:30- 16:45 Adults €32.00 Children €17.50 bergbahnen@ soelden.com HOTEL BERGLAND BERGLAND Holiday like Daniel Craig at this luxurious spa holtel.

You can swim in the same pool he did as as you take in the beautiful mountainscapes.

Dorfstraße 114 A-6450 Sölden, Ötztal +43 5254 22400 bergland-soelden.at info@bergland-soelden.at ÖTZTAL TOURISM For further information or help finding accomodations or ski information visit: oetztal.com

march 2016

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EVENTS

05.03

Take your kids for a ride at this sustainable, organic and educational farm at the panoramic Cobenzl in the Vienna woods. €3. Ages 3-12. Weekends through late Jun, 11:30-13:00, Landgut Cobenzl. landgutcobenzl.at 5 9 13 11

26.02

SPOTLIGHT

Investigative journalism saves the day as the Boston Globe’s journalists uncover the clerical abuse scandal of 2001. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber and Rachel McAdams. Starts Feb 26, Artis, Burg, Filmcasino, Haydn.

3

04.03

MARKTEREI This regular neighborhood market is all about promoting slow food and regional producers, from artisanal coffee to organic ham, craft beer and even sekt & snails.

Free entry. Fri from 15:00-20:00 & Sat from 10:00-18:00, Alte Post. markterei.at 14

27

Juxtaposing Viennese actionism with their fin de siècle forerunners, this exhibit features Brus, Muehl, Schwarzkogler and Nitsch as well as Klimt, Schiele, Moser and Kokoschka . Through May 16, mumok. mumok.at

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37

10.03

MELANGE #2: BANKING IN AUSTRIA

Featuring the latest in international design, Austria’s largest interior-decor fair beckons with 500 exhibitors in four halls titled Desire, Joy, Chill and Glory.

Through Mar 13, Messe Wien. wohnen-interieur.at

Slash and Burn through the bureaucratic jungle of Austrian banking at this event geared towards expats. With a panel discussion, Q&A and networking.

Sign up on their Facebook page.

09:30-11:00, sektor5. sektor5.at

19

07.03

WINE BURGENLAND PRESENTATION Presenting the finest from eastern Austria’s vineyards, this event caters to both initiates and experts, including a tasting. Also featuring Germany’s Frankenland as a special guest region. €15. 15:30-18:30, Hofburg. weinburgenland.at

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08.03

A romantic comedy full of sharp witticisms, Peter Souter’s debut illustrates both the beginning and end of a relationship between brassy, assertive Juliet and shy, introverted Alex. Through Apr 16 (except Mar 25-28), 19:30, Vienna’s English Theatre. englishtheatre.at

This art fair displays its merchandise in its natural environment – a museum. 50 exhibitors show off paintings and sculptures by Austrian artists on three floors of the Leopold. €12, including ticket to the regular exhibit. Through Mar 13, Leopold Museum. art-austria.info

08.03

This debate on international women’s day seeks to highlight the weakening of women’s rights both in conflict zones and through “traditional values”. 18:00-19:30, IWM library. Register at iwm.at

08.03

10.03

ART AUSTRIA

20

35

24

HELLO/GOODBYE

THE BACKLASH AGAINST WOMEN’S RIGHTS

The prominent French director’s later works from 1968-1986 are shown, such as his experimental Sympathy for the Devil with the Rolling Stones . Through Apr 6, Filmmuseum. filmmuseum.at

BODY, PSYCHE & TABOO

Commemorating its 125th anniversary, the Kunsthistorisches Museum hosts a special exhibition featuring fun and artistic depictions of festivities, with works from all of their collections and major loans from the Prado and V&A museum, among others.

Through Sep 11, KHM. khm.at

WOHNEN & INTERIEUR

04.03

04.03

08.03

05.03

JEAN-LUC GODARD: SECOND WAVE

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CELEBRATION!

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09.03

IMPERIUM

EASTER MARKET

A bitter comedy exploring idealism and utopianism through the historical figure of August Engelhardt, who started his own cult propagating nudism and coconuts in colonial New Guinea.

Supertitled in English. Mar 8, 15 & 16, 20:00, Schauspielhaus. schauspielhaus.at

Delicacies, traditional crafts, and an Easter Bunny workshop for kids await at the 60 stands of this picturesque market in front of Schönbrunn palace. With live jazz on Sundays, over the Easter weekend and Easter Monday.

Through Mar 29, Schloß Schönbrunn. ostermarkt.co.at

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10.03

WORK-A-TONIC An after-work party for the ginebriated, with over 40 varieties of the juniper-flavored spirit to choose from. Dance and network as popular DJs work the turntables. Free entry, gin tonics €6 all night. 18:00-00:00, Hilton am Stadtpark. workatonic.at 25

10.03

CUBISM – CONSTRUCTIVISM – FORM ART The early days of abstraction within the Austrian empire are on display, juxtaposing Viennese form art with Prague cubism, two aesthetics with common roots.

Through Jun 19, Lower Belvedere. belvedere.at

PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: PARAMOUNT PICTURES GERMANY GMBH, PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE, MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO, MADRID, JOHN-PAUL BICHARD, AMANDA RHOADES/SANFRANCISCOFOGHORN, THE SONNABEND COLLECTION AND ANTONIO HOMEM, POLYFILM VERLEIH, WWW.CHRISTIAN-HUSAR.COM, BFI

23

PONY RIDES AT LANDGUT COBENZL

EVENTS 43

11.03

4

16.03

48

19.03

33

02.04

STOCKSALE CHILDWEAR POP-UP

THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION

EASTER AT THE ZOO

ARGUS BIKE FESTIVAL

Offering up to 70% off retail on many international labels, the spring/summer edition of this large pop-up market sells clothes, shoes and accessories for ages 0-12 in an unconventional atmosphere. Through Mar 13, 1., Renngasse 10. stocksale.at

With their new album bemoaning their hometown New York’s seedy past, the alternative rock trio brings its characteristic blues/punk/ experimental sound to Vienna. 19:00, Arena. arenavie.co.at

Kids can help the Easter Bunny by crafting their own presents.

Also featuring an exhibit on eggs of the animal kingdom and an Easter egg givaway on the high holiday.Through Mar 28, 09:00-17:00, Tiergarten Schönbrunn. zoovienna.at

The biggest bicycle festival in Europe offers a little something for everyone: Bmx, Fixie and kids tracks, documentaries, skills parcours, a flea market and a big bike parade through the city on Sunday. Through Apr 3, 09:00-18:00, Rathausplatz. bikefestival.at

21

11.03

ROLANDO VILLAZON The world-renowned tenor sings Mozart’s Il Re Pastore in concert, reprising his role as Allesandro that he previously performed at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2012.

Accompanied by Les Arts Florissants. 19:30, Konzerthaus. konzerthaus.at

17

PORTUGAL – LOVE AT FIRST BITE Presenting its culinary side, the Portugese embassy invites foodies to try their delicacies, featuring live music and a cooking show. Free entry, register at info@ portugalglobal.at 15:00-19:00, Grand Hotel. falstaff.at 32

13

11.03

17.03

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19.03

MACKLEMORE With a new album under his belt, the indie rapper best known for the smash hit Thrift Shop shows off his chops with longtime collaborator Ryan Lewis and special guests Raury and XP. 19:30, Stadthalle. stadthalle.com

17.03

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04.04

LONG NIGHT OF COMPANIES

A NIGHT ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Trouble choosing an employer?

32 major companies open their doors to prospective recruits, showing what they have to offer by presenting themselves and their philosophy. 14:30-21:00, kick off at Rathaus. Register at langenachtderunternehmen.at

The glamorous, decadent world of burlesque is ready to take you away for a night of Central European excess along the storied train line with an act that combines acrobatics, song and titillation. Through Apr. 5, 19:30, Theater Akzent. cirquerouge.at

2

18.03

42

19.03

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05.04

DREAMS REWIRED

ANSELM KIEFER

ST. PATRICK’S DAY

JULIUS CAESAR

Narrated by Tilda Swinton, this documentary compiles footage from 200 films from the 1880s1930s to show how society dealt with technophilia – and phobia – a century ago. English with German subtitles. Starts Mar 11, Filmcasino. filmcasino.at

Commemorating his 70th birthday, the prominent German artist gets a comprehensive retrospective, featuring over 30 major woodcuts illustrating his obsession with his country’s past and culture. Through Jun 19, Albertina. albertina.at

The Irish diaspora celebrates its big day with Mass at Schottenstift before going on parade with pipers and wolfhounds, ending with a culture festival for all ages.

11:00-18:00, Stiegl Ambulanz. embassyofireland.at

Beware the Ides of March in April.

An all-female cast cries ‘Havoc!’ in this production of Shakespeare’s classic, commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Bard’s death.

Directed by Brian Hatfield. In English. Through Apr 9, 19:30, Theater Brett. theaterbrett.at

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12.03

EDELSTOFF A platform for independent designers, this market is a favorite among the hipster crowd. It focuses on fashion and accessories with lots of art, jewelry and interior decor thrown in for good measure.

Through Mar 13, Marx Halle. edelstoff.or.at

8

31.03

BROTHERS OF THUNDER A continental premiere, this play by Ann Marie Di Mambro follows the HIV-infected John as he takes refuge with James, a Catholic priest in a crisis of faith.

Tue-Sat through Apr 18, 19:30, Brick 5. openhousetheatre.at

15

07.04

FORWARD FESTIVAL Creativity, design and communication are the names of the game at this inspirational jamboree and networking bonanza. Including workshops, exhibitions, and high-profile speakers like Stefan Sagmeister.

Through Apr 9, Gartenbaukino. forwardcreatives.com

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EVERYTHING covered in this issue is here.

Look for the location numbers at the end of the articles.

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PALAIS PALLFY STADION 1., Josefsplatz 6 2., Meiereistraße 7 p 36, F4 p 9, J1 32. RATHAUS 13. FILMCASINO 1., Friedrich5., MargaretenSchmidt-Platz 1 straße 78 pp 9 & 61, D2 pp 51, 60 & 61, D7

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1 march 2016

63

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More info at www.tableconnect.net

as normal table use, the materials we use are exclusively top-notch. The glass is so durable you can sit on the table, the metal used so massive it survives even the toughest public environments … and last but not least, the latest and greatest multi touch sensor on the market paired with the fastest and latest version of Android makes for a more than compelling product.”

Johann’s enthusiasm is comprehensible – their hand-build product has proven to be so successful with existing clients from Dubai to Austria that you need to get in line to buy one now. “Everything we do is handmade here in Austria by professionals. We check every bolt and every circuit before a unit goes out. That makes us better. Quality is everything. Not something you have come to expect of electronics as of late, but we strive to be different.”

Just having finished his last sentence, he excuses himself and heads back to the workshop – there’s work to be done.

Classifieds

METROPOLE offers businesses and individuals the opportunity to reach English speakers in Vienna.

Promote your business with a classified ad here!

Visit metropole.at/classifieds to order yours.

THE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S NETWORK

AU PAIR IN ALPINE AUSTRIA

For 23 years now, PWN (Professional Women’s Network) Vienna provides a dynamic networking and leadership development platform for female professionals of all sectors and industries in Vienna, leveraging visibility and opportunities globally, as a part of the Global network, connecting over 3,500 members of more than 90 nationalities.

Meet interesting people, enhance your CV, and grow your network!

Join today at www.pwnvienna.net

British or Irish au-pair in Austria/Tyrol wanted for at least 6 months for our 3-year-old daughter.

Please inquire at info@apartment-sonnenhang.at with Doris Stadler

ENGLISH LANGUAGE WRITERS METROPOLE is looking for English-language freelancers with excellent journalistic skills who want to write about Vienna, Austria and the Central European region.

While reading this issue, did you have any inspiration?

Maybe you can be the one to write it for us!

Send your writing samples, CV and a few story ideas to jobs@metropole.at

INTERNSHIPS METROPOLE is looking for motivated interns who want to gain new skills and experience in the following areas: writing/editing, SEO, social media, sales, or marketing.

If you are interested in a 3-month, part or full-time internship, send your CV and motivation letter to jobs@metropole.at

SALES

WANT TO WORK FOR US?

Does the close of a sale give you an adrenaline rush?

Does the prospect of a new client make you brainstorm creative ways to make a pitch?

We are looking for an ambitious sales representative to join our team. This is your chance to be part of a growing brand with a unique and attractive readership.

VISIT METROPOLE.AT/JOBS

jobs@metropole.at

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Fashion Accessories Jewelry Kids‘ Design Street Food Art

12 and 13 March 2016 NEW LOCATION Marx Halle Karl Farkas Gasse 19, 1030 Vienna www.edelstoff.or.at

THE LAST WORD

Killian Kleinschmidt is an international networker, humanitarian and refugee expert.

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march 2016

Dear Readers, People reaching Austria and seeking refuge will not only enrich our culture and diversify our society, they will primarily force us to rethink how we function and where we have failed.

We all will thrive as we are challenged. We need to be creative and innovative as this is not easy!

Integrating thousands into our labour market, into our housing and into our social life will 足revitalise our Europe.

We perform better under pressure!

Killian

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KILLIAN KLEINSCHMIDT, SHUTTERSTOCK

Humanitarian and global networker Killian Kleinschmidt was the director of the Zataari refugee camp, the 2nd largest in the world. Later he worked at the camp in Traiskirchen in Lower Austria.

We asked him how the waves of asylum seekers coming to Austria will affect society and the economy in the long run.

Was zählt, sind die Menschen.

Welcome!

Austria’s most modern banking 8.000 customer advisors Account switch service

Switch now! www.erstebank.at www.sparkasse.at

Visit us at: facebook.com/erstebank.sparkasse december | january | 2015

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RUBRIKE

IMPACT ACTION Take a closer look: Refugees are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and neighbors.

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has dedicated itself to building a stronger global community for the past 40 years because tomorrow depends on all of us, today.

Visit us at www.ofid.org

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december | january | 2015