stefan sagmeister book: new vienna now

sagmeister portrait and book image © designboom

during vienna design week (on october 1st, 2010) the austrian-born, new york-based typographer and graphic designer stefan sagmeister presented his most recent work: art direktion und layout of a new guide through contemporary vienna. a project by vienna creative agency departure.

stefan sagmeister (left) and johannes schlebrügge (right) at the book launch in vienna images © designboom

new vienna now a new guide through contemporary vienna : architecture / art / design / film / literature / music

seventeen chapters covering architecture, design, fashion, art, restaurant and shop design, magazines, games, music, film, dance, and performance: people, names, works, and labels.

editors: texts by erwin k. bauer, tulga beyerle, michael freund, sven gaechter, michael hausenblas, alexander horwarth, manisha jothady, franziska leeb, martin mühl, rainer nowak, gerhard ruiss, nicole scheyerer, dietmar steiner, christoph thun-hohenstein, sabine b. vogel, brigitte r. winkler, tomas zierhofer-kin. artistic contributions by victoria coeln, martin guttmann, hertha hurnaus, sigrid kurz, rita nowak, eva schlegel, margherita spiluttini, andrea witzmann. graphic design: stefan sagmeister a project by: christoph thun-hohenstein of departure publishing house: schlebruegge language: bilingual – german and english year: 2010 size: 384 pages, 17×24 cm, 120 illustrations in color ISBN: 978-3-85160-178-7

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content ‘new ideas require old buildings, or better, ideas are emerging of old structures‘, with this statement renate brauner, vienna vice-mayor and vice-governor (executive city councillor of finance, economic affairs and public utilities) introduces the marketing strategy of the austrian capital: vienna versus a cultural tourism destination. gold old europe is back in demand and contemporary creativity and art are at the core of this phenomenon.

is it for me? vienna feels creatively at the crossroads between nordic efficiency, german sobriety and mediterranean exuberance and fantasy. it is a city that has always known how to rejuvenate and reinvent itself. while it cannot compete with new york or london in size, it seems to compete with other german-speaking cities:

‘im 21. jahrhundert ist wien die interessanteste unter allen deutschsprachigen städten geworden.‘ / which translates to: ‘in the 21st century, among all german-speaking cities, vienna is the most interesting.‘ stefan sagmeister

‘if I look at vienna in comparison to other german-speaking cities, it seems that the only one that comes close would be berlin. but with berlin, … you see, berlin has only the youth culture, meanwhile fashion design is in düsseldorf, literature in cologne, advertising and communication design in hamburg (and zurich is not really comparable, also in size). I think the biggest potential of vienna lies in the fact that it has cultural strength in many directions. the 10 most interesting disciplines are located in vienna, … and not in insbruck!‘ translation of the video intro (below) by stefan sagmeister.

video by designboom

this book sets out to tell the world about art and creativity in vienna and is more a patriotic city portrait than a tourist guide book. it is nicely done, a sort of comprehensive cultural inventory of contemporary viennese architects, fashion designers, musicians, graphic designers,… for sure nothing comparable to this book exist.

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

designboom’s copy of the book with signature of graphic designers stefan sagmeister and erwin k. bauer (author of the chapter – the reinvention of graphic design) image © designboom

stefan sagmeister signing the book of renate brauner, vienna vice-mayor and vice-governor (executive city councillor of finance, economic affairs and public utilities) image © designboom

the book is also available in a limited edition box, sagmeister’s homage to the most iconic box of the city – the ‘sacher’ cake box.

_____________________________________________________________________ designboom ratings: ……………………. interesting ………………. good read, worth a look …………. very good ……. excellent, recommended . must have _____________________________________________________________________