APPLAUSE WON'T COVER THE RENT: WIENER PERSPEKTIVE (PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION)

Applause Won’t Cover the Rent: Wiener Perspektive

presentation of the initiative and discussion

Thursday 22.1. at 6 PM

DAZ / UHA (Trg bana J. Jelačića 3/1)

The fight for better working conditions continues in the new year!

We’re opening the new season of BLOK and SPID's long-term program Applause Won’t Cover the Rent with a public presentation of the Viennese initiative Wiener Perspektive. With dancer and choreographer Alexander Gottfarb and choreographer Claire Lefèvre, with an introduction and moderation by Nina Gojić from SPID and Dunja Kučinac from BLOK, we will discuss their engagement in improving the labor rights of performing artists. They will present their process of creating and implementing minimum payment levels in the free performing arts scene in Vienna, focusing on concrete examples, and arguments surrounding that work, as well as their engagement in developing better working relations between artists and production companies. Together, we will discuss organizing for better working conditions in the cultural scene and the challenges we face in that process.

The program is open to everyone and will be held in English. Join us!

Wiener Perspektive is a platform for (performing) artists of the independent scene in Vienna and has existed since the end of April 2017. Wiener Perspektive does not represent anyone, but rather understands itself as a space of solidarity, action, and resonance for the independent (performing) arts scene, from which political action can emerge.

In the autumn of 2017, three of the main institutions for dance and performance (Tanzquartier, brut and WUK) closed down for renovation, leaving the city’s dance and performance artists without their main venues for half a year. The politicians and the leaders of the institutions had not thought about communicating these plans to the artists in time, which resulted not only in frustration but also in a disruption of work and income on the artists’ side. This event was the spark that made the whole free scene come together and engage in broad discussions about the situation of artists and the conditions for art creation in a Viennese context.

During the autumn of 2017, several working groups were created, which regularly met in larger assemblies to coordinate the activities of Wiener Perspektive. Over the years, working groups have come and gone, all depending on the urgency of specific matters and the focus points and interests of individuals.

Wiener Perspektive has successfully introduced a number of ideas and suggestions that have improved working life for local artists, such as full-year work scholarships, increased access to studio spaces, and the establishment of minimum payment levels. It has also become platform for trans-generational dialogue where new and seasoned artists alike can share knowledge and experiences.

Alexander Gottfarb is a Swedish dancer and choreographer based in Vienna. He has been part of Wiener Perspektive since its founding in 2017, where his main focus has been on issues related to working conditions, fair pay, and pension systems. He is also a founding member of Arbeitsplatz Wien and The Loose Collective. Together with Anna Maria Nowak, he has been running the association Archipelago since 2008, and since autumn 2022, he has co-run Der Betrieb, a new space for durational dance performances in Vienna.

Claire Lefèvre is a femme choreographer and writer currently based in Vienna, Austria. Between 2019 and 2022 she researched the concept of radical softness as choreographic strategy, embracing hypersensitivity as a method, a topic, and a portal through which to imagine two works: Peachfuzz and Full Melt Down. Her last stage work LOIE (is a fire that cannot be extinguished) dealt with somatic archives and systematic erasures within dance history. Behind the scenes, she is exploring the archetype and working methods of a performance doula, a role imagined to disinvisibilize care work in the context of performance making. She writes poetry and grant applications, publishes texts in publications dedicated to performing arts and teaches writing workshops.

organisers: BLOK and SPID, in collaboration with Croatian Architects’ Association

design: Lana Grahek

The program is part of the project “Applause Won’t Cover the Rent” and is financially supported by the City Office for Education, Sport, and Youth. It’s also financially supported by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Southeast Europe. BLOK’s annual program for 2026 is supported by the Kultura Nova Foundation.