Vienna Art Week
Vienna Insurance Group has supported Vienna Art Week since 2006. In 2013, under the motto “Projecting Worlds”, the cultural festival explored topics and positions related to the role of artistic expression in reinforcing identity. Close to 35,000 art enthusiasts visited around 180 individual events (e.g. gallery tours, curator tours, artist talks, etc.). 72 programme partners (institutions, galleries, alternative spaces, special project partners and artists) successfully managed to present the immense quality and variety of the Vienna art scene. For the first time, Vienna Art Week also used the motto “Curators' Picks” to invite international curators to come to Vienna and discover the great variety of the Viennese art scene as well as introducing the scene into the international discourse. During the Open Studio Days, around 3,000 people visited the studios of 84 Viennese artists.
Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra
Vienna Insurance Group has supported the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra since 2011. The orchestra was founded in 1986 with the aim of helping young Austrian musicians play music with their colleagues from the former CSSR and Hungary. Since 1992, it has offered highly talented musicians throughout Europe up to the age of 26 the opportunity to work together with the great conductors and soloists of our time. The Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra has been an ambassador of Unicef Austria since 2012.
In 2013, Herbert Blomstedt agreed to be a guest conductor. During its Easter tour the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra went, among other places, to Vienna, Paris, Zagreb, Bratislava and Lisbon. As a special honour, during Wagner Year 2013 the orchestra was invited to give two concert performances of Richard Wagner's Rienzi under the direction of Philippe Jordan at the Salzburg Festival.
Slovakian artist Dorota Sadovská wraps the Ringturm*
The sixth traditional wrapping of the Ringturm during the summer months of 2013 reflected the strong, expressive commitment of Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein to its role as a facilitator of cross-border dialogue. The work “Ties” by the young Slovakian artist Dorota Sadovská was created exclusively for the Group headquarters. The work expresses the theme of reciprocal ties, the joy of moving together and meeting. The symbol of three female figures in a circle has been recognised since ancient Greece as a symbol for the best way of managing material resources: by taking, giving and returning. The symbolism of “Ties” is also reflected in the concept of insurance as mutual sharing.
* Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein, the principal shareholder of VIG, provided all or a major part of the support for these activities.