Conversation Pieces

We need to talk! The MAK starts the new art education format Conversation Pieces. We will speak with artists, activists, scientists, and personalities from various fields about select objects from the MAK Collection.

Conversation Pieces is dedicated to themes like diversity, feminism, participation or loneliness, symbiotic bodies, racism in collections, planet care, and much more. We use the MAK as a polyphonic place for the exchange of ideas and to engage in various sociopolitical discourses and problems that enable new perspectives on an extraordinary collection. Conversation Pieces can be understood as an impetus to make widespread pictorial worlds and narratives visible and to critically question them by talking about them together.

Upcoming Conversation Pieces

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Past Conversation Pieces

Conversation Piece: Hybrid Dessous with Amelie Schlemmer

Tue, 2.9.2025 5.30 PM

Postponed: Conversation Piece in the MAK Garden: Hybrid Dessous with Amelie Schlemmer

Tue, 8.7.2025 4 PM

Conversation Piece: Violence prevention, peace work and democracy education with trauma educator and social counselor Philipp Klittich

Tue, 8.4.2025 7 PM

Conversation Piece: On the 138th birthday of Dagobert Peche with Christian Witt-Dörring

Thu, 3.4.2025 4 PM

Conversation Piece: Trialog with Shai Hoffmann, activist, entertainer and moderator

Wed, 5.3.2025 5 PM

Conversation Piece mit Rebekka Dober, Gründerin und Geschäftsführerin YEP

Tue, 18.2.2025 7 PM

A historic building with arabesques and columns, behind it a door labeled “Direktion für alle” (Management for all)

Conversation Piece FÜR ALLE! mit der Kuratorin und Designkritikerin Amelie Klein

Tue, 21.1.2025 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Transformer! mit Ines Kirchengast und Tina Selami

Tue, 5.11.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Eco-Feminist Decolonial Hardware with Patrícia J. Reis and Stefanie Wuschitz

Tue, 1.10.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece with Friedrich von Borries (Design Theorist, Contemporary Trends Analyst, and Writer)

Tue, 25.6.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece and Performance with Camila Sposati: Der Ton und seine Töne [Clay and its Tones]

Tue, 14.5.2024 6 PM

Conversation Piece: Glitter and bricks with Oliver Elser, architecture curator

Tue, 9.4.2024 7 PM

Superglue: Conversation Piece with the Last Generation

Tue, 2.4.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece with Rike Frank: Soft Sculpture

Tue, 26.3.2024 7 PM

A stretch of forest occupied since 2012 on the boundary with the Hambach open-pit mine. Over the years elaborate structures have been built there, featuring suspension bridges, solar panels, and heating stoves. A new generation of interconnected tree houses were built after the site was cleared in 2018.

Conversation Piece with Pia: Die Aktivistin in den Bäumen

Tue, 5.3.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece Let’s Stop Sweeping It under the Carpet with Salam Oida

Tue, 20.2.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece: “I shop, therefore I am!”—on critical consumption in a post-growth society with Economist Ernest Aigner

Tue, 16.1.2024 7 PM

Conversation Piece Die unerzählte Geschichte [The Untold Story] with Vera Weidenbach, Journalist and Author

Tue, 5.12.2023 7 PM

Q&A on the film WHAT’S HAPPENING? Art in the Life of Gertie Fröhlich with director, artist, and scriptwriter Marieli Fröhlich

Sun, 12.11.2023 4 PM

Conversation Piece: Lieblingsstück und Queerschnitte [Favorite Piece and Queer Section] with Anna Menecia Antenete Hambira, Fashion designer

Tue, 10.10.2023 7 PM

Seven Goblets made of glass side by side

Vienna Design Week: Conversation Piece: 7 Goblets for Humanity with artist Nives Widauer

Sun, 24.9.2023 3.30 PM

Conversation Piece: Techno-Orientalism - what's wrong with our view of Japan?

Tue, 5.9.2023 7 PM

Exhibition hall, red scaffolding hanging from the ceiling

Conversation Piece: Notes from the Journey into The New Virtual with Matthias Moroder, Jerome Becker and Marlies Wirth

Tue, 4.7.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece: "Rassismus im Wohnzimmer" mit der Historikerin und Autorin Vanessa Spanbauer

Tue, 20.6.2023 7 PM

Exhibition room with white walls, placed in it, hanging and on the wall: 40,000-fold magnification of an amoeba

Conversation Piece: Verflochtene Körper with artist Sonja Bäumel, cultural analyst Jules Sturm, and Doris Uhlich, dancer and choreographer

Sat, 29.4.2023 4.30 PM

Conversation Piece: Fashion and Costumes at the Fest with curator Mahret Ifeoma Kupka

Tue, 18.4.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Can Rave Save Culture? with artist Bogomir Doringer

Tue, 21.3.2023 7 PM

Portrait of a woman, in the background boats and sea.

Conversation Piece: with the artist Maria Ziegelböck

Tue, 7.3.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece with photographer Elfie Semotan

Tue, 28.2.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Radikale Zärtlichkeit with Şeyda Kurt

Tue, 14.2.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Feste feiern with Electric Indigo

Tue, 10.1.2023 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Dinner for One with Karin Gutiérrez Lobos

Tue, 20.12.2022 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Following new patterns with Designer Enrico Bravi

Sun, 13.11.2022 4.30 PM

Conversation Piece: Über den Tod und seinen Platz in unserem Leben mit Gunnar Gamper

Tue, 1.11.2022 7 PM

Conversation Piece: Enormous transformations with Laura Wiesböck

Sat, 22.10.2022 7 PM

MAK-it!

The workshop series for adults MAK-it! offers the opportunity to try out a variety of craft skills and innovative techniques together with designers and creators. In the unique atmosphere of the former MAK Direction, you can create your own works of art.

(Morning - Slot 1) MAK-it! Paradise Rug Tufting-Workshop with textile artist Bettina Willnauer

Sun, 8.2.2026 10 AM

(Afternoon - Slot 2) MAK-it! Paradise Rug Tufting-Workshop with textile artist Bettina Willnauer

Sun, 8.2.2026 2 PM

Exhibition space with display cases and books

MAK-it! Special: Magical Words with Picture Book Author and Conservator Sigrid Eyb-Green

Sun, 15.2.2026 11 AM

MAK-it! Special: Paper Scissors Poem

Sat, 21.2.2026 11 AM

MAK-it! Special: Magical Words with Picture Book Author and Conservator Sigrid Eyb-Green

Sun, 1.3.2026 11 AM

Guided tours of temporary exhibitions

At regular intervals you can participate in guided tours of our temporary exhibitions.

New York taxi top with HELMUT LANG lettering

MAKtuell: All Current Exhibitions at a Glance

Thu, 5.2.2026 4.30 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 7.2.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 8.2.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 14.2.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 15.2.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 21.2.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 22.2.2026 4 PM

Free Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sat, 28.2.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 28.2.2026 4 PM

Free Short and Sweet Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 1.3.2026 11 AM

Free Short and Sweet Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 1.3.2026 12 AM

Free Short and Sweet Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 1.3.2026 2 PM

Free Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 1.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 1.3.2026 4 PM

MAKtuell: All Current Exhibitions at a Glance

Thu, 5.3.2026 4.30 PM

Guided Tour in English: VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sat, 7.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 7.3.2026 4 PM

Black and white photography by Vally Wieselthier

Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—The Women Artists of the Wiener Werkstätte

Sun, 8.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 8.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sat, 14.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 14.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 15.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 15.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sat, 21.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 21.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 22.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 22.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sat, 28.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 28.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Sun, 29.3.2026 3 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 29.3.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 4.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 5.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 11.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 12.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 18.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 19.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 25.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 26.4.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour in English: HELMUT LANG

Sat, 2.5.2026 4 PM

Guided Tour HELMUT LANG

Sun, 3.5.2026 4 PM

To Calendar

MAKtour

Every week you can explore our permanent collections anew together with our art educators. Each time they focus on something different, with fascinating stories, insights, and background information on the exhibits.

MAKtour: Tradition and Experiment

Sun, 8.2.2026 11 AM

Museum building in neo-Renaissance style on Vienna's Ringstrasse

MAKtour: The MAK’s Architecture (in German)

Sun, 15.2.2026 11 AM

MAKtour: Bentwood and the Thonet Brothers (in German)

Sun, 22.2.2026 11 AM

MAKtour: Highlights of the MAK (in German)

Sun, 1.3.2026 11 AM

MAKtour: Rebels of Everyday Life (in German)

Sun, 8.3.2026 11 AM

MAKtour: Bentwood and the Thonet Brothers (in German)

Sun, 22.3.2026 11 AM

To Calendar

Vienna 1900 Focus Tours

Come with us on a journey through the glamorous world of Viennese Modernism. In guided tours whose themes change weekly, we offer fascinating insights into the Vienna of 100 years ago. In our tours through this fascinatingly complex era, we immerse ourselves in historical contexts in the history of the Wiener Werkstätte and its products and personalities making them shine with fresh brilliance.

Please note: The Vienna 1900 Collection will be closed from 26.5.2025-27.1.2026. More Information can be found here.

Vienna 1900: Klimt in Detail

Sun, 15.3.2026 11 AM

To Calendar

Pathways to Contemporary Design

This tour of the MAK Design Lab presents projects by contemporary designers and artists who are responding to the challenges of the 21st century, initiating change, and facilitating the conception and realization of new approaches to design.

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To Calendar

Curators' and Dialogue Tours

In addition to tours with curators, which provide deeper thematic insights, tours with designers, artists, and architects invite direct exchange. Our dialog tours focus on the conversation between visitors and experts from various fields.

HELMUT LANG Curator's Tour with Marlies Wirth

Fri, 13.2.2026 4.30 PM

OPEN: The Feminist Act

Sun, 8.3.2026 2 PM

Dialogue Tour Soft Image, Brittle Grounds

Fri, 17.4.2026 4.30 PM

HELMUT LANG Curator's Tour with Marlies Wirth + Lara Steinhäußer

Fri, 24.4.2026 4.30 PM

Dialogue Tour Soft Image, Brittle Grounds

Fri, 3.7.2026 4.30 PM

To Calendar

Short and Sweet

This short tour provides a quick look at current exhibitions and special topics in the MAK collection.

Illuminated car, three people dance around it with torches, text “Trapped in the AI's dream, Narin we dance”

short and sweet: HITO STEYERL

Tue, 10.2.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: FELIX LENZ: Soft Image, Brittle Grounds

Tue, 17.2.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: TURNING PAGES

Tue, 24.2.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: HITO STEYERL

Tue, 3.3.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: 100 BEST POSTERS 24

Tue, 10.3.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: HELMUT LANG: SÉANCE DE TRAVAIL 1986–2005

Tue, 17.3.2026 6.15 PM

short and sweet: TURNING PAGES

Tue, 24.3.2026 6.15 PM

To Calendar

MAKplus

Every last Wednesday of the month, we will take the time to really immerse ourselves in a topic and offer a themed tour that includes an exclusive additional offer: Insights behind the scenes, artist and curator talks, exclusive object presentations and hands-on offers!

Museum entrance in the neo-Renaissance style

MAKplus: VIENNA 1900—Everyday. A Total Work of Art

Wed, 25.2.2026 2.30 PM

MAKplus: New Presentation: MAK PERMANENT COLLECTION TEXTILES AND CARPETS

Wed, 25.3.2026 2.30 PM

To Calendar

MAK Geymüllerschlössel

At the MAK Branch Geymüllerschlössel, a jewel of Biedermeier architecture in Vienna’s Pötzleinsdorf neighborhood, the MAK shows furniture from the Empire and Biedermeier periods, old Viennese clocks from the collection of Franz Sobek, and interventions by contemporary artists and designers.

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MAK on Tour

The MAK has been going on tour since 2006. Cultural trips to selected centers of art and architecture are organized by experts. The destinations and themes of the trips are related to current MAK exhibitions and the MAK Collection. One of the fixed points is the MAK on Tour to the opening of the annual temporary exhibition at the Josef Hoffmann Museum in Brtnice (Czech Republic).

Upcoming MAK on Tours

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To Calendar

Groups of various sizes are very welcome at the MAK! At our main address on Vienna’s Ringstraße, we offer introductory tours of the permanent exhibitions as well as guided tours of current exhibitions at a time of your choosing.

Are you interested in a guided tour or workshop outside opening hours? Here you can find more information on offers for adults and companies: MAK.at/exklusivbuchbar

We will discuss the length of the guided tour with you beforehand and adapt it to your wishes. Please book guided tours for groups as early as possible to ensure that your visit to the MAK meets your expectations.

The size of the group should not exceed 20 people; for special exhibitions, fewer people may be admitted under certain circumstances. However, guided tours can also take place in parallel.

Enquiery
Grouptour

We would be delighted to customize a guided tour to your individual wishes and interests, focusing on thematic areas or specific parts of the collection.

Certified Vienna tour guides are authorized to conduct tours in the MAK and receive free admission. No accreditation is necessary. Registration at tourism@mak.at

Education and Outreach

T +43 1 71136-298

education@MAK.at

1 hour
120 € / max. 20 participants
In German or English, other languages on request

MAK Permanent Collection Historicism Art Nouveau

Highlights of the MAK Collection

In this guided tour you will discover highlights of the MAK Permanent Collection. Outstanding objects from the various collections will be presented in the context of their fascinating history. Plunge into the exciting story of Austrian production history in the heart of the capital. Learn more about the vision behind the house on the Stubenring, and let yourself be inspired by its impressive objects, that will forever change the way you look at the city and its designers.

A large group of plants in the ocean, photographed from below the water surface

Current Special Exhibitions

Is there something currently being shown in the MAK that interests you particularly? Then we would be glad to organize an exclusive tour for you. We also offer mediation programs on our current special exhibitions.

Temporary exhibitions in the MAK on the Stubenring

Design in Times of Climate Crisis: Pathways to Contemporary Design

There is much more to design than just shaping products: design is a state of mind, a way of bringing about change, of making new solutions both imaginable and possible. As a reaction to the ubiquitous impact of the climate catastrophe, contemporary design pursues innovative solutions and new ways of thinking. In this tour we present new materials and connections and explain design cycles and future-oriented scenarios. For we all share in designing the future of our world. This exclusive tour takes us along pathways that lead to contemporary design, through the extensive rooms of the MAK Design Lab. Here we present innovative projects by contemporary designers and artists who react to the challenges of the 21st century and inspire and describe change.

Collection: MAK Design Lab

Geymüllerschlössel

This historic Biedermeier jewel in the center of Pötzleinsdorf offers you a unique opportunity to experience the entire Biedermeier ambience in an exclusive guided tour. You will learn more about the remarkable history of the house and its owners.

More about the MAK Geymüllerschlössel

Design in Times of Climate Crisis

As a reaction to the ubiquitous impact of the climate catastrophe, contemporary design pursues innovative solutions and new ways of thinking. In this tour we present new materials and connections and explain design cycles and future-oriented scenarios. For we all share in designing the future of our world.

Collection: MAK Design Lab

Pathways to Contemporary Design

There is much more to design than just shaping products: design is a state of mind, a way of bringing about change, of making new solutions both imaginable and possible. We present future-oriented projects that invite you to reflect and be creative. This exclusive tour takes us along pathways that lead to contemporary design, through the extensive rooms of the MAK Design Lab. Here we present innovative projects by contemporary designers and artists who react to the challenges of the 21st century, inspire change, and suggest alternatives.

Collection: MAK Design Lab

From Handicrafts to Industrial Design

This tour focuses on handicrafts and how different production techniques have left their mark on the design of objects over the centuries. We examine handmade one-off Wiener Werkstätte objects and 19th-century serially manufactured products, moving on to material innovations, open source software, 3D printing, and AI-generated design.

Central group of the centerpiece from Zwettl Monastery, Ke 6823 / 1926

Journeys through Time

In the history of design, we constantly find examples of designers utilizing earlier models, as well as astonishing examples of design far ahead of its time. In this tour of the MAK collection we take a journey through time. We humans learn from each otherover the millennia and across continents, techniques, styles, and material know-how are copied, adapted, passed on, even stolen. In a narrative journey through almost all of our Permanent Collection areas, we reveal cross connections, astonishing correlations, and examples of recourse to earlier designs. For almost all innovative design is the reworking of earlier creations.

Porcelain Room from Dubsky Palace in Brno, Vienna, ca. 1740, Ke 6201/1912

MAKtour Opulence and Reduction

In this tour through the Permanent Collection we search for evidence of opulence and reduction in design. Which technical achievements and opulent experiments with materials are celebrated, and what inspires the simplification of form and style? Discover the fascinating interplay between excess and simplicity and let yourself be inspired by the fruitful conflict generated by these antitheses.

Klemens Schillinger, Substitute Phone, 2017

The History of Consumerism

May I buy that? Learning to be “good consumers” has become part and parcel of our social self-image. In a highly revealing stroll through the MAK Permanent Collection, we trace the story of western consumerism, understanding this intensely lived second nature of ours by examining some fascinating objects and their historythus casting a critical eye on the causes and effects of hyperconsumerism.

Frankfurt cuisine by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky

Rebels of the Everyday

The everyday objects we use determine many of our rituals, actions, and social roles. They also tell us something of the unique personalities who designed them. How can everyday life be revolutionized? How can one face up to it and suggest alternative solutions to its challenges? In this tour we present some pioneering design strategies proposed by rebels of the everyday.

Collection: Permanent Collection and the MAK Design Lab

Spend a productive and relaxed time with your colleagues, friends or family at the MAK, also outside of our Opening Hours

More information on exclusive offers you can find at MAK.at/makexclusive

Digital offerings

Explore the MAK on a digital level: with the MAK Guide, the digiSTORIES, the audio series Reflections, or in numerous video tours.

Upcoming Conversation Pieces

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Past Conversation Pieces

No events found.

No events found.

Upcoming MAK on Tours

No events found.

Length

Group size

Are you interested in a particular topic?

Group visit with an external tour guide

Contact

Individually Bookable Group Tours during Opening Hours

MAK Guide

MAK Lab App

Video Tours

Audio Tours

MAK Blog

Digital Experience Josef Hoffmann