Arts/Culture: Pulse: Insider Access in Eastern Europe

Insider Access in Eastern Europe

Vienna has long lured art enthusiasts with its imperial museums and palaces. In 2005, with the launch of Viennaartweek, an international art fair of sorts (no works are actually sold though), the city’s contemporary arts scene also gained some worldwide recognition. This November those interested in navigating Viennaartweek with an expert, can go with the Other Europe, a company that leads cultural excursions to destinations like Prague, Budapest, Croatia, Trieste and Slovenia. Gioia Zwack, the Other Europe’s founder, is a big-time insider on Central and Eastern Europe: as the former Director of Travel for the World Monuments Fund, she traveled all over the region, crafting journeys for the organization’s members and patrons. During her tenure, she also picked up a few side gigs, directing projects like the Valtice Music Festival in the Czech Republic and KUBA: Journey Against the Current, a traveling video installation put together by Vienna’s Thyssen-Bornemissza Art Contemporary.

The November trip, which is done in conjunction with Artview NYC—a company that leads tours through Manhattan’s art galleries and museums—starts out in Prague. There, participants will attend intimate dinners and parties with artists, curators and directors and stay at the centrally located Aria Hotel, where all rooms are dedicated to different composers and artists. At Viennaartweek (which starts on November 17th), the private events continue and Zwack has also secured VIP tickets, which grant access to all the opening exhibits. Accommodations are at the ultra-hip and appropriately ultra-contemporary design hotel Do & Co. The trip is small—no more than 20 participants —and Zwack’s staff reads like a who’s who of the region’s cultural and art scene. Her Vienna team members include: Sylvia Eisenburger-Kunz, president of the Society of Friends of Fine Arts in Vienna, Marielore Calice, a countess who once worked at the U.N. in New York and Christian Witt-Dorring,a former curator at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts (who now works at NYC’s Neue Galerie). If you want inside access and cultural clout, this is the way to go. Price is still being finalized. To reserve a spot, contact Gioia Zwack (gioia@othereurope.com; 646-644-4642) by August 1st.