KEX | RAND

Built around 1900 on the southern periphery of Vienna, the former agricultural estate “Haschahof” in Rothneusiedl could be rescued from demolition: The newly founded cooperative “Zukunftshof” (Future Farm) won a competition tendered by wohnfonds_wien (Vienna Land Procurement and Urban Renewal Fund) for 25 years of interim usage as a centre for urban agriculture and interdisciplinary district development.

The guiding idea “City-Country-Economy” incorporates both economic and social engagement as well as transformations in the agricultural and food system in urban areas. The “Zukunftshof” project is highly promising as it forms an attractive hub that provides stimuli, from production to research, which will enrich future urban development in the Rothneusiedl project area.

[excerpt from the jury statement, 2019]

The historical brick complex on the 10,000-square-metre premises will become a site of production for diverse initiatives and small enterprises from the fields of urban farming, local food supply, and circular economy as well as a neighbourhood centre.

Kunsthalle Exnergasse (KEX) was invited to participate in the project through initiating collaborations between artists and interested local institutions and manufacturers, and thereby facilitate an experimental and reflexive discourse with art and science on site. The artist-in-residence programme will accompany the transformation processes at the “Zukunftshof” and play a central role in the development of an interdisciplinary urban agricultural concept for the Rothneusiedl urban development project.

KEX | RAND is the temporary outpost of the cultural institution at the Zukunftshof/Haschahof – an inspiring place for artist residencies, site-specific artistic interventions, collaborations, and presentations. Furthermore, a permanent artist-in-residence studio and the establishment of an archive on related topics are planned on the longer term.

In autumn 2020 KEX is happy to conceive and host this a series of events on aspects of Vienna’s urban periphery in diverse locations around the city.

With contributions by Jochen Becker (metrozones, Berlin), Mu Bo, Angelika Burtscher (lungomare, Bozen), Nicolò Degiorgis (KEX Artist in Residence), Futurefarmers, Eva Hertzsch & Adam Page, Social Design Studio of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and others.