Martin Vesely, from the series “Vienna Views (Inverted),” 2008–

Bibiza, What Is Vienna?

Buoyed by the release of his second record, till someone cries, the prince of Austrian rap revels in the contradictions of the city’s dirty glitterati.

Vienna is my love-hate relationship. Mariahilf, 1060, that’s my base, my Bebi. Here, I feel at home, nestled between historic buildings and the local scenesters. The streets smell of coffee and Leberkas (meatloaf), the facades shine – yet you’re trudging through city dirt. Vienna is like a slap in the face delivered with a wink – it smarts, but you somehow laugh. This city always has two faces.

In Vienna, you live between imperial decadence and pure madness. The Opera Ball and goulash, the villa on the Höhenstraße and the sausage stand around the corner. You ride the tram past it all and think, “What’s going on here?” But the very question is what makes here unique. You arrive, and there’s no escape. Vienna is a high that grabs you, spins you around, and then spits you out somewhere. Yet, it always remains charming – somehow.

You stand in the old town, admire the splendor, and think, “This is the city of sin, but also of longing.”

Vienna shapes you, and you shape Vienna. No matter how much you fight it, this city sneaks inside you. The daily odyssey you embark on through the Ring Road, over the Naschmarkt, to the Stadtpark – it all leaves its mark. Every alley, every greenway, every pub tells its own story. And suddenly you realize: You’re a part of it, writing your very own Viennese history. The people here are a class of their own, just like their city itself: charming but grumpy, down-to-earth yet somehow elevated.

There’s so much art and chaos. A jumble of creativity hiding in every corner. What drives you forward is the incoherence bubbling underneath, this constant tension between “I’m going to chuck it all in” and “I’m exactly where I belong.” Vienna never lets you go. You stand in the old town, admire the splendor, and think, “This is the city of sin, but also of longing.” You have to go through it – and that’s exactly what it’s all about.


— This text appears with Frederike Sperling on the legacy of Vienna Actionism, Dawid Radziszewski on Vienna as mid-life crisis, and Milo Rau on the Free Republic of Vienna in Spike #81/82 – The Post-Cool. Get schick with a hard copy (or an e-paper!) in our online shop

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