Qwien opens new cultural center: A highlight for Vienna's queer history!

Qwien opens new cultural center: A highlight for Vienna's queer history!

On Wednesday, June 10, 2025, the time has come: Qwien opens its new location in Vienna-Margareten and thus celebrates an important step in the city's queer feminist history. This institution, which has been the archive and library in the Wieden district since 2009, has specialized in the queer story and now brings a new, modern cultural center with an area of ​​around 900 square meters to the legs, which the previous size almost trifled, as to speak, as Vol.at reported.

Andreas Brunner, the co-manager of Qwien 2.0, and Hannes Sulzenbacher from the Jewish Museum have big plans: With the move, the number of employees could be doubled to eight full-time equivalents. The new premises not only offer a lot of space, but also the opportunity to design cultural events themselves instead of cooperating with external partners.

opening exhibition and cultural program

A highly interesting opening exhibition entitled "History. Many testimonials queer love have been marginalized or even destroyed over the centuries. The exhibition shows objects such as historical dedications, a baroque angel and even a beer mug that has so far played no role in the queer history. The term of the exhibition extends until November 9th, and the opening times are from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Thursdays to 8 p.m., as in Qwien.at

In addition to the opening exhibition, Qwien announced that it would plan two alternating exhibitions in the main room annually. A smaller multifunctional room is used for lectures, readings and discussion events. The photochau to Sabine Schwaighofers oeuvre, which will open on June 17, becomes particularly interesting. In addition, Qwien continues to work for queer city walks and will show the ORF documentary "Austria under the rainbow" next Thursday.

a place of knowledge and encounter

The Qwien library houses around 5,000 volumes on topics such as homosexual history, sexuality, and queer art and is considered the largest collection of magazines for homosexual men and women in Austria. An extensive archive preserves the written and material evidence of gays, lesbian life as well as trans- and intersexuality, which is an invaluable contribution to the preservation of the queer culture.

The roots of Qwien lie in the efforts of the queer culture that already started in the Ecce Homo association. This organized the queer cultural and entertainment festival "Vienna is the other way around" until 2003. The rental agreement for the new location in Ramperstorffergasse runs over 30 years, which underlines the long -term character of this project. There are also discussions with the magistrate departments 7 (culture) and 13 (education and youth) regarding the framework budget to further secure the cultural work of Qwien

Overall, it shows that Qwien is not just an archive and a library, but a lively space of reflection, exchange and a place of knowledge about the queer history of Vienna and beyond, as on Wikipedia . The new residence could become more than just a cultural space - it could become a center for queer identity and history in Vienna.