Exactly As Imagined

A project by the Department of Site-Specific Art / University of Applied Arts Vienna

brut nordwest – rehearsal space
Group show / Performance / Procession / Spatial intervention
{Enacted interconnectedness} {Horizontal process} {Public space}

In cooperation with the Klima Biennale Wien and the University of Applied Arts Vienna / Department of Site-Specific Art, brut is presenting an intervention in public space and an exhibition that gives the public an insight into the artistic creation process. A temporary collective of students and artists will occupy the rehearsal rooms of brut nordwest and the grounds of the Nordwestbahnhof, inviting visitors to rethink work flows in the visual arts.

, © Exactly As Imagined Collective

Exactly As Imagined – A project by the Department of Site-Specific Art / University of Applied Arts Vienna

, © Yuliia Sudarchykova

Exactly As Imagined ­– A project by the Department of Site-Specific Art / University of Applied Arts Vienna

, © Yuliia Sudarchykova

Exactly As Imagined ­– A project by the Department of Site-Specific Art / University of Applied Arts Vienna

Exactly As Imagined emerges from an ongoing process shaped not by a fixed curation but by the collaborative efforts of a temporary collective of art students, artists, and cultural workers.  The collective challenges and transforms the concept of the traditional ‘art exhibition’ shifting the space into a zone of shared expression and inquiry. Through the constant articulation of difference(s) and resistance(s), Exactly As Imagined acts as a platform for unearthing hidden narratives and creating new ones, fostering a sense of interconnectedness and interdependence. How do we address a site in constant flux, caught between invisibility and hypervisibility? How do we take care of it and how do we take care of each other? How do we imagine its pasts and futures? 

As a transitory collective, we intervene both collectively and individually in the innerspace of the exhibition location – brut’s working dance studios – as well as in its outer space – the area of the former station. Hereby, we investigate its historicity and its materiality, its occupation and its abandonment, its structure and its surfaces. We dig out physically and metaphorically some historical layers, we populate it with works and stories, we expand its boundaries and shape. 

Located within the industrial site of the former Vienna Northwest Railway Station, the building once housed a clothing company, later a beverage dealer's storage, and is today the temporary home for contemporary performative arts. Its imminent demolition will pave the way for a new district development. The collective spatial concept design of the exhibition delves into the building’s rich histories. Embracing impermanence, we engage with it minimally but radically. We work with what we found on the site that we shortly inhabit. Instead of adding things and through a process akin to archaeological excavation, we dismantle and peel away the layers of the space's infrastructure. A subtle vitality emerges, inviting us to explore the architecture’s  inner anatomy. From pulsing wires to buzzing blinds and flickering lights, the building reveals itself in unexpected ways, luring us in for deeper exploration. By committing to each other and our delirious explorations we take over continuous care work, we challenge conventional boundaries and invite the public to walk into an unfinished conversation.

As part of the exhibition, a performative procession will take place on two dates (Fri, 7 and Wed, 26 June): 

We go for a walk through the Nordwestbahn area. Today an industrial wasteland, a site of remembrance and an urban borderzone, it will soon be a new urban district.  A procession. Mourning what is gone, what left traces or a ghostly presence. Celebrating what grew in the shadows of abandonment. We carry found objects, craft fragile forms of attention, reactivate unseen sights, excavate hidden tracks. And, inevitably, we linger on the ridge between genuine symbolic investment and ruin porn.

Sturdy shoes are recommended for participation in the procession. 

With: Lin Wolf / Ella Texaco & Florin Falloni / Evgeny Tantsurin / Maryam Shahidifar / Felix Schwentner / Artur Schernthaner-Lourdesamy / Judith Raupp / Yevheniia Pavlova / Laura Sofia Oyuela Flores / Veronika Nikiforova / Arina Nekliudova / Paula Mudri / Konstantin Leitner / Laura Ana Josic / Anne Faucheret / Gala Alica

Credits

The exhibition was developed within the course Exhibitions: Thinking with them and making them held by Anne Faucheret at the Department of Site-specific Art. In cooperation with brut Wien & Klima Biennale Wien. 

Dates & Tickets

Sat, 01 June, 6:00 pm Vernissage 
   
Sun, 02 – Sun, 09 June, 5:00–10:00 pm Exhibition open
   
Sun, 02 June, 6:00 pm Performance programme
6:00 pm Felix Schwentner New Latte Art II: Cool Neighbourhood
6:30 pm Laura Sofía Oyuela Flores ángel caído
7:00 pm Ella Texaco & Florin Falloni The good, the bad and the ugly city

Wed, 05 & Sat, 08 June, 6:00 pm Guided tours 
   
Fri, 07 June, 6:00 pm Performative Procession & Performance programme
6:00 pm performative procession
7:30 pm Felix Schwentner New Latte Art II: Cool Neighbourhood
8:00 pm Laura Sofía Oyuela Flores ángel caído
        
Sun, 09 June, 2:00 pm Closing brunch
     
Wed, 26 June, 6:00 pm Performative Procession  

Sturdy shoes are recommended for participation in the procession. 

Free admission 

June 2024

Sat. 01.06.2024, 18:00
Opening / Free admission

Sun. 02.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Sun. 02.06.2024, 18:00
Performances / Free admission

Tue. 04.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Wed. 05.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Wed. 05.06.2024, 18:00
Guided tour / Free admission

Thu. 06.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Fri. 07.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Fri. 07.06.2024, 18:00
Performative procession & performances / Free admission

Sat. 08.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Sat. 08.06.2024, 18:00
Guided tour / Free admission

Sun. 09.06.2024, 14:00
Closing brunch / Free admission

Sun. 09.06.2024, 17:00 - 22:00
Exhibition open / Free admission

Wed. 26.06.2024, 18:00
Performative procession / Free admission / Sturdy shoes are recommended for participation in the procession

brut nordwest – rehearsal space
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna

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September 2025
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
01 02 03 04 05 06 07
08 09 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30          

brut all over Vienna

brut nordwest

accessible

Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible

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Theresa Scheinecker / Ray & Katharina Senk / Senki
Move to the Beat – Stay for the Curry
October 2025
Karin Pauer
LOW
October 2025
Season Opening Party
October 2025
Aperitivo
October 2025
Matteo Haitzmann
Im Styx baden
November 2025
Veza Fernández
Chantal, the body is a text longing for perspective
November 2025
Aperitivo
November 2025
Elena Lach & Ema Benčíková
Spacing in: Relaxed Performance Lab
November 2025
DARUM (Victoria Halper & Kai Krösche)
[EOL]. End of Life
November 2025
Drag Show with the Dragsau Collective
November 2025
Touch tour
November 2025
Alex Franz Zehetbauer
An Evening with

studio brut

not accessible

Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible

October 2025
Lens Kühleitner & Olivia Hild
trace my layers, thrust your guts
October 2025
Aperitivo
November 2025
François-Eloi Lavignac
Fifth position
November 2025
Laureen Drexler & Giorgia Scisciola
PIERRE

Breitenseer Lichtspiele

not accessible

Breitenseer Straße 21, 1140 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Hütteldorfer Straße) Tram: 10 (Laurentius Platz), 49 (Hütteldorfer Straße)

October 2025
Alex Franz Zehetbauer
An Evening with

WUK performing arts

barrierefrei

Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)

November 2025
Maria Mam & Flora Renhardt
sk8r grrrl
November 2025
Simone Lorenzo Benini & Miriam Budzáková
Sandpit