Museum of Applied Arts

Wonderful museum for those who love Wiener Werkstatte and Succession works. The displays are beautifully designed, but the lighting a little dim and uneven in places--possibly dim for conservation reasons? Anyway, well worth the visit. The cafe is terrific--stylish and with great food and service.

Interesting experience. There were some parts of the exhibitions very well displayed, while others were not so fitting. I have actually spent more than half of the time on the -1 floor. Allocate at least one and a half hours, maybe 2 or 3 if you want to see everything

This is an amazing gallery in a beautiful building. The exhibitions are so well displayed and with German and English descriptions. Lovely sofas to rest on too, a great shop and really nice cafe restaurant. Well worth a visit.

Well curated collection of furniture, some glass and ceramics, emphasizing the early 20th century (secession, arts and crafts, juggendstill). The gallery of chairs was creatively put together, but eventually it's a lot of chairs followed by a lot of glass and it gets a bit overwhelming. In the basement there is a lot of industrial design. Museum personnel in the rooms doesn't speak english, they're guards who serve to tell people off rather than provide assistance. I DISLIKED that there were no descriptions of items in several rooms, as you instead have to grab a cheaply together pamphlet that may not even be in the room. Overall, good and varied inventory, not a great consideration of visitors' experiences.

The Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) was a bit of a mediocre experience. The exhibits on Austrian design were okay, but nothing too exciting. The building is nice, but overall it didn’t really stand out. It’s worth a look if you’re into design, but not a must-see.

Magnificient museum of design, nice furniture from period biedermeier, 19. century and Vienna 1900. I'm Very surprised by the modern and thought-provoking installation of the Asian art exhibition.

Very much underwhelming for such a big building, not to mention the hostility of the exhibition assistants. I was scolded for using an object that was meant to be interacted with, even though there was no one else in line waiting to interact with it… Also, I believe Design Museums are there to incentivize conversations, and the exhibition assistants were clearly mad when I talked with my partner, even though we weren’t laud. The space felt pretty hostile overall. Also, in the room dedicated to Secession Furniture, they placed some weird sound installation that made me extremely anxious. Some loud rain sounds and doorbells. Left pretty stressed out. I did like how the curators were signed under the room labels to show who is saying what about the exhibit. The furniture part was great and described in detail with technical language. Temporary exhibitions lack this sort of expertise and are only concerned with politics. Vouching for marginalized people falls flat when you are selling overpriced Freitag bags in your shop… I liked the exhibition on contemporary materials but my overall experience was poor.

Outstanding museum. They have a great collection of historical design artifacts from not just Austria but across the world. They also feature new designs and inventions - designers exploring efficiency, sustainability and many other ways to improve on how we live. Plus some designs that are just delightfully weird. It was fascinating. Make sure you thoroughly explore every floor! MAK also has museum educators/docents who are stationed around the museum and who were able to add more color to certain exhibits. They were very friendly and knowledgeable - it took my museum experience to the next level!

MAK is an excellent Museum of Applied Arts. They do an excellent job getting guest curators and artists to engage with the collection in inventive and dynamic ways to highlight various items & how they relate to each other. This makes the collection come alive, and it becomes much more interesting to experience, compared to the standard, more static, approach I see in many museums. One highlight was the stunning 1907 gesso panels, Seven Princesses by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh. You need to see it in person to appreciate its subtle beauty and impressive scope. Apparently, the Seven Princesses only survived WW1 because a curator hid the piece to keep it safe. The curator brought it down to the museum's basement, put the panels into three crates along the wall, then built a brick wall in front of them, which was painted to match the existing walls. They stayed hidden like this until they were discovered in 1990. Another highlight was an installation from Superflux called Invocation for Hope, which featured hundreds of dead trees burned from a forest fire that were installed around some live plants & moss around a 'pool'. When I visited, they also had a lot of environment & sustainability related projects on display -- there were some really interesting projects there. The building itself also has lovely architectural features.

I happened to go to MAK on free night which is Tuesday from 6 PM to 10 PM so I had a really good time. Does it compare to the Victoria & Albert in London, NO.... but then again what does. Also this museum building has a lot of space, a lot of space that they don't really utilize very well. There could be a whole lot more on display. But anyway my favorite part was the permanent collection which is on the top floor, lots of decorative items from around 1890 into 1940's.

Wonderful museum for decorative arts. especially good for Weiner Werkstatte items. Excellent temporary exhibit featuring virtual reality glasses for 'entering' Gustav Klimt paintings!

Such an interesting, thoughtful set of exhibits. Really loved the "handmade" quality of many of the exhibits (way to walk your talk, MAK) and the "guest curation" by so many modern artists and writers. Highly recommended for visitors who are interested in applied arts. One sour note: MAK needs a re-usable shopping bag that is all MAK, instead of the ones you sell now. I would LOVE to advertise you in all my schlepping.

Worth seeking out as the exhibits cover so many aspects of design - clothing, architecture, sustainability, tech, food/eating, play ... totally kid-friendly and with a nice restaurant attached. I would totally go again when back in Vienna