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Violence against women and gender-based violence are social realities that occur worldwide and in our everyday lives. Despite political efforts and growing public awareness, current developments show that gender-based violence remains deeply rooted in social structures. This makes initiatives that empower those affected and demand institutional responsibility all the more important in order to achieve further effective measures. In this context, the University of Applied Arts Vienna is once again sending a clear signal this year and actively participating in international campaigns such as Orange the World and collaborations that educate, raise awareness and initiate change.

"Orange the World reminds us that violence can arise when boundaries become unclear – and change begins when institutions take responsibility. The University of Applied Arts Vienna is committed to this responsibility – as a place of respectful and attentive coexistence," says Brigitte Felderer, Vice-Rector for Studies, Teaching and Diversity, on the subject.

On the occasion of the UN campaign Orange the World for an end to violence against women and girls, we revisit the Master project of Angewandte alumna Verena Herterich (MA 2025, Department Social Design, supervised by Brigitte Felderer & Elina Kränzle). SPREADVERSCHLUSS draws attention to, and exposes, structural gender-based violence where it occurs on normalised – and often unconscious – bodily levels in public space, and where it repeatedly inscribes itself into bodies and environments.

Bouchra Khalili's video work The Mapping Journey Project has been declared one of the most significant works of contemporary art: in its latest issue, the renowned Frieze magazine published a list of the 25 best works of the 21st century.

Angelika Loderer received the Promotion Prize of the Province of Styria for Contemporary Fine Art. She studied sculpture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in the class of Erwin Wurm from 2006 to 2011. A working grant was awarded to Hanna Besenhard, an alumna of the Department of Digital Arts (diploma 2024, supervised by Nicolaj Kirisits). Kia Sciarrone from the Department of Photography (Gabriele Rothemann) received the Viktor Fogarassy Prize along with an associated working grant.

The University of Applied Arts Vienna warmly congratulates the awardees!

Lisa Reiter (Department of Site-Specific Art) was awarded the main prize of the Soroptimists Linz on November 10, 2025. In her works, the artist interprets spaces and dimensions, exploring how they are imbued with traces of human interaction with life, as well as how they integrate as a shaping element. 

Organized by Petra Gruber and Camille Breuil, Department of Building Construction, I oA, University of Applied Arts Vienna.

The sixth International Circular Strategies Symposium, taking place from 20 to 21 November, addresses the theme of cultivating matter and poses the question of the aliveness of future architecture.

Miriam Unterthiner has been awarded the Austrian Book Prize 2025 in the debut category. The graduate of the Institute for Language Arts was honored for her theater text Blutbrot ("Blood Bread").

Blutbrot deals with a chapter of South Tyrolean post-war history that has hardly been addressed in literature to date: the work revolves around the theme of helping Nazi criminals escape across the Brenner Pass. Eichmann and Mengele, for example, fled via this route—first to Italy, then on to South America.

On 1 November 2025, Ulrike Kuch will assume office as Rector of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. We are all looking forward to working together and wish her a wonderful start at the Angewandte!

Margit Applegate was awarded the prize for her master’s thesis​ Reciprocal Refuges. 

With the opening of the exhibition Fernheilung [Distant Healing] on 15 October, the celebrations marking the 45th anniversary of the collection of the Angewandte began. Brigitte Felderer (Vice-Rector for Studies, Teaching and Diversity), Cosima Rainer (Head of Art Collection and Archive), and curator Robert Müller together with Helmut Draxler opened the exhibition, which is dedicated to the artistic scene in Vienna during the decade in which the collection was founded.

At the Dutch Design Week 2025 in Eindhoven, students from the Industrial Design Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, led by Stefan Diez, present Circular Design × Sharing Economy. The exhibition showcases office furniture designed for the NORNORM subscription- based model — a framework that shaped every design decision around modularity and adaptability.