Vice Mayor of Vienna Vassilakou Visits Los Angeles

Vice Mayor Vassilakou and Austrian Consul General Ulrike Ritzinger in LA.

Vice Mayor Vassilakou and Austrian Consul General Ulrike Ritzinger in LA.

Vice Mayor of the City of Vienna, Maria Vassilakou, visited Los Angeles and participated in a panel discussion entitled  “Democracy at Community Level” on February 24, 2016. The event addressed questions pertaining to enhanced public engagement and voter participation at community level. It was jointly organized by the Austrian and Swiss consulates general in cooperation with Zocalo Public Square. Additional panelists included Grayce Liu, head of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment of the City of Los Angeles and Bruno Kaufmann, correspondent of SwissInfo.


Vienna Executive City Councillor Renate Brauner in New York City

Brauner (middle), with Austrian newspaper publishers Christoph & Eva Dichand, Ambassador Waldner and his wife, Gudrun Faudon-Waldner.

Brauner (middle), with Austrian newspaper publishers Christoph & Eva Dichand, Ambassador Waldner and his wife, Gudrun Faudon-Waldner.

The Executive City Councillor of Finance, Economic and International Affairs of Vienna, Renate Brauner visited New York City to participate in the 61st Viennese Opera Ball New York and to honor Stephen Harnik, long-standing legal counsel to the Consulate General in New York.

The 61st VIENNESE OPERA BALL

Ambassador Waldner and his wife, Gudrun Faudon-Waldner, leading the Committee of Honor.

Ambassador Waldner and his wife, Gudrun Faudon-Waldner, leading the Committee of Honor.

The ball is held annually at New York’s iconic WALDORF ASTORIA Hotel. Brauner was joined by Ambassador Wolfgang Waldner, who wore his decorations by the City of Vienna and led the the Committee of Honor into the ballroom to enjoy the opening by the “débutants” couples to the familiar sound of Vienna Waltzes, framed by live opera performances, and a bright West Point color guard. Ambassador Waldner was delighted to attend the ball: "The Vienna Opera Ball at the Waldorf Astoria is arguably the most prestigious Ball outside of Vienna. A truly enjoyable evening, owed to the able organization of Ms. Marcie Rudell whom I hereby would like to congratulate for her outstanding work. A night to be remembered - until we meet again next year!"

Honoring Mr. Stephen Harnik

Stephen Harnik, long-standing Legal Counsel to the Consulate General and the other Austrian Missions in New York, was handed the “Silberner Rathausmann” award by City Councillor Renate Brauner, member of the City Government, on February 18th at the Residence of Consul General Georg Heindl.

Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl conferred this award to Mr. Harnik for his merits in promoting the ties of Viennese cultural institutions with New York. Harnik generously puts his legal expertise and contacts at the disposal of Vienna cultural flagships such as the Freud Museum, the Vienna Boys’ Choir, Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Albertina Gallery or the Konzerthaus. He has become a key personality in cultural relations between Vienna and the United States.

Stephen Harniks parents were both born Viennese, but forced to flee in 1938 by the Nazi Regime. Stephen’s father Hans Harnik already served in the position now held by his son, as Legal Counsel to the Consulate General.

In her laudatory remarks, City Councillor Brauner praised Stephen Harnik as “The best Viennese New York has, and the best New Yorker Vienna has”.

The “Silberner Rathausmann” is a depiction of the figure of the medieval knight atop the highest tower of the Town Hall, who symbolically watches over Vienna.

W.E.B. enters U.S. market

W.E.B.’s subsidiary SWEB Development Inc. obtained the rights to buy the Pisgah Mountain wind farm in Maine, which paves the way for W.E.B. to enter the U.S. market. This provides the company with new opportunities to benefit from the considerable growth in the sector of wind energy in North America.

Erwin Wurm's "One Minute Sculptures" at the MAK Center in Los Angeles

Austrian artist Erwin Wurm presents “One Minute Sculptures” at the MAK Center for Arts and Architecture’s Schindler House in Los Angeles, CA. Wurm has been performing this series since 1997, and this marks the first time that Wurm’s influential work is shown at a major institution in Los Angeles.  According to MAK Center, the artist will “source props ranging from banal to blatantly comedic, and then produce a set of instructions for visitors to perform the various sculptures for sixty seconds at a time, consisting of balancing acts, mild contortions, and altered uses of everyday physical objects.”

For more information, please visit the MAK Center's website and consult a recent article by The New York Times on Mr. Wurm’s “One Minute Sculptures.”

Watch a video on Erwin Wurm's "One Minute Sculptures" from a previous occasion:

Photo: Screenshot, YouTube

A Time to Bid Farewell

By Ambassador Hans Peter Manz

It is always a bittersweet moment when a posting comes to an end. Looking back, you remember the many people met, the wonderful places visited and the more or less successful efforts to accomplish your mission – and it is hard to let go because you know about the projects in the pipeline and that you will not be there to see them completed. But you also look forward to returning home and reconnecting with old friends.

Happy Holidays!

The Austrian Press- and Information Service wishes you Happy Holidays and a joyful New Year!

At this time of year, we take time to reflect. The year 2015 presented itself with a barrage of Austrian anniversaries, which we reflected on in two editions of Austrian Information. We also enjoyed meeting some of you at one of the many events at the Embassy, from commemoration of the U.S. soldiers who liberated Salzburg in 1945, the public viewing for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, to our annual National Day celebration.

We appreciate working with you and hope that the holidays and the coming year will bring you and your families happiness and success!


Published: AI - Winter 2015/2016

The Winter 2015/2016 Issue of Austrian Information has been published.

The overwhelming feedback on the last edition of Austrian Information about Vienna’s grand boulevard, the Ringstrasse, has gratified our small team. Thank you for this encouragement to push our endeavors further, seeking thematic stringency and quality without neglecting entertainment and reading pleasure. 

As foreshadowed in Austrian Information’s previous issue, the present edition is to be seen as its modern counterpart, exploring many more anniversaries of 2015 with a special focus on contemporary Austro-American relations.

Happy Reading!

Hosting the 5th Annual Hanukkha Celebration

On December 7, 2015 the Austrian Embassy, in partnership with the Washington Regional Office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and AJC ACCESS (AJC's Young Professionals Program), hosted the 5th annual Hanukkah celebration.

After welcoming remarks, Ambassador Hans Peter Manz together with Alan Ronkin (Director of AJC Washington) and Adrianne Malasky (Co-Chair of AJC ACCESS) lit the candles of the Menorah. Following the ceremony, a buffet dinner was served in the atrium of the Embassy providing the guests with an opportunity to mix and mingle.

View Photos:

Upcoming: Exhibition: Erich Lessing. Andrew Mezvinsky.

The Jewish Museum Vienna, in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington, D.C. and the Embassy of Austria presents two exhibitions, LESSING PRESENTS LESSING, works by noted photographer Erich Lessing, and A GOOD DAY, a multimedia installation by Andrew Mezvinsky based on Primo Levi's account of survival in Auschwitz tour the US in 2015/16. The exhibition will be shown from January 20 - March 18, 2016.