Art Program 2022-2023
The ONB Labs Art Program at the Austrian National Library
The ONB Labs invite students from the University of Arts Linz, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna to artistically engage with digital collections of the Austrian National Library (ONB). The ONB Labs are the Austrian National Library's platform for digital collections as data for research, experimentation and creative use.
Apply for the ONB Labs Art Program and create your own artwork from our historical postcards, newspapers, travelogues or botanical illustrations. The Art Program is meant to support creative engagement with the Austrian National Library's digital collections. For the artworks, neither form nor medium or material are determined. The only prerequisite for the artwork is a final presentation in a web browser. The project may be born digital or digitized after its production for the online presentation. The artworks created in the ONB Labs Art Program will be published in the ONB Labs Artspace and will also be presented at a final project exhibition at the Austrian National Library. Selected students will receive a budget of 500 Euros per person for the project.
Collections Featured in the Art Program
For the ONB Labs Art Program, we have chosen four collections representing the rich variety of the Austrian National Library's digital collections. Each of the collections consists of different types of media and originally served specific purposes in media, communication or in a social context. Explore our collections online by clicking the links provided in the short descriptions. We invite you to make your own selection and combine documents and collections to fit the requirements of your idea.
- AKON – Travel to remote places all around the world with our postcard collection. You can browse the collection on the AKON platform. Some of the postcards contain messages from travel destinations far away. You may also navigate the AKON map to select specific places.
- Wiener Zeitung – The Wiener Zeitung dates back to 1703 and is therefore among the oldest newspapers worldwide still in circulation today. You can immerse yourself in the newspapers of historical Vienna via ANNO (Austrian Newspaper Online), the Austrian National Library's platform for newspapers.
- Travelogues – The Orient has been a source of fascination for travellers across centuries. Reports from travels to the Near East touch on cultural and social topics, among which many are still relevant today. We have selected a collection of travelogues in German, English and French published between 1501 and 1850. You can browse the collection in our library catalogue. For digitized items click on "Online Zugriff".
- Botanical illustrations – Colourful flowers, bushes and trees grow among the approximately 2.000 digitized natural illustrations from the Austrian National Library's Picture Archives and Graphics Department. The illustrations, mostly aquarelles, were part of florilegia for Habsburg emperors (especially Franz I.). You can explore the collection at ÖNB digital.
The required datasets will be individually prepared for the selected participants at the beginning of the Art Program.
Greetings from abroad sends ... – Postcards from the turn of the century
News from Vienna and the globe – The Wiener Zeitung 1703-1882
Travellers reporting from the Orient – Travelogues 1500-1850
A colourful variety of imperial flowers - Illustrations from the 19th century
The Art Program runs from 28th of November 2022 to 28th of February 2023. A kick-off workshop offers the participants of the program the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the collections and to discuss their project ideas with our advisors and collection experts. Part of the program will be two consecutive workshops for exchange and feedback.
Irene Posch and Manuela Naveau are advisors of the ONB Labs Art Program. Irene Posch is a researcher and artist with a background in media and computer science. Her work explores the integration of technological developments into the fields of art and craft and vice versa. Manuela Naveau is an artist and curator at Ars Electronica Linz. Her research focuses on networks and knowledge in the context of computer-based artistic practice. Both currently teach at the University of Arts Linz.
Outline of the Art Program
- First workshop at the ÖNB in Vienna: 28th of November 2022, from 2 pm to 6 pm (a prerequisite for participation in the Art Program): Kick-off and introduction to the data sets
- 2 other workshops, one in the beginning of January and one in the end of February in Linz and Vienna respectively
- Final project presentation at the Austrian National Library in May 2023
- Online presentation of the artworks at the ONB Labs Artspace in May 2023
Application Details
We are looking forward to your application. It should include the following:
- Portfolio
- Artistic biography
- First project ideas (max. 500 words)
A maximum of four participants will be selected from all applications. Applications are open to students of the University of Art Linz, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
- Deadline for applications is the 13th of November 2022, 11:59pm CET
- Successful applicants will be notified by 18th of November 2022
- Duration of the program: November 28th 2022 to February 28th 2023
Please mind the terms and conditions (German only) for this application.
ONB Labs are dedicated to experimentation and making its collections accessible for creative use. For previous examples of experiments working with the ONB Labs data see: labs.onb.ac.at. The Art Program is part of the international research project "Open Digital Libraries for Creative Use (ODL)". The project is collaboration between the Austrian National Library, the National Library of the Netherlands and the National Library of Estonia. The project aims at supporting creative and scientific reuse of open digital library collections. For further information on the project and reports from art programs undertaken please visit the project website. ODL is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
