ENDED: STADTARBEIT 2025 - ERSTE BANK SOCIAL DESIGNPREIS

VIENNA DESIGN WEEK/Kollektiv Fischka/Patrizia Gapp

ARCHIVES FOR THE FUTURE

For many years, Stadtarbeit has been an essential part of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, made possible with the support of the Erste Bank sponsorship program – Vermehrt Schönes! – and in collaboration with Caritas Wien. This format is dedicated to Social Design—the shaping of our collective coexistence—and has been commissioning pioneering design projects for over a decade, shaped by a distinct Viennese understanding of this discipline.

Stadtarbeit supports projects that focus on human interaction and social responsibility. This can include the analysis of urban and social spaces, the improvement of specific social situations, or addressing the lived realities of minorities in the city. The projects take place in public spaces and should be accessible and comprehensible to the general public.

As part of the open call ‘Archives for the Future’, STADTARBEIT 2025 is looking for social design projects that make knowledge, experiences and perspectives in Vienna visible and accessible. Archives are more than just collections of data - they are living places of dialogue and community. We are looking for ideas for the common good that create new knowledge, rethink existing knowledge and connect people with each other. Design can serve as a bridge for exchange and participation. The Open Call invites you to develop new forms of collective knowledge and design tools for a shared future. More on this below. 

WE INVITE YOU

Stadtarbeit offers individuals, teams, and organisations the opportunity to realise a Social Design project as part of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2025—one that reaches both an international professional audience and local communities.

We welcome applications from designers, artists, architects, urban researchers, social workers, activists, artisans, educators, residents, students, professional creatives, developers, urban enthusiasts, and individuals with new approaches or existing projects they wish to further develop within the framework of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. We look forward to your submissions!

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Ideas, concepts, and projects that understand the city as a living archive—introducing new approaches to creating, sharing, and making knowledge accessible, breaking down social barriers, and actively shaping collective insights.

We especially encourage concepts developed in collaboration with Caritas Wien and other NGOs, associations, and initiatives in the respective focus district (details will follow).

The application deadline is 04.05.2025.

OPEN CALL 2025: ARCHIVES FOR THE FUTURE

Vienna as a Living Archive

The biographies, stories, experiences, and perspectives of city residents become tangible in places, activities, and ways of working. All this and much more tell the story of life in our city.

The past has happened, but only what is archived, told, and passed on shapes us as a society. But where do we find the knowledge that brings us closer to the city and its inhabitants?

Vienna is more than just a place to live, work, and stay. The city holds an archive full of memories, narratives, and knowledge. Everywhere, we encounter traces of the past that bring us closer to the experiences of others. How can we capture this diversity and make it accessible? How can a city’s archive become alive?

Archives – their use, their creation, and the information they contain – are closely tied to their creators and keepers. Who tells the story? For whom? And who are the key actors?

Archives for the future are vibrant places of dialogue, more than just digital databases. They preserve, inspire, and invite participation. Design can be the bridge that enables open exchange and fosters understanding.

With this open call, we invite you to design archives for the future: to make stories visible, to make knowledge accessible, and to create connections between people. Develop a project that opens new possibilities and pathways for becoming aware of the near or distant past—and use that awareness to build tools for a shared future.

WHAT WE OFFER

  • Implementation budget of €4,000 (incl. VAT)
  • Support from VIENNA DESIGN WEEK in organizing and implementing the project
  • The projects are part of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK program and will be presented to the audience as a central part of the festival.
  • The projects will be featured in advance on social media, the website, and in the newsletter.

IMPORTANT

  • The project must be accessible to visitors of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. The specified opening hours must be adhered to.
  • Additional events during the festival and within the festival program are encouraged (e.g., vernissage, finissage, educational programmes, workshops, readings, guided tours, etc.).
  • The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK opening ceremony and closing events should also be taken into account.
  • Time for setup and dismantling must be planned and coordinated with the responsible team members of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK.
  • The same conditions apply to both local and international applicants.

DEADLINES

  • Application Deadline: 04.05.2025
  • Jury Meeting: Beginning of May
  • Kick-Off Event: End of May / Beginning of June
  • Editorial deadline for festival guide: End of June
  •  VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2025: 26. September until 05. Oktober 2025

HOW TO APPLY

APPLICATION FORM

FOR FURTHER QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT

Julia Habarda
Projectmanagement

stadtarbeit@viennadesignweek.at