I spent the next couple days enjoying Vienna... sort of. It got VERY cold and on Sunday it started to rain. Saturday was a rough start due to party times with my new Australian friends on Friday night. Aussies always seem to be everywhere and hang out in groups, and they LOVE to party... I should have known it was a bad idea from the start...
The Aussies
Saturday morning Chris (one of the Aussies) and I went to a nice bakery for a chocolate croissant and some coffee to refuel for the day. We also attempted to get some orange juice and instead got this sweet, murky liquid that was in fact orange but tasted little like orange juice. We met up with Matt and Nate (more Aussies) and headed to the museum quarter. They went to the Leopold while I went to the MOMUK (Modern Art). I wasn’t terribly impressed with the MOMUK... the exhibition space itself is a bit lacking and I wasn’t too enthralled with the subject matter. Cubism never revs me up much... So I only stayed for an hour before heading over to the Leopold to find the guys. I’m glad I went because the museum is so grand that I didn’t get a chance to go to the basement exhibition. The exhibition was by an Austrian artist named Otto Meuhl and was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen. Here is one of his paintings...
Now the paintings were not the issue. I’m okay (and quite like) when artists seek a reaction from their viewers and sometimes do so in odd disgusting ways. What was disturbing was the story of the artist himself. Meuhl started his life in a youth Nazi group and after the war ended up teaching mentally challenged children art. In the 60s he began to live in a commune and also began filming their activities, which included group sex, bestiality and sexual abuse of minors. Some of these films are on display in the exhibition. Meuhl was arrested and served time for abusing minors but was released and did not show any remorse for the victims. It wasn’t until this year that he apologized for his behavior. Needless to say, the initially unharmful paintings turned into disgusting representations of a lifestyle that those in the commune led, and were for the most part literal representations. It was quite disgusting. All of us left the exhibit in a weird funk, feeling like we needed a shower.
We took Saturday night easy and got up nice and early on Sunday. Chris and I hit up the little bakery again and had a proper Austrian breakfast. Soft-boiled egg, fresh baked bread, cottage cheese, tomato, cucumber, coffee, juice, yum. He took off for Budapest and I stayed in Vienna and tried to cope with the rain. It was not only crazy cold outside but rainy... and I went out with every intention of buying proper gloves and winter weather accessories, and then walking to check out another museum I didn’t get a chance to before. However it wasn’t long before I was reminded that it was Sunday... everything was closed. Cold, wet and defeated, I wandered back to the hostel and spent the day inside doing some much needed research.
That evening I had a beer with one of my room mates, Luke from England. We hung out at the hostel bar with Harlan from New Zealand and Greg from Arizona. We chatted about relationships and politics, museums and beer. It was a nice chill night. After a few I headed to bed. It is officially Day 5 and I am on my way to Budapest. More updates to come...
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