Frederick Kiesler Foundation

Finally, the time is now - it was almost twelve years ago, December 2013, that I met Spyros Papapetros through Monika Pessler, who had just taken up the position as director at the Sigmund Freud Museum after leaving the Frederick Kiesler Foundation. We decided to publish Kiesler's unfinished and therefore never published book project “Magic Architecture. The Story of Human Housing” as a critical edition. At the time, I never would have thought that the book would not be published until 2025. Together, and with the help of many people, we reconstructed the “final” version with all its preliminary stages, searched for the sources that had been instrumental to Kiesler, discovered the important contribution made to this project by Stefi Kiesler, Frederick's first wife, and assigned the composite illustration plates, diagrams, and drawings to the 10 parts of this Neo-Vitruvian treatise. Spyro's teaching commitments at Princeton and my administrative duties at the foundation repeatedly interrupted the work and made the project seem endless. And then there was the pandemic. Despite all this, we finally made it. We persevered, and I am delighted. Thank you to all the institutions that made the project possible through their funding. Thank you to Kerstin Putz for her careful work on the text! Thanks also to Tom Weaver and Sarah Handelmann. Thanks to Ben Fehrman-Lee, who turned the publication into such a beautiful book object! (and to all the others involved) many others shared our enthusiasm for “Magic Architecture” when the project was shown in two exhibitions – “Pre-Architectures” at CIVA in Brussels and as part of the project “The Stammering Circle” in Lviv. However, I never would have expected that on the day the book was published, we would become number one among the “new releases” in the “Architectural Criticism” section of the largest online bookstore. “MAGIC ARCHITECTURE. The Story of Human Housing” by Frederick Kiesler, edited by Spyros Papapetros and Gerd Zillner, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2025. #magicarchitecture #frederickkiesler photos: #benfehrmanlee #michaelnagl

ANNOUNCEMENT Please note: the Austrian Frederick und Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation is temporarily closed. We are moving to the Kenyon Pavilion at Sophienpark. The new address is: Apollogasse 21 / Top 3 1070 Vienna, Austria Details about our reopening will be announced.

Presenting Magic Architecture: The Story of Human Housing by Frederick Kiesler, the artist and architect’s “most ambitious book project, an epoch-spanning history of human housing from prehistory to the atomic era,” which, until now, has been left unpublished.  The culmination of decades of Kiesler’s own life and comprising more than a decade of archival research conducted by co-editors Spyros Papapetros and Gerd Zillner, this book preserves the author’s original vision while bringing Magic Architecture into the present. Edited by: Spyros Papapetros, Professor of Art and Architecture @princetonarchitecture Gerd Zillner @gerd_zillner Director of @kiesler_foundation Published by: @mitpress Commissioning Editor: Thomas Weaver Text Editor: @sarahhandelman Copy editor: Matthew Abbate  Graphic Design: @benfehrmanlee with Julia Novitch Printing: @musumeciatelier in Italy Consulting: Michele Abrigo @printingartbooks Color Separations: DawkinsColour, UK Special thanks to Barr Ferree Publication Fund and the @grahamfoundation Photos by @westoncolton

Upcoming: MAGIC ARCHITECTURE Book presentation at @buecherbogen_berlin on Wednesday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. Gerd Zillner, co-editor of "Magic Architecture", and Joachim Krausse, historian of Architecture and Design, will discuss and present the book. Looking forward to see you there, Berlin! 📸: Michael Nagl

Magic Architecture. The Story of Human Housing, by Frederick Kiesler, edited by Spyros Papapetros and @gerd_zillner , published by @mitpress @kiesler_foundation #keepreading #architecture #books #housing #house #shelter #human #history #story #frederickkiesler

The Frederick Kiesler Foundation wishes you happy holidays and all the best for the new year! Between farewells and new beginnings, we’re checking in one last time in 2025 – right in the middle of moving preparations at Mariahilfer Straße 1b. Many boxes have already been packed, and we’re eagerly anticipating our new location in the Kenyon Pavilion at Apollogasse 21/3. 2026 will be especially exciting for us. We can hardly wait for the new premises to fill with life. Of course, we’ll keep you updated via our newsletter and our Instagram account. We look forward to seeing you again in 2026! ____________________________________________ Frederick Kiesler, Galaxy of Wishes (design for a Christmas card), 1956 We thank our partners at hs art service for their tireless efforts!

We mourn the loss of architect Frank O. Gehry (1929-2025), laureate of the very first Frederick Kiesler Prize. In 1998 the jury, consisting of Odile Decq, Phyllis Lambert, Harald Szeemann, Robert Wilson and Hans Hollein, awarded the Kiesler Prize to Frank O. Gehry for „[h]is constant manifestation of courage, […] and the obvious pleasure with which he develops his buildings [...]. The image and reality of his work are the result of a choreography of the unpredictable, a dialogue of both static and destabilizing elements. They are metaphors, arrested moments of a ‚correlating‘ fantasy able to create sensuous and mental spaces that constantly seek new surfaces.“ The photo was taken at the award ceremony in Vienna, with Austrian chancellor Viktor Klima presenting the prize to Frank O. Gehry in the presence of Lillian Kiesler.

INVITATION FAREWELL MaHü * NEW PREMISES 2026 * On November 14th 2025, the finissage of „Frederick Kiesler. The Endless Search“ will take place in the course of VIENNA ART WEEK. This event marks not only the conclusion of an exhibition, but also the end of a chapter in the foundation’s history, as it bids farewell to its location on Mariahilfer Straße. In 2026, the Frederick Kiesler Foundation will move into new premises on Apollogasse, located on the grounds of the former Sophienspital in Vienna’s Neubau district. We already look forward to welcoming you to our new location in April 2026! To mark the festive conclusion, we invite you to an evening programme that brings together art and sound: with texts by Frederick Kiesler, read by Miriam Stoney, music by Stefan Grimus. The evening will be hosted by Director Gerd Zillner. ____________________________________________ Cultural Nomads We are nomads—cultural nomads. Or better: Nomads of civilization. Moving from one apartment to another, from one town to another, or across borders into different lands. Seeking opportunities and quitting them if they fulfill their promise fast. We live an emergency life, a deadline life. – Entry for Friday, January 22, 1960, p. 249 Frederick Kiesler, Inside the Endless House (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966) ____________________________________________ @gerd_zillner @stefangrimus #miriamstoney @viennaartweek ____________________________________________ Photo credits: Eliana Kirkcaldy Robert Bergmann Flyer design: Nina Ober

LAST WEEK SCHÖNER WOHNEN ARCHITECTURAL VISIONS FROM 1900 TO TODAY Through October 19th, 2025 @kunsthalletuebingen ___________________ The theme of habitation (Wohnen) is more topical than ever. How and where we live influence our sense of well-being and shape our behaviour and our identity. Since time immemorial, artists and architects have captured their initial ideas of a future architecture in drawings. Architectural drawings from past eras, however, are not only a means of generating ideas or a medium for documenting building projects. As “catchment organs of internal and external life” (Aby Warburg), they also provide information on the attitude of the architect and on the spirit of the time. Adopting this cultural-scientific approach, the Kunsthalle Tübingen is focusing on the artistic architectural drawing as an art form of the past one hundred years. On the basis of sketches as well as selected models and sculptures dating from the 20th century to today, the exhibition will highlight how social and technical change influenced artists’ and architects’ new habitation concepts and urban visions. For modernist architects are increasingly taking individual lifestyles and living spaces into account in their social contexts and, as it were, broadening the view—out of one’s own four walls in the direction of collective living contexts in urban surroundings. (Kunsthalle Tübingen) Concept and curator: Dr. Nicole Fritz Curatorial assistant: Zita Hartel An exhibition organised by the Kunsthalle Tübingen in collaboration with the German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt am Main, as main lender. (Director: Peter Cachola Schmal) _____________________ 📸: Exhibition views, SCHÖNER WOHNEN, Kunsthalle Tübingen, DE, 2025 Photo 1: Anette Cardlinale, Photo 2: Ulrich Metz

✨ Ausstellungstipp im Juli: Frederick Kiesler. The Endless Search ✨ In seinen letzten Lebensjahren arbeitete Friedrich Kiesler an einer Sammlung von tagebuchähnlichen Notizen, Anekdoten und Reiseberichten, ergänzt durch Gedichte sowie Betrachtungen zu Architektur und Kunst. Durch Kieslers Tod im Dezember 1965 blieb sein Buchprojekt mit dem Arbeitstitel »The Endless Search« unvollendet und wurde unter dem Titel »Inside the Endless House. Art, People and Architecture. A Journal« posthum durch seine Witwe Lillian Kiesler veröffentlicht. Die Ausstellung greift diese Gedanken auf und nimmt die Besucher:innen mit auf eine „endlose Suche“ durch Kieslers Architektur und Kunst sowie zu den Wegbegleiter:innen, die sein künstlerisches Netzwerk in New York prägten. Die Ausstellung zeigt dabei die große Vielfalt des Archivs der Friedrich Kiesler Stiftung und umfasst die unterschiedlichsten Medientypen – etwa Glasplattendias, Tagebücher, kleine Modelle, Zeichnungen und Lebensdokumente, die bisher kaum oder nie zu sehen waren. 📍 Österreichische Friedrich & Lillian Kiesler Privatstiftung, Mariahilfer Straße 1b/Top 1, 1060 Wien 📆 Die Ausstellung ist bis 14. November 2025 zu sehen. 📸 © 2025 Österreichische Friedrich und Lillian Kiesler Privatstiftung, Wien, Fotos: Michael Nagl @kiesler_foundation #FrederickKiesler #KieslerFoundation #Ausstellung

We wish you a a beautiful and relaxing summer!☀️ The team of the Frederick Kiesler Foundation is still there for you and looks forward to your visit to our current exhibition Frederick Kiesler. The Endless Search during the usual opening hours (Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm). When planning your visit, please note that the foundation will remain closed during summer break from August 1st to 15th, 2025. 📷: Frederick Kiesler, Leo Castelli and Salvatore Scarpitta on the beach in East Hampton, NY, around 1960 © Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation, Vienna

Вражаючі пошуки Фредеріка Кіслера, названі Ніколаусем Гіршем до-архітектурою – статися-до-кінця їй не вдалося, але переслідувати нас вона продовжує. Звертаючись до палеонтології, природної та культурної антропології, історії мистецтв, художник показує реалізований та нереалізований потенціал архітектури. «Магічної архітектури», як і названа рукописна праця. Як і Варбург, Кіслер, чернівецький вигнанець, плутає сліди, біографію, співставляє форми з тисячолітньою дистанцією. І Машинна зала Львівської політехніки, де обʼєкти, що позначали техноутопії Австро-Угорщини та СРСР, змушують продовжувати формальні пошуки Кіслера. «Інстинкт, інтуїція, зорові образи і думка були злиті воєдино в самій серцевині людського досвіду» x Frederick Kiesler’s ideas, which Nikolaus Hirsch called “pre-architecture,” never fully came to life, but they still inspire and follow us today. The artist looks to paleontology, natural and cultural anthropology, and art history to show what architecture could be—both what was built and what remained just a dream. Kiesler called it “Magical Architecture,” the title of his handwritten manuscript. Like Aby Warburg, Kiesler, who was born in Chernivtsi and later exiled, mixed personal stories with ancient forms and ideas. In the Machine Hall of Lviv Polytechnic, old objects from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Soviet Union still hold traces of past techno-utopias. They push us to continue Kiesler’s search for new architectural forms. "Instinct, intuition, visual imagery, and thought were fused together at the very core of human experience." в рамках кола невимовного Кураторка @passaiko