Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (Museum for Social and Economic Affairs) is a museum located in

Margareten Margareten (; bar, Magredn) is the fifth district of Vienna (german: 5. Bezirk, Margareten). It is near the old town of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later.Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

History

Following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Vienna experienced extreme devastation and deprivation which radicalized architects and designers. This inspired them to engage in class politics and confront the city’s housing shortage. The Gesellschafts-und Wirtschaftmuseum (also known as the Museum of Society and Business) was established in 1924. The original Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (GeWiMu) existed from January 1925 until it was suppressed by the Austrofascists in February 1934. It was the base for the development of the

Vienna Method Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) is a method of showing social, technological, biological, and historical connections in pictorial form. It consists of a set of standardized and abstracted pictorial symbols to repres ...

. It was founded by

Otto Neurath Otto Karl Wilhelm Neurath (; 10 December 1882 – 22 December 1945) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. He was also the inventor of the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics and an innovator in mu ...

and evolved out of the Museum für Siedlung und Städtebau (Museum for Settlement and Town Planning). This had been set up following Neurath's involvement in the Austrian Association for Settlements and Small Gardens.Burke C. (2013) 'The Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Wien (Social and economic museum of Vienna) 1925-1934 in eds Burke C., Kindel e. and Walker S. ''Isotype: Design and contexts 1925-1971'' London: Hyphen Press The museum developed a collaborative relationship with the Otto Glöckel. In 1927,

Willem Sandberg Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (24 October 1897 – 9 April 1984) known as Willem Sandberg was a Dutch typographer, museum curator, and member of the Dutch resistance during World War II. Early life and career Sandberg was born i ...

visited Vienna, where he studied the Isotype system at the museum. In 1928 Neurath recruited

Gerd Arntz Gerd Arntz (11 December 1900, in Remscheid – 4 December 1988, in The Hague) was a German Modernist artist renowned for his black and white woodcuts. A core member of the Cologne Progressives, he was also a council communist. The Cologne Progres ...

from

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

to lead the Art and Design team there. Arntz was originally unsure about whether to take up the job offer, but thanks to the encouragement of

Franz Seiwert Franz Wilhelm Seiwert (March 9, 1894 – July 3, 1933) was a German painter and sculptor in a constructivist style. He was also politically active as a communist making significant contributions, both graphic and theoretical to ''Die Aktion' ...

he accepted and was soon joined by

Peter Alma Peter Alma (18 January 1886 Medan – 23 May 1969 Amsterdam) was a Dutch artist. Alma was born in Medan, Indonesia and attended the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague in 1904. On the recommendation of Franz Seiwert he was employed by the Gesellsch ...

and Augustin Tschinkel, both also associated with the Cologne Progressives, the art group Seiwert and Arntz had set up.

Vienna Method

The GeWiMu was the home of one of the most significant developments in graphic design: the

. This evolved out of Neurath's desire to produce informational material which was understandable regardless of the language skills of the onlooker.

Directors

* 1924-1934

* 1945-1972 Franz Rauscher, a student of Otto Neurath founded the Austrian Institute of Economic and Social Affairs statistics * 1972-2000 Josef Docekal Under his leadership, the public museum re-established in 1988 * 2000–present Hans Hartweger runs the museum

References

{{Authority control Museums in Vienna