About the Archive

The Cathrin Pichler Archive for Art and Sciences comprises the entire written estate of the thinker, curator, author, and teacher Cathrin Pichler. This compilation of more than 5.000 publications, valuable first editions, autographs, sketches and drafts was given over to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with the assignment to render her intellectual legacy accessible to the public and preserve it for future generations of artists, scientists and curators. With the material Cathrin Pichler collected over several decades, the archive gives insight into the work and impact of this exceptional thinker, who uncompromisingly promoted the idea of curatorial work as a research-related and cultural service.

Cathrin Pichler’s pioneering work in the fields of art and sciences is characterized by its sensibility and innovation in interdisciplinary thinking and in connecting artistic and scientific research at a very early stage. Since the 1980s, the Grande Dame of Austrian curators has designed and curated large thematic exhibitions which to this day are reactivated as effective communication tools and oppositional cells of thought that were planted by her.

The CPA opens up extraordinary perspectives on the Viennese art and cultural scene from the 1960s to the 2000s and places it in a reciprocal relation to international developments. Mirroring the times, this exchange comprises comprehensive publications about fine arts, theater studies, musicology, philosophy, sociology, and psychology as well as physics, mathematics, and biology.

On-Site Visit

The Cathrin Pichler Archive is open to the public and can be visited by appointment. Autographs, notes, sketches, visual media and other archive materials can be viewed on site.

The archive can be visited by appointment: cathrin-pichler-archiv@akbild.ac.at

Literature Research
Publications from the holdings of the Cathrin Pichler Archive can be ordered through the University Library of the Academy of Fine Arts and viewed in the library's reading room.

Please find the book holdings of the Cathrin Pichler Archive under the following link: search the library

The Curator As…

The Curator As ... is the first publication of the Cathrin Pichler Archive for Art and Sciences. The contributions of the authors collected here subject the concept of curating and the curator role of the curator to a thorough revision—against the background of the work and outlook of the Vienna-based curator Cathrin Pichler, who passed away in 2012 and who put on exhibitions to realize her transdisciplinary concept that insisted on involving the history of natural sciences and literature in art-historical discourse.

Edited by Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein and Sabine Priglinger, Verlag Schlebrügge, 2018

With texts by Rainer Fuchs, Sara Giannini, Hans-Peter Litscher, Sylvère Lotringer, Kaspar Mühlemann Hartl, Susanne Neuburger, Sabine Priglinger, Johannes Schlebrügge, Anke te Heesen, Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein and Sarah Wilson

Conversations: Adrian Heathfield / Branislava Kuburović and Cathrin Pichler / Christian Reder

About the publication: https://schlebruegge.com/en/content/curator-…

The Association of Friends of the Cathrin Pichler Archive

Governing Body Representatives: Members of the governing body are Gertraud Boread'Olmo and Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein

Verein headquarters: Vienna
Address for service: Augasse 2-6, Room C4.21.1, 1090 Vienna

Association Statutes:
The Association of Friends of the Cathrin Pichler Archive supports the archive in the organization of events, public relations, documentation and the issuing of publications and the production of sound recordings, catalogs and information material. All physical and legal persons can become members of the association. The governing body decides on the admission of members. Voluntary resignation can be made at any time. Members are entitled to participate in all events of the Association and to use the facilities of the Association. They are also obliged to promote the interests of the Association to the best of their ability and must observe the Association's statutes and the decisions of the Association's governing bodies. The ordinary and extraordinary members are obliged to pay the joining fee and the membership fees on time in the amount decided by the General Assembly. The ordinary general meeting is held annually.