Artist-Led Q + A: discotec [Vienna]

Àgnes Várnai, Felix Dennhardt, Péter Várnai

This Q+A column focuses on off-/project-/artist-led spaces and otherwise difficult to label projects, and the people that keep them going. The goal is to highlight and chronicle such initiatives across the region that we currently refer to as Central and East Europe. 

How are you? 

We’ve just entered the summer break period at discotec, which means we are all scattered around the world, enjoying the summer break before the next season at Schleifmühlgasse begins in September. This change of scenery always feels necessary, but we’re looking forward to being back. 

How did it start and, dare I ask…how will it end? 

We founded the space in 2022 and began with our first exhibition in January 2023. The location had already been active for more than ten years as a gallery focusing on contemporary fine art, but it was run by another generation of artists. When that gallery closed down, we didn’t have to think long to decide to take the location over, and start something new. The three of us knew each other from university and from the media art scene of Vienna. This made it easy to start working together and establish a new space with our own focus.

Regarding the end, discotec is still new, so we’re not planning its end yet. 

What do you need? 

A small money-printing machine would be nice. 

Who/what has held you up?

There are always new challenges – sometimes alongside the old ones, sometimes replacing them. The past three years have been a continuous process of learning and relearning often by just doing. While we’ve developed routines in some areas, there is still plenty of room for improvement. From the very elementary, practical type of challenges like how to organise our internal and external communication to the never ending giant serpent of how to find more resources to finance all our operations. How to manage our book keeping the best, what is the most efficient way to organise our digital and analogue data and the backup of them, how to maintain good relationship with our neighborhood with its inhabitants and the other galleries…We’re continually trying to find answers to questions like these. It’s a part of our everyday tasks besides organizing the yearly program of events.

Is it sustainable?

To a degree, It depends how ambitious we let our plans get. But it raises an interesting question: should art also be expected to conform to the ideal of sustainability? 

What do you measure?

From time to time, we meet to reflect on and evaluate past programs, events, and organizational matters. However, the goal is never to measure success through visitor numbers, income, or other metrics. Also, we do have to quantify certain things for funding applications, but we are aware that bureaucracy is not designed to create a precise map of reality, nor should it serve as a guideline for artistic value. 

Are you “independent”? How do you define “independent”?

We are independent from many incentives, but we still depend on public cultural funding in Austria. Rent, maintenance costs, and artist fees based on the FAIR PAY system all add up to a high budget. At the same time, our program is curated without compromise, guided by artistic quality and curiosity for new ideas. 

While independence is probably a mirage, for an organisation to display art only for the sake of creative exploration and free of the incentive to sell, could be a permissible claim. But we’re not sure anything can be, or even should be completely independent. We are all part of complex social, economic, and cultural systems. 

Who/what is your kin?

We have a diverse audience within the Austrian art scene, but we probably feel the strongest kinship with artists and creatives working in digital and performative practices. 

Why do you stay/what keeps you going?

Working with new artists, learning from their unique approaches, methods, and opinions will always be a privilege. We hope that the space we create as organizers is mirroring the values and circumstances that we would be happy for as artists. For us, these values include the freedom to experiment, a supportive and understanding framework throughout the exhibition process, and financial support. At the same time, it is equally important to have a clear understanding of the possibilities and limitations of an exhibition space before a collaboration begins. We see this as a matter of transparent communication. Something we actively try to integrate into the everyday operations of discotec. This is what continues to bring us forward. 

Is it enough? 

There is definitely enough to do, even for three people. discotec is an operation that definitely has the potential for expansion but we are content with the size of it at the moment. Maybe this is also part of the way we approach sustainability. It has to grow gradually with our ambitions. It should never take over other parts of our life that are equally important for us (family, friends, our own practices, etc.).

What’s the most memorable project you’ve realized?

We probably each have our own personal highlights, and those favorites tend to change over time. But maybe a common link between our favorites is that we all love projects that utilize the exhibition space in a really surprising, new way. When we feel like the room just gained a new identity, it’s not just an exhibition room any more. We also really enjoy it if the artists think about us not only as organisers but also creative people who can be involved in more playful ways of realising an exhibition or other programs.

What has been the biggest surprise?

The amount of support, trust, and positive feedback we have received over the years has been a constant surprise. It has exceeded our expectations and continually reminds us that what we do resonates with others. 

Who/What is your biggest inspiration?

The same thing that surprised us the most 🙂

What is your biggest challenge? 

Money, time, gravity etc. 

discotec was founded to create an independent platform for artists and curators in the field of new media and performance in contemporary art.

Our program reflects on a society that is faced with a digitalized world and a digitalized discourse. discotec deals with its demands, while embracing the artistic possibilities that come along. Together with the diverse set of artists and collectives invited for our shows, we are aiming to transport these topics and tendencies to a broader audience. At the same time, we are trying to challenge conventional exhibition formats on this culturally exciting street of Vienna.

https://www.instagram.com/discotec.art

The Off-Space Q+A column was created by Katie Zazenski for the now-defunct BLOK Magazine in July 2020 as a way to platform the independent, artist-run spaces and projects across the CEE region. The archive (which as of April 2026 is unfortunately no longer accessible) was intended, as is this new iteration, to be a space for platforming the critical and often under-recognized role that these projects, collectives, spaces, and people play in the ecosystem of contemporary art. 

Spaces/projects featured in the original index: Stroboskop Art Space (Warsaw), U10 (Belgrade), ODD (Bucharest), Studio PRÁM (Prague), Plague (Krasnodar), Złoty Kiosk (Wrocław), Heerz Tooya (Veliko Turnovo), 427 (Riga), Super Bien! (Berlin), Noch (Odesa), hoast (Vienna), Patara Gallery (Tbilisi), DOM Gallery (Riga), Hoib Gallery (Tallinn), Editorial Projects (Vilnius), Aether (Sofia), MATCA (Cluj-Napoca), Annenstrasse 53 (Graz), Post – Yu+ th Art Biennial (Podgorica), Hlebzawod (Kyiv), Kyiv Lodge (Kyiv), Galeria UL (Gdańsk), LOL [Law of Life] (Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig), SDK Sunflower (Warsaw), INDECIS (Timişoara), Apiece (Vilnius).