The musa Museum Startgalerie Artothek in Vienna showcases contemporary Austrian art, featuring the city's art collection with approximately 50,000 objects from around 5,000 artists since 1945. It is part of the Wien Museum and offers free admission.
The musa Museum Startgalerie Artothek is a significant institution for contemporary Austrian art, holding the extensive art collection of the City of Vienna. With around 50,000 objects by approximately 5,000 artists, the collection represents a broad spectrum of Austrian artistic production across all disciplines since 1945. The museum, which became part of the Wien Museum in 2018, focuses on Viennese contemporary art and originated from the 'Museum auf Abruf' (Museum on Call).
Exhibitions at musa range from retrospectives of established artists to depictions of specific decades in Vienna's art scene. The 600 m² exhibition space hosts rotating displays from the collection, complemented by a Startgalerie that provides a platform for young artists to enter the art market. The building itself is a historical asset, a former administrative office completed in 1916, adapted for exhibition purposes by Kiskan Kaufmann Architekten. The institution also houses the Artothek, a service established in 1979 that allows Vienna residents to borrow art for their homes for a small fee, acting as a bridge between the public, artists, and collectors.