THE TAG CONFERENCE
VIENNA 2025
JOSEPH KYSELAK 200 YEAR JUBILEE
7—9 NOVEMBER
LITERATURE MUSEUM, AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY
BEZIRKSMUSEUM MARIAHILF
THE TAG CONFEREN-
CE VIENNA 2025
JOSEPH KYSELAK
200 YEAR JUBILEE
7—9 NOVEMBER
LITERATURE MUSEUM, AUSTRIAN NATIONAL LIBRARY
BEZIRKSMUSEUM MARIAHILF
The Call for Papers is now open for The Tag Conference Vienna 2025, hosted by the Literature Museum at the Austrian National Library and Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf. The event includes lectures and readings, as well as exhibitions and guided tours into lesser-known Vienna.
Now in its ninth year, the travelling Tag Conference continues to spearhead and deepen the study of tagging, a pivotal yet often overlooked form of public art. This Vienna instalment is produced in partnership with Kyselakproject and Spraycity.at.
The conference will be held in English, with the exception of the Friday evening programme, which will be conducted in German.
THE UNSUNG TAGS
OF THE ROMANTIC ERA
THE UNSUNG TAGS OF THE ROMANTIC ERA
In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Joseph Kyselak’s iconic journey across the Alps, this instalment of the conference lays a special focus on the rich legacy of public name-writing in Romantic times.
Kyselak, a Vienna-born civil servant, was a pioneer in the exploration of natural landscapes. The many marks he left along his travels made him a legend in Austria and established him as the foremost trailblazer of modern-day graffiti.
Yet Kyselak was far from the only tagger of his time. From the Romantic period onwards, inscribing one’s name on ancient ruins was commonplace among pioneering leisure travellers, as evidenced by the layers of autographs that survive to this day — including those of Byron and Rimbaud.
This wave of public name-writing marked the first widespread graffiti craze in modern Western history, and can be seen as a direct precursor to today’s tagging.
Some of the hundreds of signatures on the statues and walls of the Abu Simbel temple in the far South of Egypt, among them one left by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria in 1838. Uncredited photograph from 2000, courtesy of Hania El Houry.
THE CALL FOR PAPERS IS OPEN
While especially interested in name-writing from Romantic times, this call welcomes submissions on tagging from all eras, including today.
The Tag Conference thus continues its long-standing goal of fostering dialogue between the scholarly spheres of historical and contemporary graffiti.
Participation in the conference is free. This call explicitly encourages applications from non-scholars.
Deadline: 2 June 2025.
Joseph Ignaz and Eduard Gurk: “Baden. Schloss Rauheneck. Le château de Rauheneck.” Coloured lithograph, c. 1825, 13,7 × 9,2 cm. From a series of commercial prints depicting picturesque sites around Vienna, issued by the prestigious Viennese publisher Tranquillo Mollo. Rauheneck Castle was a celebrated Romantic-era ruin and remains a popular hiking destination today.
CELEBRATING KYSELAK
CELE-
BRATING KYSELAK
Beyond his graffiti, Joseph Kyselak holds an important place in Austrian literary history. The book he published about his 1825 hike is a milestone in local Romantic literature exploring natural landscapes, and has spawned many interpretations in writing and art.
As a special feature of the conference, the Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library curates a series of lectures and readings dedicated to Kyselak’s legacy in Austrian culture, featuring prominent local figures.
This programme will be held in German on the evening of Friday, 8 November, at the Literature Museum. While at the museum, be sure to visit the permanent installation on Joseph Kyselak, where you’ll find original autographed documents and other artefacts from his time.
A YEAR-LONG JUBILEE
This conference is part of the Jubilee celebrations organised throughout 2025 by Kyselakproject. Events take place across several countries along the route Kyselak described in his seminal travelogue “Sketches from a journey by foot through Imperial Austria”.
The Jubilee features exhibitions, screenings, readings, walks, alpine hikes, live music, and more. Follow Kyselakproject for updates on this unique celebration.
SOCIAL
PROGRAMME
We strive to make your stay in Vienna even more enriching and enjoyable by offering a social programme to complement the lectures, including exhibitions and a visit to a surviving tag by Joseph Kyselak.
Timetables and booking details will be shared in the months before the conference. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
One of the host institutions of the conference is Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf, the district museum for Vienna’s historic Mariahilf neighbourhood, a long-standing local hub for graffiti and street art.
As part of the conference programme, Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf will present a photo exhibition documenting decades of graffiti in Mariahilf, curated by local expert Stefan Wogrin with images from his enduring archive Spraycity.at.
Lectures at Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf will be held beside an expansive 1:60 scale model built between 1887 and 1904 that recreates the district as it was during Kyselak’s time.
HISTORICAL GUIDED TOURS
The programme of lectures will take place on Friday and Saturday morning, with Saturday afternoon and Sunday reserved for guided tours exploring lesser-known layers of Vienna’s cultural history.
Stefan Wogrin will lead a special tour exploring Vienna’s rich historical graffiti heritage, including a close-up look at centuries-old inscriptions on the Tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral and other remarkable traces across the city.
For those with a deep appreciation of Kyselak’s legacy, the conference offers a rare chance to visit a mark reportedly left by Kyselak himself on a rock wall along a riverside path near Vienna. Location undisclosed to protect the heritage.
Near the site of the signature, the tour includes a visit to a picturesque rural Austrian village that has retained its historical character since Kyselak’s time.
Joseph Heicke, “Heimkehr der Truppen aus Ungarn 1848 bei der Spinnerin am Kreuz bei Wien”, watercolour, 35,7 × 58,5 cm, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna. The image depicts a misspelled Kyselak signature on the base of the Spinnerin am Kreuz, a 1375 monument marking the southern approach into the city of Vienna.
OUR VENUES
Literature Museum
The Literature Museum of the Austrian National Library is housed in the historic Grillparzerhaus, an 18th century Baroque building that once accommodated the Imperial Court Archives. The museum installation retains the original furnishings and interior style, and includes among its features a display on the figure of Kyselak.
Kyselak was employed as a civil servant at the Archives, although in a different building, as the institution moved into its current home only shortly after his death.
Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf
Located in a protected early 20th-century Art Nouveau building, the Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf is a City of Vienna District Museum dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the Mariahilf quarter. It houses a large scale model that recreates the district as it was in Kyselak’s time.
SCHEDULE
SCHE-
DULE
Lectures
Friday, 7 November
Literature Museum
1010 Wien, Johannesgasse 6
Conference talks: 11am—5pm
Evening programme: 6—9pm
Saturday, 8 November
Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf
1060 Wien, Mollardgasse 8
11am—5pm
Guided Tours
Hidden History of Vienna
With Stefan Wogrin (Spraycity.at)
Saturday 8 November, 6—8 pm
Sunday 9 November, 1—3 pm
Visit to Kyselak’s Signature
With Gabriele Goffriller (Kyselakproject)
Includes bus transport
Sunday 9 November, 9am—1 pm
From a 1903 stereograph titled “Resting on top (30 ft square) of Great Pyramids, our photographer and Bedouin guides, Egypt”. Among the visible signatures is that of Lorenzo Dow Covington, a North American Egyptologist best known for his 1899–1911 excavations around the pyramids and the Sphinx. Photographer uncredited. Library of Congress, USA.
Conference
Team & Partners
Director
Javier Abarca, PhD (ES)
Scientific Committee
Prof. Susan Hansen (UK)
Orestis Pangalos, PhD (GR)
Edward Birzin, PhD (US)
Dr. phil. Ulrich Blanché (DE)
Javier Abarca, PhD (ES)
Chair
Prof. Susan Hansen (UK)
Production & Programme Development
Dr. phil. Gabriele Goffriller (AT)
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Literature Museum (AT)
Stefan Wogrin (AT)
Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf (AT)
Archivists
Dr. phil. Hania El Houry (LB/DE)
Dr. phil. Gabriele Goffriller (AT)
Design & Art Direction
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Communication
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Cococlick.at (AT)
The Tag Conference Vienna 2025 is presented by Unlock Bureau, Kyselak.at, Literature Museum (Austrian National Library), Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf and Spraycity.at.
The Tag Conference is part of Unlock Bureau’s ongoing international culture program of graffiti-related events.
Poster image: “Eduard Gurk, Ansicht der Ruine Gutenstein”, watercolour, c. 1825, Wien Museum.
Director
Javier Abarca, PhD (ES)
Scientific Committee
Prof. Susan Hansen (UK)
Orestis Pangalos, PhD (GR)
Edward Birzin, PhD (US)
Dr. phil. Ulrich Blanché (DE)
Javier Abarca, PhD (ES)
Chair
Prof. Susan Hansen (UK)
Production & Programme Development
Dr. phil. Gabriele Goffriller (AT)
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Literature Museum (AT)
Stefan Wogrin (AT)
Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf (AT)
Archivists
Dr. phil. Hania El Houry (LB/DE)
Dr. phil. Gabriele Goffriller (AT)
Design & Art Direction
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Communication
Unlock Bureau (ES)
Cococlick.at (AT)
The Tag Conference Vienna 2025 is presented by Unlock Bureau, Kyselak.at, Literature Museum (Austrian National Library), Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf and Spraycity.at.
The Tag Conference is part of Unlock Bureau’s ongoing international culture program of graffiti-related events.
Poster image: “Eduard Gurk, Ansicht der Ruine Gutenstein”, watercolour, c. 1825, Wien Museum.
