The second term of Director General Peter Aufreiter begins with the biggest redesign in 25 years at the Vienna Technical Museum with the Austrian Media Library. The new focus he has implemented so far towards technological innovation, sustainability and science communication will be continued in the pioneering new permanent exhibition “Material Worlds” from April 2025 in the prominently located West Hall.
The entire 3,000 m² area, which was previously dedicated to heavy industry, is being converted to modern exhibition concepts. To do this, numerous objects – the heaviest weighing 40 tons – had to be relocated to make room for 440 exhibits, 300 of which will be on display for the first time in the Vienna Technical Museum. In the new permanent exhibition, the museum explores the diversity and potential of today’s materials. From wood to silicon, from steel to carbon, objects, media and interactives on 13 thematic islands convey the properties of these materials in a sensual, playful and highly topical way, show mining and extraction, production methods and use and ask questions about their disposal and recycling options. With this comprehensive material science, the exhibition also brings Austrian companies and their innovative spirit to the fore. A total of 45 media stations contextualize the objects shown and provide in-depth knowledge. An additional platform opens up new perspectives for visitors on the central hall and the locomotive 12.10.
Science at the center
With the new permanent exhibition, activities around Peter Aufreiter’s central concern are intensifying: science communication. Over the course of 2025, the existing communication formats, which have been increasingly professionalized through outreach measures in recent years, will be bundled and successively expanded. As a federal museum in the field of technology and science, which attracts half a million visitors every year and includes an education team of over forty people, the house is ideal for making innovative technologies and Austrian research accessible to the general public. This claim, which is already the basis of the founding idea of the museum, will reach its current climax in the second management period with the new permanent exhibition “Science in Change” that is being prepared at the beginning of 2026. Science communication is an essential pillar that permeates all areas of the museum.
In order to make the comprehensive changes to the house visible in its brand identity, the museum is presenting itself in a new corporate design with the opening of the “Material Worlds”.
Special exhibition “More than Recycling” from June 2025
Reusability and innovative technological solutions determine the theme of the first special exhibition of 2025. When and why do we get rid of things? And what happens to them when we no longer attach value to them? The special exhibition “More than Recycling” (working title) begins at the supposed end of use and explores together with visitors how we move from a throwaway culture to a resource-saving use of products: starting with food and clothing through to living, electronics and entertainment The exhibition shows innovative approaches to the circular economy, encourages you to test your own knowledge in a playful way and remains close to people and the interaction with the economy. Consequently, the exhibition itself is a “recycled product” and utilizes the architectural elements of the previous special exhibition at this location in a creative and sustainable way.
Special exhibition “Highest Railway” from autumn 2025
After the prominent appearance of the Lokomotive 12.10 in this year’s New Year’s Concert, the Vienna Technical Museum is celebrating The special exhibition “Highest Railway” (working title) marks the 200th anniversary of the means of transport, whose fascination remains unbroken to this day: From autumn 2025, it will trace the success story of these rail vehicles using impressive railway models from the museum’s extensive collection, establish current references and throw one Looking into the future. In five different exhibition chapters, visitors learn why timekeeping was an invention of the railway workers and how this means of transport, which is now indispensable, has influenced people, society and also our language. “Highest Railway” (working title) is an exhibition that tells the story of the democratization of travel, conveys the complexity behind the infrastructure and, in addition to the unique models, entertains with a media installation and other interactives.
International cooperation
The impact goal of international cooperation will continue to be implemented in the #Alliance4Science. Three new special exhibitions are being created together with the two technology museums, Parque de las Ciencias in Granada and DASA in Dortmund, which will tour through the partner museums from 2026. In this way, the Vienna Technical Museum not only brings in international perspectives from other European institutions, it also increases the sustainability of the museum’s work, as an exhibition can be used three times – in accordance with the museum’s eco-label certification.
Research at the Vienna Technical Museum and in the Austrian Media Library
The research institute of the Vienna Technical Museum, which has existed since 2022 and from which, among other things, the digital collection “Software Collection” emerged, will finalize the three-year project on colonial infrastructures in 2025, the research results of which will gradually be made publicly accessible in an online exhibition. The research institute and the Austrian Media Library use the AI-supported programs whisperX and Transkribus to process historical holdings and archives.
Showing science as a motor for social change and creating points of contact between researchers and interested visitors makes the Vienna Technical Museum an anchor point between the present and the future at a time when scientific and social changes are occurring ever faster.
2024 will be the second strongest year in museum history
With almost 470,000 visitors, over 66,000 of whom took advantage of the educational offerings, 2024 was the second strongest year in the more than hundred-year history of the Vienna Technical Museum. The success is due not least to the highly successful anniversary exhibition “100 Years of Radio. When Austria went on the air” in cooperation with the ORF. This is an attraction for numerous interested visitors and can be seen until the end of August 2025.
Press materials: tmw.at/presse
Quotes
„With its extensive educational work, the Vienna Technical Museum has been a center of excellence for science communication for more than a century. Here, technology and research are taught across generations every day and people are picked up from the places where technologies influence their everyday lives.
“ Peter Aufreiter, General Director of the Vienna Technical Museum
„The new exhibitions underline our orientation towards the present and the future. We are continuing on our sustainable path and are pleased to be able to inspire many visitors about the topics of our time.
“ Karin Skarek, economic director of the Vienna Technical Museum