In collaboration with Time-Busters and Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna – a Wien Holding company – the new escape room by Viennese concept artist Deborah Sengl opened today Shadow of a Doubt – In the Mind of the Genius in the MuseumsQuartier as part of a press presentation.
Today, Johann Strauss in Vienna is primarily associated with his golden monument in the city park. But during his lifetime he was a person who increasingly became a prisoner of his fame. To what extent are we all captivated by our own image? The Viennese artist Deborah Sengl, in collaboration with Time-Busters, has already successfully proven that the booming event experience “Escape Room” can be turned into an artistic experience that is not only exciting, but also informative and thought-provoking.
Her first room in 2019 dealt sensitively with the topic of escape, followed in 2022 by another on child poverty: “I have always been very impressed by the puzzles and play options in escape rooms, but disappointed by stories in which you free the world from zombies or a nuclear bomb must defuse. It was important to me to find a realistic and easy approach to serious topics and to use this playful opportunity to allow a broad audience to engage with topics that might otherwise be more inaccessible to them. My Johann Strauss Escape Room offers an artistic approach that deals with universal themes such as doubt, love and one’s own future – inspired by Strauss’ life and work. It is less political than my previous rooms, but is psychologically profound and reflects issues that affect us all. It was exciting to look at this pop star of his time from a new perspective and explore his facets,” describes Deborah Sengl.
Unusual encounter with the Waltz King
“We are very pleased about the ceremonial opening of the Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna festival year and the launch of the artistic escape room here in the MuseumsQuartier. As a subsidiary of Wien Holding, this extraordinary festival year reflects the breadth of our group – an impressive testament to Vienna’s cultural and economic strength. We are proud to be part of these important celebrations,” says Kurt Gollowitzer, Managing Director of Wien Holding.
“We are pleased to be starting such a diversely fascinating project together with the escape room specialists Time-Busters and concept artist Deborah Sengl at the beginning of the year, which will last beyond the festival year. It is not just a completely new encounter with the composer, in which we look behind the facade of the brilliant “Golden Waltz King”; It is immediately an examination of oneself and a reflection at the start of the new year,” says Roland Geyer, director of Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna.
More information
Daily from Friday, January 10, 2025
MQ Vienna, Museumsplatz 1, access to Breite Gasse, 1070 Vienna
www.johannstrauss2025.at/event/schatten-des-zweifels-im-kopf-des-genies/
Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna
Johann.Strauss-Festjahr2025 GmbH is a Wien Holding company founded by the City of Vienna. On the occasion of Johann Strauss’ 200th birthday, a year-round festival will be presented in Vienna in 2025 under the direction of Roland Geyer. Based on three program pillars, the program ranges from classic Strauss concerts and operettas to contemporary performance art. The diversity and cultural vibrancy of Vienna is celebrated with an enormous range of artistic performances and city-wide events. International appeal is also the main goal of the festival program.
Press photos:
Photos for the broadcast can be found in the Wien Holding press area www.wienholding.at/Presse/Presseaussendungen available. Reproduction free of charge in the course of reporting with mention of the copyright.
Image description: from left to right: Roland Geyer (Managing Director Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna), Ursula Berner (The Greens Vienna, deputy district leader 7th district), Deborah Sengl (artist), Kurt Gollowitzer (Managing Director Vienna Holding), Simon Posch (Managing Director Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna) © Markus Wache