The 2026–27 season campaign of the Wiener Symphoniker turns its attention to the period around 1900, the time of the orchestra’s founding - an era shaped by the artistic breakthroughs of Viennese Modernism. The visual backdrop is formed by fabrics and patterns from the Backhausen Archive, whose geometric and rhythmic designs are among the defining elements of the Vienna Secession style.

The Secession’s guiding idea was to permeate all aspects of everyday life with art, thereby creating a new way of living: this concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The company Joh. Backhausen & Söhne, founded in 1849 and one of Vienna’s most traditional manufacturers of furniture and decorative textiles, embraced this vision as well. For many decades, it worked closely with artists of Viennese Modernism, including Josef Hoffmann, Koloman Moser, Otto Wagner, Joseph Maria Olbrich and Jutta Sika. Their designs formed the basis for textile interpretations through which Backhausen played a key role in transferring the characteristic flat, geometric and rhythmically structured forms of Art Nouveau into everyday life.

Founded in 1900, the Wiener Symphoniker also emerged in the spirit of this cultural awakening. From the very beginning, the spirit of Modernism accompanied the orchestra and continues to shape its identity today as a dynamic, forward-looking ensemble. In the new campaign, musicians of the Wiener Symphoniker emerge from the interplay of two overlapping patterns: they become part of a collage with the visual surfaces, connecting art and craft, and forming powerful poses out of their act of performance. Foreground and background merge into a composition of music and design that unites past, present and future.

We would like to thank the Leopold Museum as well as the Kiesling family for providing the images of fabrics and patterns from the Backhausen Archive. The following lender credit applies to all images: Backhausen Archive, bequest of Dr Louise Kiesling, permanent loan to the Leopold Museum. Photo credit: Backhausen Archive, bequest of Dr Louise Kiesling, permanent loan to the Leopold Museum. For Design 6314, the photo credit reads: Leopold Museum, Vienna. Image series: Vrinda Jelinek