Wolfgang Waldner: "Creative quarters cannot be realised without local players"

It is a central aspect for Wolfgang Waldner to establish good conditions for cultural and artistic processes. The director of Vienna's MusemsQuartier (museum quarter; translator's note) was interviewed by 2010LAB.tv on creativity, ants as role models for the creative industry, the significance of culture within structural change processes and the comparison between Vienna and the Ruhr Area.

Under which circumstances is it possible to be creative?

Wolfgang Waldner: "Creativity" in the sense of art production can be done under any circumstances - even under the most difficult ones. It might even prosper during the most complex situations. Yet I regard the word "creativity" as a fog grenade in this context. I act in an environment where the creative and cultural industry collide. These terms are clearly outlined.

MuseumsQuartier Wien, Foto: Peter Korrak

Would you call yourself a creative human being?

Wolfgang Waldner: Naturally, I'm also creative - otherwise, I couldn't survive professionally in the complex environment of the MuseumsQuartier project.

Who is your role model when it comes to creativiy?

Wolfgang Waldner: The ant.

Does the bundling of the creative in artist centres or creative quarters promote creativity?

Wolfgang Waldner: The bundling of the creative does not promote productivity of the individual cultural creators; the effectiveness of realising and exploiting the products can gain a positive influence through a stimulation environment, however.

How are creativity, arts and culture related?

Wolfgang Waldner: "Creativity" in terms of life energy is a precondition for the production and reception of arts and culture.

Which potential does culture entail during a process of structural change within a city or a region?

Wolfgang Waldner: Culture is an important factor which can shape a city, its processes of structural change and its reputation sustainably.

Many factors such as personal engagement, subculture or the cultural and creative industry help promote change.

What is particularly important for the success of a changing region?

MuseumsQuartier Haupthof, Foto: Rupert Steiner

Wolfgang Waldner: All mentioned factors can cause such major kick-offs. However, concepts cannot simply be copied but have to cater to the respective local situation. The developments and necessities are different historically and regionally.

Have public or private investmens in cultural institutions or projects ever been part of a real structural change process?

Wolfgang Waldner: Yes, of course they have - yet private investments tend to be more important in the long term than subsidies from the public hand. In Vienna, for example, the Spittelberg quarter was mainly renovated and changed into an attractive cultur centre by private funds.

How does political leadership style affect the process of structural change?

Wolfgang Waldner: The implementation of single large prestige projects following initiative and pressure from above, such as the "Grands Projets" by François Mitterand, can have a less favourable effect on long-term and sustainable development and structural change processes than the politically more tiring approval of small-scale production rooms.

How much public funding is acceptable for a creative location?


Wolfgang Waldner: For the "creative" cultural workers, any extent of public funding is acceptable; for the public hand, the limit is the amount of the respective budget. Creative quarters cannot be realised without "local players"

Do you see parallels between the development in your region and the development in the Ruhr Area?

Wolfgang Waldner: No, in Vienna and its surroundings there are hardly any old industrial sites that make the short-term use or new positioning necessary - the cultural scene was able to develop long-term, and it was built within decades. Positive examples for cities that have managed a structural change through cultural impuls are Vienna around 1900 and Bilbao or the Thamse river in London.

Is it possible to plan creative quarters?

Wolfgang Waldner: Yes, for example the quartier21 at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.

How can a creative quarter stay successful without falling victim to gentrification or its own success?

Wolfgang Waldner: Cultural quarters remain successful as long as they keep moving. If the process of gentrification progresses too far, the creative will move to somewhere else and new quarters will develop.