Österreichisches Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum

About the museum

The economist and adult educator Otto Neurath founded the museum in 1925 in the milieu of Red Vienna as a "Museum of the Present": instead of rare objects, social and economic developments were to be made tangible. With Marie Reidemeister and Gerd Arntz, his team developed the Vienna Method of picture statistics for this purpose, which later became internationally known under the name ISOTYPE and continues to shape information design today.

The history of the museum has been marked by ruptures: under Austrofascism the museum was dissolved, and during the Nazi era the institution served propaganda purposes as the "Institute for Exhibition Technique and Picture Statistics". After 1945 it was re-founded in order to pick up the original educational mission. Today it is run by an independent, non-profit association based in Vogelsanggasse in the 5th district.

Since 2018 the museum has operated the hands-on labs COCO lab on conscious consumption and COCO fin on financial education, which are visited mainly by school classes; since 2020 the project "ISOTYPE reloaded" has carried Neurath's method into the present. For the 100th anniversary, the exhibition "Was wäre Wien" opened in September 2025; on about 700 m², it links urban history, the present and possible futures along an alphabet of Vienna. In 2025 the museum was again awarded the Austrian Museum Seal of Quality.

Highlights

• Picture statistics in the Vienna Method (ISOTYPE) by Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz
• Exhibition "Was wäre Wien" with an alphabet of the city
• Journey through 150 years of housing and everyday life in Vienna
• Hands-on labs COCO lab (consumption) and COCO fin (financial education)

Permanent exhibitions

• Was wäre Wien – Anniversary exhibition for the 100th year of the museum: an alphabet of the city leads from metro to strike to social housing and compares Vienna with other cities and earlier times.
• Leben und Wohnen in Wien – A journey through about 150 years of housing conditions, everyday life and social infrastructure in Vienna.
• Neuraths sprechende Zeichen – From the founding of the museum to today: how Otto Neurath, Marie Reidemeister and Gerd Arntz made statistics readable for everyone with pictograms.

Founded

1925

Operated by

Österreichisches Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum (gemeinnütziger Verein)

Admission & discounts

Free admission for ICOM members and with the Kulturpass ("Hunger auf Kunst & Kultur"); with the Kulturpass, one accompanying child up to 10 years is also free. No reservation needed for individual visitors.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Low-barrier access on request: please ring the bell, the lift is reached via the neighbouring building.

Kids & families

The educational offers are aimed mainly at school classes from primary school upwards; the COCO lab hands-on lab also opens on selected dates to individual visitors of all ages.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

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