The Permanent Collection Empire Style Biedermeier was designed by American artist Jenny Holzer. Her signature is particularly evident in the illuminated texts attached to the stucco cornice.

These poetic, political, and socially critical texts convey important information about a time characterized by major political and social upheavals.

The first half of the 19th century gave rise to an until then unknown mass of consumers in Austria. Due to the effects of the industrial revolution and the social and economic strengthening of the bourgeoisie, items that had previously primarily been accessible to the aristocracy became available to a broader public. To satisfy the customers’ different needs, the range of products on the market was characterized not only by a variety with regard to taste but also by a subtle gradation from expensive luxury goods to cheap substitute products.

Accordingly, the selection of objects exhibited in this room primarily showcases the design and material diversity of everyday items from the era of Empire Style and Biedermeier alongside individual decorative arts highlights of the Austrian monarchy. Directly upon entering the room, two armchairs standing next to each other document the simultaneously existing yet aesthetically fundamentally different styles of Empire and Biedermeier—one representative with velvet upholstering and neo-classical decorative elements, the other less decorated and simpler but with high-quality wooden craftsmanship. Intriguingly, both armchairs were produced by the same Viennese furniture manufacturer at the same time: Joseph Ulrich Danhauser.

More armchairs as well as furniture from bourgeois and royal-imperial households impressively illustrate the explosion of forms during this era. The showcases at the front end of the room display porcelain cups in an unlimited array of flavors, glasses as the carriers of the most diverse information, and silver works with characters unfolding between simplicity and decoration.

The aluminum sofa Jenny Holzer placed in the room as an artistic intervention immediately catches the eye. This bench was created based on a Biedermeier sofa displayed in the exhibition room, which cannot be used as it is a museum exhibit. In contrast, Holzer’s copy precisely cast in aluminum in every detail serves as a resting place from which museum visitors can take their time to observe the space. However, the difference between the original and the copy immediately becomes apparent:

Aluminum is a cold, hard material that is distinctly different from the comforts of upholstered furniture. This makes it even more evident how radically the conditions for the design of everyday life have changed since the 19th century—they have increasingly become subject to personal comfort and less and less to courtly ceremony.