HOUSE OF AUSTRIAN HISTORY – 2020 WINNER OF THE KENNETH HUDSON AWARD
The Kenneth Hudson Prize for 2020 goes to an institution which demonstrates the potential of museums to promote the confident, reflective citizenship that comes from exploring and debating the past, no matter how difficult that past is. It is a model for any museum committed to addressing complex or painful historical legacies and to inspiring hope and courage for the future.
ABOUT HOUSE OF AUSTRIAN HISTORY
This year the Trustees conferred the Kenneth
Hudson Award on the House of Austrian History in
Vienna.
The defining quality of this museum
is civic courage. It questions the
image of Austria as an old, imperial, but
neutral "nice" country, and offers
visitors tools to explore their
citizenship and engage in debate. It succeeds in
26 making topics that are
abstract (voting rights,
parliamentary structures,
economics) and/or difficult (the role of
Austrians in National Socialism and the
Holocaust) exceptionally
accessible. While it addresses major issues it
also explores the political aspects of culture,
identity, and everyday life. There
is a great deal of information, based
on excellent research, but it is also
easy to dip in and out of topics,
without feeling overwhelmed. The atmosphere
is friendly, thoughtful, and
reflective. In order to ensure that
the museum is truly hospitable, the reception
desk is staffed by members of the Learning Team,
who can en- gage with visitors’ questions. The
museum offers a very diverse range of voices and
stories (including Austrians who speak languages
other than German, such as
Slovenian, Romani, and Czech), as
well as a fascinating array of objects and films
it has collected or borrowed. Together these
provide a great resource for Austrians to
reflect on their past – and for visitors to
reflect on how they feel and think
about their own past – and how it is
represented.
Kenneth Hudson used to ask, “What battles has this museum had to fight to get open?” The struggles of this museum have included the reduction of the space originally allocated to it and dealing with proposals to transfer it to a less highly charged location. With a nice touch of humour, these struggles are represented in the foyer of the museum as a board game, which visitors can play.
Source: EMYA2020 Winners Brochure
Photo captions and credits:
First photo: Barbie doll of bearded lady and Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst in the museum’s main exhibition © hdgö
Second photo: Visual and acoustic voices in four languages at the beginning of the museum’s main exhibition © hdgö