The Albertina opens its third headquarters in Klosterneuburg, on the outskirts of Vienna. The objective of the opening is to facilitate access to its collection of contemporary art after 1945, which exceeds 65,000 pieces.
The director of the Albertina, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, is leaving this year after 25 years as head of the company. The Albertina Modern will focus on contemporary art in a privileged space, the Künstlerhaus, after a renovation of almost 60 million euros. It takes over the building that between 1999 and 2016 housed the vibrant Essl Museum, which closed in 2016, drowned by financial problems. It is not located in the heart of Vienna at the doors of the Opera like the original museum, nor in the middle of Ringstrasse next to the Musikverein – home of the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic – like theAlbertina Modern. To visit it you have to move. The uniqueness of KlosterNEuburg is the main challenge for the art museum of international standing. Its latest sequel is a satellite center ten minutes walk from the mother house.