When you talk about literature in Vienna, "at the Smithy" is a regular toponym*, synonymous with one of the most prestigious literary organizers in the German-speaking world. Every year, approximately 200 readings, discussions and authors’ projects are presented, which involve more than 300 writers, literary critics and publishers. Furthermore, themed multi-day literary festivals are being organized here.
Besides the literary program, the house at the Schönlaterngasse 9 has accommodated the Music Factory for 25 years by now, which is a supraregionally recognized stage for contemporary music.
* The name "Old Smithy" dates from an art smithy with four hearths in the vaults of the house. It was established in 1880 and closed in 1970. Ever since, it has been a public smithy museum.
The Alte Schmiede, a former blacksmith’s building, is situated in one of the oldest parts of Vienna on Schönlaterngasse. This short, narrow street with two sharp curves runs between the Heiligenkreuzerhof ensemble dating back to 1201, and the buildings used by the University of Vienna since 1385. Many of the buildings constructed in the area during the Renaissance and baroque eras were restored in the 1970s, including the Alte Schmiede at Schönlaterngasse 9. The building was a public soup kitchen until from 1880 on, the vaults were used as a workshop by the master blacksmith Schirmler. His son, the renowned craftsman Otto Schmirler, worked there until 1970, selling his workshop and parts of the building above it to the publicly owned publishing company Verlag für Jugend & Volk.
The Vienna Art Association was founded on the city’s initiative in 1969. It is defined as an "independent institution with the aim of promoting artistic initiatives, supporting artists in realising projects and fulfilling requirements to do so. Its activities are not profit-oriented and it pursues the charitable purpose of promoting artists and understanding for these artists." The Art Association was later commissioned to set up a public programme promoting contemporary artists from various disciplines at the Alte Schmiede. The blacksmith’s workshop was to be maintained and made accessible to the public.
As there are no longer many intact blacksmiths’ workshops in European city centres, the Alte Schmiede is also particularly important in terms of cultural and social history. Otto Schmirler wished the workshop to remain in use, so the workspaces for ironwork were retained and new ones were created for metal sculptors and ceramicists. A gallery linked to the publishing house Verlag für Jugend & Volk was set up and a small hall was opened for lectures and literary readings. Since 25 years, the Vienna Art Association also keeps an apartment where visiting authors can spend several weeks.
For the past ten years, a café coupled with a bookstore and a restaurant deep in the vaults have accompanied the events begun in the Alte Schmiede in 1975. Initially, the programme consisted mainly of readings, book- and magazine presentations and discussion events, along with exhibitions by young artists in the Galerie Alte Schmiede. Soon, however, the events also included small lecture-performances with contemporary composers. The literary programme was substantially expanded, with first symposia added, then project and research series designed in conjunction with authors, and since 1986 the poetics lecture series Vienna Literature Lectures.
The guiding criterion of the literary programme at the Alte Schmiede is material and moral support for contemporary Austrian writers. Literary debutants as well as established authors of contemporary literature have a broad variety of options for working here and presenting their writing.
A wide-ranging international programme has also evolved over the years, crossing the boundaries of German-language literature and presenting international guest authors in the German language, on many occasions for the very first time.
No less than 4500 literary events were held over the 33 years from June 1975 to July 2008, making the Alte Schmiede the host of one of the most intensive literary event programmes in the entire German-speaking world. Over 3000 writers have stayed here to date, and it need not come as a surprise that over time, several of them have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Entering the gates of the Alte Schmiede, one immediately comes across a large old spring hammer used by Otto Schmirler. A door on the left-hand side leads into the workshop, which is now used for readings and concerts as well. The workshop is connected to the former gallery space, which is today a public reading room for a uniquely concentrated collection of some 130 German-language and European literary and cultural journals and magazines.
Going straight ahead, visitors come to a functionally structured glass façade, through which they enter the lecture room of the Literarisches Quartier in the former foundry. The space was designed in 1997 by the architect Franz Kneissl and has been highly praised in several architecture publications as a prime example of objective aesthetics. Readings, symposia and concerts in all musical genres are held here.
Thus, historically evolved craftsman’s architecture and analytically planned settings work together in productive vicinity, creating the perfect atmosphere for a small cultural centre with an influence far greater than the modest spatial opportunities themselves.
Dr. Kurt Neumann