100 Years of Amalienbad: A Visit to FOTO ARSENAL WIEN’s Latest Show
I went to the Amalienbad for the opening of “Michael Rathmayr. 100 Jahre Amalienbad,” an exhibition by FOTO ARSENAL WIEN.
A red utopia in tiles
Opened in 1926, the Amalienbad was built in the spirit of community and the breakdown of class barriers: a recreation space for the working class, monumental in scale, unmistakably Art Déco. Nearly a century later it still does exactly that - swimmers and athletes of every age, every background, moving through the same halls.
Rathmayr’s photographs explore the building with an eye for those historical and architectural details, while also capturing the diversity of the people using it today: the pools, the back rooms, the visionary little touches that turn a municipal bath into something of real cultural weight.
Walking through it myself, it was the unbelievable details that got me - the geometry of the tiling, the light fixtures, the sheer confidence of the design. It’s a building that still has flair, a century on.
Where and how
The exhibition is split across two spaces: 3 works are shown inside the Amalienbad itself, with the rest displayed in the public space in front of it - so part of the show is out in the open, for anyone passing by. Additionally to the photos of Michael Rathmayr there is information about historic plans of the bath as well as Amalie Pölzer, the Amalienbad’s namesake.
Fitting, for a building whose whole premise was that beautiful architecture shouldn’t be reserved for the few.
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