General director Fatima Hellberg is using the time between exhibitions at mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien for a programmatic reset. Launching on May 22, 2026, the Tolia Curriculum marks the first time in the history of the building that the development process of an exhibition will be made accessible to the public.

From June 20, the inaugural exhibition Terminal Piece will unfold across five levels of the museum. The 700-square-meter entrance area, staged by set designer Anna Viebrock, presents works from the mumok collection in an extraordinary setting and will be open to all visitors free of charge until September 30.

Fatima Hellberg became general director of mumok in October 2025. What she and her team have prepared since then can be experienced starting this week: a museum opening itself to new formats and new ways of experiencing art. May 17 marked the closing of the current exhibitions, ushering in a new phase of process and preparation. On June 20, Terminal Piece and Tolia Astakhishvili’s Figure of the Child, the first two exhibitions under the new direction, will open to the public. “A museum lives through what it takes in and what it gives back. Our work is grounded in an active exchange with the public, and that exchange begins now,” says Hellberg.

Tolia Curriculum: Experience Art in the Making

Beginning May 22, mumok opens its doors to a new form of accessibility unprecedented in the history of this museum. Artist Tolia Astakhishvili—whose recent exhibitions include presentations at MoMA PS1 and SculptureCenter in New York—will develop and install her largest show to date, Figure of the Child. For Astakhishvili, the exhibition begins not with the opening day but with the process itself. The museum becomes a studio, a place of encounter, a living space. For four weeks, daily except Mondays, the Tolia Curriculum will offer an extensive program of workshops, lectures, film screenings, readings, and participatory formats for adults, families, and children.

Experience Anna Viebrock’s Stage for the mumok Collection—from September 30, with Free Admission

Terminal Piece, the first exhibition under the direction of Fatima Hellberg, opens on June 20—a holistic experience spanning five levels of mumok and bringing together works from the collection with new commissions and external loans. Each level represents an act, exploring different aspects of the relationship between artwork and viewer.

As a prologue to the five-act exhibition, stage designer Anna Viebrock has conceived an extraordinary presentation of the mumok collection for the museum’s entrance level. The result is a walk-in Gesamtkunstwerk—a stage that shifts with every movement through it. Visitors encounter different spaces: a church, a living room, a basement. Works from the mumok collection become actors within this setting. The display departs from conventional museum presentations and instead evokes the private living environments of the collectors: Peter and Irene Ludwig, Wolfgang Hahn—people who lived with art. On view are pivotal works by artists including Lutz Bacher, Joseph Beuys, Bruno Gironcoli, Hans Haacke, Sol LeWitt, Friederike Mayröcker, Dieter Roth, Gerhard Rühm, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Max Octavian Trauttmansdorff, Rosemarie Trockel, and Franz West.

This prologue will be on view from June 20 through September 30, with free admission. “We are living in a time of increased financial pressure, not only on public institutions, but on many individuals. Admission fees have become a real barrier. I wanted to set a counterpoint by inviting audiences into our collection presentation free of charge,” Hellberg notes. Free admission is made possible through the generous support of the mumok Board and private funds. “Our collection is a public good. I see it as my responsibility to make it visible and accessible,” she adds.

Further information:

With the Tolia Curriculum, mumok will offer a multifaceted program of workshops, lectures, film screenings, and participatory formats from May 22 through June 18, daily except Mondays.
Complete program: https://www.mumok.at/en/curriculum.

On June 20, Terminal Piece, an exhibition spanning five levels of mumok, will open alongside Tolia Astakhishvili‘s solo exhibition, Figure of the Child. On opening day, mumok will be open from 2 to 8 pm; guided tours and activities will take place hourly with free admission and a finale of the Tolia Curriculum, staged in collaboration with artist and set designer Michael Kleine.
The entrance level featuring Anna Viebrock’s 700-square-meter collection presentation will be accessible free of charge from June 20 through September 30.

To download press photos, please visit:

https://www.mumok.at/en/press/current-exhibitions/tolia-astakhishvili-curriculum

https://www.mumok.at/en/press/preview-exhibitions