What to expect

For the first time, the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) opens its doors to the public for an afternoon and evening exploring space through art.

In collaboration with Vienna-based artist Wendelin Pressl, this inaugural Open Day invites visitors to discover space beyond policy and technology.

Five original artworks, each inspired by one of ESPI's thematic focus areas, offer a way into the subject that needs no prior knowledge, only curiosity.

Visitors can view the exhibition, join a guided tour of ESPI's premises, and meet our researchers in person. In the evening, the artist introduces the works before a discussion with our researchers connects the exhibition's themes to the wider question of what space means for society today.

The exhibition

Working across drawing, object and installation, Wendelin Pressl has spent over two decades exploring how everyday systems, objects and narratives can be taken apart, recombined and reread in unexpected ways.

Based in Vienna since studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, his work has been shown across Austria and abroad, including at the Venice Biennale.

For the ESPI Open Day, our researchers have worked with Pressl to choose art from his collection that reflect one of ESPI's five thematic areas:

• Green and Sustainable Societies 
• Security and Defence
• Exploration and Science
• Innovation, Industry, Finance and Workforce
• Space as an Asset

The works use an associative, exploratory approach to each of the themes, designed to spark conversation and reflection rather than provide answers.

Programme

• 15:00 – 17:00 Public guided tours & children's art workshop | families and young children welcome

• 17.00 – 18:30 Doors open for evening event

• 18:30 – 18:40 Opening

• 18:40 – 19.30 Connecting art and space: a conversation with Wendelin Pressl and ESPI's Research Leads

• 19:30 – 22:00 Cocktail reception with canapés, accompanied by saxophonist Anna Kypiatkova.