Vienna gave us two very different art fair experiences in a single day.

We began at PARALLEL Vienna, set within the Otto Wagner Areal. The architecture already establishes a particular atmosphere before entering the first exhibition space: long corridors, historic rooms and traces of the building’s original use create a setting that feels far removed from the conventional white cube. Moving through it, we encountered emerging artists, independent positions and young practices, including artists who had only recently left art school. There is something compelling about seeing work at that stage, before a practice has fully settled, and being able to meet the people behind it directly.

From there, we continued to the new Astoria Art Fair, presented inside the former Astoria Garage. The change in setting could hardly have been greater. The raw scale and architectural character of the garage immediately commanded attention. At moments, the location almost became an artwork in its own right, and some may say it occasionally competed with the works on view. Yet this was also part of what made the experience so memorable: moving between galleries, artworks and the existing structure, constantly noticing how differently each work responded to its surroundings.

Experiencing both fairs on the same day brought together two things that continue to shape how we look at art: discovering new artistic voices and observing how strongly context influences the way a work is perceived.

These visits become part of an ongoing archive for us — artists we want to follow, galleries we want to remember, conversations we want to continue and works that may unexpectedly return to mind months or years later.

For us, at VELVENOIR, that continuous exchange with artists, galleries and places is part of what keeps our perspective open. And Vienna, with two such contrasting fairs only hours apart, offered plenty to carry forward.