Japanese Exhibits at the Viennese World Fair 1873

In 2023, Austria and Vienna in particular celebrated 150 years of the Vienna World Exhibition. This first German-language world exhibition took place from May to November 1873 on the Prater grounds. This event was also significant for the Imperial Japanese government in many respects.

To mark the anniversary, the Japan World Exposition 1970 Commemorative Fund/Kansai Osaka 21st Century Association (JEC) provided third-party funding, which was acquired by Bettina Zorn (curator of the East Asia Collection at the Weltmuseum Wien) and used to create a database and a 10-minute edutainment film on Japan at the Vienna World Exposition.

The database offers researchers and interested visitors the opportunity to view Japanese exhibits from 1873. If image material from 1872 and 1873 is available, or if the team working on the database was able to locate these objects in publicly accessible collections worldwide, they will be displayed. The database is organised in three languages: German, English and Japanese. It is designed to be expandable and is to be extended in the future to include individual object histories and data on makers, manufacturers or artists. It is therefore also a tool for an aspect of Japan's economic history from 1873 onwards.

Programme
Welcome speech
Jonathan Fine, Director of the Weltmuseum Wien
Greetings
Junichiro Otaka, Envoy of the Embassy of Japan in Austria
Speakers
Bettina Zorn, Curator East Asia Collection
Hanna Schneck, Director of the KHM Museum Library Collection
Agnes Schwanzer, project collaborator
Q&A

Duration: 90 min.
To participate in the event, all guests need a valid museum ticket (or an annual ticket, a KHMembership or a membership of the Weltmuseum Wien Friends).
Registration online (limited number of participants)
Meeting point: WMW Forum