Austrian Jakob Winkler writes for the C/O Vienna Magazine from New York. He meets people there who love Vienna, miss it, would like to change it, or never want to see it again.
Antje Mayer: Why are you currently living and working in New York?
Jakob Winkler: I live in New York because I am enticed by the city and its cosmopolitanism. I came one-and-a-half years ago for a work term in the realm of art and cultural management and ended up staying, in love with the city and its people. Before, I lived in Vienna for seven years – born in Graz, it was the only option in Austria for me.
When was the last time Vienna surprised you?
Since I have been gone Vienna surprises me more often.
"There have been a lot of developments in the creative scene, and the city Vienna comes across younger and more open."
I don’t think it is because I’m not there anymore. (laughs)
What is missing in Vienna?
More openness toward diversity and different lifestyle concepts.
What interests you in life?
I am interested in a lot of things. For instance: politics, contemporary
art, architecture and design, cities and their inhabitants. I would
love to be able to split myself into pieces so I could
live in different places around the world at the same time and collect
experiences. At the top of my list after – or better put: parallel to –
New York are San Francisco, Berlin, and Sydney.
Why are you interested in working together with us on the c/o Vienna blog?
I think it is a great idea to present Vienna through its inhabitants, the people who live there or are shaping the city in some way. Aside from the structure of a city – its infrastructure and architecture – above all, it is definitely the people, their ideas, projects and actions that make a city interesting.
If you were king for a day, how would you change the world?
My first official act would be the abolition of nation states and their borders. And in my kingdom there wouldn’t be categories for “men” and “women” and definitely no notions of different “races”.
