In our current techArt project, “Im Zeichen der Idee” (In the Name of the Idea), we want to work with artists Katya Florensky and Tanya Pioniker to build a bridge between today's patents and historical “invention privileges.”

These were submitted for review at TU Wien between 1800 and 1852 and have been stored in the university's archives ever since.
→ To the collection of privileges

The oldest documented invention privilege dates from August 21, 1800, and relates to a folding machine by Carl Collmann. The most recent was issued on May 5, 1852, for a mowing machine by Franz Rixner.

At that time, the professors of the Polytechnic Institute – the predecessor institution of TU Wien – were entrusted with preparing technical reports on these privileges. Today, extraordinary ideas are patented by employees of TU Wien.

It is remarkable how many women acted as inventors and applied for privileges: the collection lists a total of 80 female privilege holders.
At a time when we want to make the early female pioneers in science, technology, and art more visible again, this collection seems to us to be an exciting opportunity to gain new insights and bring previously hidden facts to light.

How were ideas implemented back then—and how is this done today?

What does this have to do with artificial intelligence—and, of course, what does it have to do with art?

In the exhibition “Im Zeichen der Idee” (Under the Sign of the Idea), which is planned for November 2026, we want to explore these questions and present the artists' works.

In cooperation with

• Ernst Bauer
• Paulus Ebner
• Juliane Mikoletzky
• Alexandra Wieser