The MAK is a museum and space of experimentation for applied arts at the interface of design, architecture, and contemporary art. Its core competence lies in a contemporary exploration of these fields aimed at revealing new perspectives and elucidating discourse at the edges of the institution’s traditions. The MAK focuses its efforts on securing an adequate recognition and positioning of applied arts. It pursues new approaches to its extensive collection, which encompasses various epochs, materials, and artistic disciplines, and develops these approaches to compelling views.

Founded as the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry in 1863, the MAK is committed to a sustainable improvement of cooperation between art and the economic sphere. It supports collaborations and networks, especially in design and architecture, which facilitate the effective realization of the creative sector’s innovative ideas and offers companies new perspectives for positioning themselves on the market. The MAK develops novel ways of collaborating with corporate sponsors particularly in the context of design and architecture labs.

The MAK is a place of innovative learning that develops new ways for better understanding applied arts, design, architecture, and contemporary art. Since creative learning constitutes an essential part of applied arts, the MAK faces a two-fold challenge. The MAK increases the political and economic effectiveness of art through new perspectives of applied arts and its special areas of design and architecture, as well as contemporary art. In an age dominated by the digital, the MAK promotes outstanding inventiveness and artistic production and insists upon their relevance, and provides them a creative space, for shaping a sustainable future.