Vienna repair festival offers free fixes and live restoration
Friday 2nd October 2026 on 06:15 in
Austria
Vienna’s Repair Festival opens on Friday at the MuseumsQuartier, with more than 90 events focused on repairing and upgrading everyday items. The festival runs until 18 October and offers workshops, free repair services and a live restoration, ORF reports.
Now in its fifth year, the festival includes the exhibition “Radical Socks”, showing creatively mended socks. Festival director Tina Zickler said the programme brings together experts from Austria and abroad.
On 3 October, fashion designer Annette Weisser will help participants repair old or damaged bags and wallets in a workshop called “Pimp Your Tired Bag”. Registration is required.
Repair clinics will run at the MuseumsQuartier’s Libelle venue on 11 October from 12.30 to 16.00. The free service covers string instruments, transverse and piccolo flutes, chairs and electrical appliances, with no registration required. A clothing-swap party will follow at the same venue.
On 4 October, a seamstress will repair bras and lingerie in Room D from 15.00 to 18.00. No registration is required, but repairs are offered in exchange for a voluntary donation.
Students from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna’s Institute of Conservation and Restoration will also work on a Roland Rainer stacking chair in a live restoration. Half of its legs have been sawn off, and the veneer on its seat and backrest is deteriorating. Visitors can watch the work on several days.
The programme also includes “Slow Mending & Speed Dating” on 17 October. Participants can bring clothes with holes or tears to mend while meeting others. Workshop leaders Aleksandra Zdravkovic and Anne Schlüter will provide materials and tools.
The festival runs from 2 to 18 October at the MuseumsQuartier and other venues. Admission is free.