Otto Waalkes shows twelve parodies of old masters in Vienna's Albertina

At the press conference on Tuesday in Vienna, interim ORF Director General Ingrid Thurnher appeared alongside Waalkes, reenacting a legendary ZiB interview from almost 30 years ago with the comedian. Waalkes opened the proceedings with one of his typical poems on the question "Is man descended from the ape?" and concluded with a sung homage to Wolfgang Ambros' "Skifoahn." He jokingly said to Thurnher: "You are in the upper echelons of the ORF, and I am exhibiting at the Albertina." Thurnher grinned: "We were strangers to each other."

Dialogue of a Non-Frisian Kind

The exhibition is curated by Albertina Director Ralph Gleis, who described the project as a carte blanche for Waalkes. "But a large institution with a large collection can also tolerate great humor," said Gleis. The exhibition sees itself as a "dialogue of a non-Frisian kind," as the museum itself puts it. Waalkes himself spoke of a "unique thing" and called his presence in the venerable institution "complete madness."

From a Patch of Grass to a Woman's Portrait

The parodies are the focus: alongside Albrecht Dürer's famous watercolor "The Great Piece of Turf," an Ottifant is shown mowing the lawn short with a lawnmower. In front of a Jugendstil drawing by Gustav Klimt from the early 20th century, Waalkes' own version from 2026 hangs, differing from the original only by a long elephant trunk. An homage to Egon Schiele shows a woman smiling at a small proboscis animal on her lap.

Academic Training and East Frisian Tea

That Waalkes' engagement with the old masters is more than just a gag is emphasized by his biography: in the 1970s, he studied for eight semesters at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, including with the Viennese Fantastic Realist Rudolf Hausner. For the parodies, he states, he had the color values and paper quality of the originals precisely analyzed in order to imitate the works as faithfully as possible. For a Dürer adaptation, he used East Frisian tea to artificially age the surface.

Waalkes, born in Emden, East Frisia, in 1948, sees artistic appropriation as the most honest form of homage – which is how the Albertina also characterizes it. When asked if such a traditional institution could tolerate humor at all, the 77-year-old replied: "I do believe that such a large institution can tolerate a bit of humor." He simply described his trademark, the Ottifant, as "the result of a failed attempt at a self-portrait."

Autograph Session and Outlook

After the opening, Waalkes will remain in Vienna for a short time: on Wednesday, fans can get an autograph from the comedian at the Albertina from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. The exhibition runs until the 10th of the month and is part of a broader strategy by Director Gleis, who wants to make the institution, in office since 2025, "funnier and more accessible." Whether the experiment succeeds will likely be shown by visitor numbers – at least the humor has already arrived in the rooms.

For Waalkes, the exhibition is both a return and a premiere: he has created parodies of well-known works before, but a solo exhibition in a museum of this caliber is new. The Albertina, which with its collections from the 15th century to the present day is one of Austria's most important institutions, is banking on an audience beyond the classical art public with this cooperation – and on a comedian who is now holding his Ottifant's trunk into the collection.