Just Passing Through?

Linz 09 Minute Stay

April 29th to November 2009

Situated astride the Danube, Europe’s great east-west river road, and as terminus of the continent’s first horse-drawn railway running north to Budweis, Czechoslovakia, Linz has long been a hub of transportation routes both traditional and modern. Serving as a main junction is an opportunity, but it’s sometimes a misfortune too. Most travelers have other destinations, and all that remains for Linz is a nine-minute stopover. Nevertheless, a few people exit their particular means of conveyance, see the sights around town, go to the theater, meet some people and then—and only then—continue their journey. In doing so, they bring a bit of the outside world to Linz and carry the memory of this place with them when they go—as a postcard, letter or anecdote, as a character in a novel, or even as a Linzer Symphony.

The exhibition focuses on this city’s role as Europe’s central transportation hub. Gathered from observations and notes cursorily penned during some transient adventure or an encounter with a historical celebrity that provided the stuff literature is made of, the result will be a many-voiced chorus of verdicts on and prejudices about this city.
Amidst the jubilation of the Capital of Culture year, these contradictory testimonials will also create the space necessary for a bit of ironic self-mockery and establish some playful distance to the city’s (self)image.

On March 31, 1836 on a journey to France and England, writer Franz Grillparzer noted: “Rain. Can’t even espy the city that I’ve inspected ten times and ten times forgotten again.” But this says nothing about Linz, though quite a bit about Grillparzer and the typical way people traveled in those days. Already in the 18th century, popular travel literature was setting the wheels of the wanderlust machinery in motion and, in doing so, also began to establish the canon of sights and attractions that travelers had to take in along the way. On the Vienna-Paris route, Linz often goes unmentioned.

Linz generally got better reviews from those traveling by ship. Joseph von Eichendorff wasn’t the first to be enthused by Linz; in 1716, Lady Mary Montague went into raptures about the “absolutely delightful journey” aboard a small Danube riverboat and the “splendid palaces” of the city. In 1844, Nikolaus Lenau ran aground a short distance from Linz; Friedrich Hebbel expressed amazement in 1848 about how “incredibly quickly” the steamboat made its way to Linz and “the landscape gets more and more beautiful.” Hans Christian Andersen saw “a completely-built railroad” for the first time in 1834 in Linz; Robert Musil’s grandfather was one of the men who built it. In 1914, Musil himself entered military service in Linz, as did several other of his fellow writers. Young Hugo von Hofmannsthal expressed the wish to create a drama based on the Linzer Tagespost, the local daily. Theodor Herzl often spent the night in Linz, where “there had never been three strangers present at the same time.” The route of many would-be exiles fleeing to Switzerland in 1938 ran through Linz: “We’re now in Linz. Again the flags. SS men at the train station,” noted Lili Körber. Thomas Mann made it to Switzerland in plenty of time, but he traveled back and forth—before and after 1945—through Linz. The night train was his preferred vehicle, and he never got off the train. Günter Grass, on the other hand, used his drawing talents to create the greeting he left behind in this city.

This exhibition will transform the StifterHaus into an imaginary train stop; for the duration of the exhibition, mementos, letters, commentaries, travel accounts and literary gems by famous travelers will be temporarily stranded here.

Coming out in conjunction with this exhibition will be a catalog containing texts, quotes and stories having to do with transitory encounters with Linz down through the centuries.

“Linz is just a very, very big train stop.” (Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando)

“As for Linz, I’m familiar only with the train station and the Linzer Torte.“ (Alfred Polgar)

“Linz—in Austria one always laughs when someone mentions that city’s name, it rhymes so instinctively with province.” (Stefan Zweig)

“To have been born in Linz—that alone is a dreadful thought.” (Thomas Bernhard: Heldenplatz)

“Linz—and in this respect it’s always been superior to Vienna—really is situated on the Danube; on the other bank, it’s Linz too.” (Hans Weigel)

Opening // April 28, 2009, 7:30 PM
Location // SitfterHaus
Idea // Petra-Maria Dallinger, Regina Pintar
Concept // Evelyne Polt-Heinzl
Exhibition Designer // Peter Karlhuber

StifterHaus is Upper Austria’s center for literature and language. The umbrella brand “StifterHaus” subsumes the premises of the former residence of writer Adalbert Stifter (1805-1868), the Adalbert Stifter Institute founded in 1950 to conduct research on literature and linguistics, as well as the Upper Austrian Literature House set up in 1992 as an event venue, literature museum (also housing a Stifter Memorial Room) as well as an archive preserving for posterity the literary estates of Upper Austrian writers.

Evelyne Polt-Heinzl was born in 1960 in Braunau. A literary scholar and critic, she currently lives in Hirschwang, Lower Austria. She has worked on numerous exhibitions including projects dealing with the relationship between literature and film, Ödön von Horváth, and, most recently in 2006-07, “Arthur Schnitzler – Affairs and Affects.”

Peter Karlhuber was born in Linz in 1957 and studied set design in Salzburg. He has designed numerous exhibitions including projects dealing with Stefan Zweig, Thomas Bernhard, and, most recently in 2006-07, “Arthur Schnitzler – Affairs and Affects.”