Opening09
Press Conference
Friday, 10 October 2008, 10.00 a.m.
Pressezentrum, Altes Rathaus
Hauptplatz 1, 4020 Linz
At the press conference other features of the opening ceremony’s programme, such as events that have already become firmly established over the years, were outlined. “Decentralized Dinner”, a project in which Linzers will be playing host to visitors in their homes, and the presentation of the flyer featuring the formal opening of Linz09 met with special interest.
Among those present were
Dr. Erich Watzl (Chairman of the Board Linz09),
Martin Heller (Artistic Director Linz09),
Dr. Helmut Obermayr (Regional Director ORF OÖ) and
Orlando Gough (composer of the Rocket Symphony)
Opening09
31 December 2008 – 2 January 2009
The opening of Capital of Culture Year must meet many different criteria, notably in terms of the expectations of the inhabitants of the city and the region. The Capital of Culture belongs to everyone. It is the sensitization and engagement of the majority of the population that creates the identification and ready hospitality on which a European Capital of Culture can be built. Opening09 is also designed to position the city effectively in the eyes of the outside world and to attract the attention of potential visitors. And, finally, Opening09 will provide the basis for the first 2009 projects on the Capital of Culture agenda to be realized.
The programme has of course been in full swing since 2007 and has put a multitude of projects on stream throughout 2008 to get the public attuned to Capital Culture Year. Major events, such as the Ars Electronica Festival or the Bruckner Festival, gave a hand up to Linz09 as did the exhibitions “Tiefenrausch”, “LINZ TEXAS. A well-connected city”, “Cultural Capital of the Führer”, “Political Sculptures” and Hubert von Goisern’s “Linz Europa Tour”.
A great number of events scheduled in Linz during Advent will give the season the character of a countdown, which will both enhance the already existing sense of joyful anticipation and familiarize the city’s traditional Advent visitors with Capital of Culture Year.
The beginning of Capital of Culture Year will coincide with the beginning of the calendar year. Festivities start on New Year’s Eve, with a programme leading up to a climax at midnight; they continue throughout New Year’s Day and 2 January. The official time window 31 December 08 – 2 January 09 will give the opening a considerable potential in terms of tourism, with the weekend 3/4 January 09 providing additional programme options.
What is traditionally on offer on New Year’s Day in Linz is a more than welcome setting for the Capital of Culture’s first public appearance.
Every year Linzers and tourists join ranks in the celebration of New Year’s Eve in countless different venues and settings: at gala dinners in the city’s restaurants, at New Year’s Eve balls, on board ship, in the pubs and bars that dot Landstraße and the inner city or in the Hauptplatz with its ORF stage, the scene of the warmup for the countdown to the new year. These Linz traditions and customs will be as much part of the opening ceremony for Culture Capital Year as the annual Oberbank New Year’s Eve Race Line or the traditional AperschnalzenLandhaus. Austria’s pièces de resistance, the Pummerin bell and the Donauwalzer, will be given their dues as well.
Even though some projects were put on stream a year or two ahead of Capital of Culture Year a formal opening that marks the beginning of Linz’s official stint and that is celebrated by a very large number of people is still needed and has been accorded high priority.
The decision to make the beginning of Culture Capital Year coincide with the calendar year is one of the features with which Linz breaks ranks with most of Europe’s other Capitals of Culture.
The Programme of the Opening
