Festival of Regions 2009 - Strong local presence
Press Release
10 February 2009
In 2009, in collaboration with Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture, the Festival of Regions is orienting itself from 9 May to 1 June 2009 toward the southern edge of Linz, along the Traun River, with a focus on the satellite town of Auwiesen and the residential complexes of solarCity. Within an urban environment as well, the Festival of Regions is sticking to its orientation toward present-day site-specific art and culture. The festival is putting an emphasis on participatory practives and the presence of the participants in the locality after the strong focus on installations in the recent editions in Upper Mühlviertel in 2005 and in the district of Kirchdorf an der Krems in 2007. At a press conference in Auwiesen to mark the opening of the Filiale Auwiesen (Auwiesen Branch) of the Linz cultural organizations, Stadtwerkstatt and Radio FRO, examples from the 2009 festival program were presented. The program will be presented to the local populace tomorrow and the day after, and is already available online at www.fdr.at.
"In the most literal sense of the word, we art putting up our tents in the south," said director Martin Fritz while presenting plans and giving examples. "Among other things, festival participants will temporarily move into flats in Auwiesen (Pilotprojekt Auwiesen), take dogs for walks (Gassi), spend a night in the Climbing Hall, the electricity works and the solarCity high school (Nomad City Passage), produce together critical political actions (Democracy and Welfare for All), come into people’s living rooms for performances (home:entertainer), spend all their time in a pub (Living in Hope), perform New Music together with fellow residents (A Breeze), and build an Acropolis (Linz Acropolis). This close intermeshing of participants with the focal locations during the entire festival was a concern for us, especially in the year of the Cultural Capital. The collaboration with Linz 2009 has extended our options for doing so. With the additional resources we were able to afford, for instance, the new program, zerlegt & verspielt, curated by Doris Prlic, and to encourage even more interaction than usual."
At this year's festival a total of more than thirty projects will be presented, distributed evenly over Auwiesen and solarCity. The historically interesting urban space in between also will be taken in with tours (Local Tour), evening events (Supaklub Süd) and projects at outposts (Eightythree - A Leap in Time, Lived Maps). In order to be more flexible with dates in 2009, the festival's duration has been extended to 24 days.
"Our own normality is always a direct relationship with the locality and intensive work with local actors," explains board member, Gerald Priewasser, and emphasizes the "strong presence of Linz cultural organizations with the Stadtwerkstatt and FRO in Urfahr, through the Auwiesen Parish Centre (20 to 24 today) and OKIPS (A Breeze) in solarCity, to Hartlauerhof in Asten, which is co-operating with the primary school and the high school in solarCity (The Other Side). Together, and in conjunction with external players, the balance so important for the Festival of Regions is coming about.” (See the list of participants)
To further intensify the preparations two of the most important Linz cultural organizations, the Stadtwerkstatt and Free Radio FRO, are starting their joint festival project right now by opening the Filiale (Branch) in a vacant pavilion in the middle of the satellite town. Stadtwerkstatt and FRO will shift their operations to Auwiesen in May and, already in the lead-up, are offering activities for residents of Auwiesen and Kleinmünchen.
The director of Linz 09, Martin Heller, says that his trust in the Festival of Regions has grown. For him, it is among the highlights of his program for May. "Already the prelude events since autumn have widened the viewing-angle, and the Filiale is now yet another step taken out of the centre. We have always been concerned with showing that Linz is larger than the way from the railway station to the Danube. It was only logical to employ the competence of the Festival of Regions for this purpose."
Project overview
AUWIESEN
Outpost - Stadtwerkstatt und Radio FRO
Miete, Strom, Gas - Karl-Heinz Ströhle und Martin Strauß
Naked City - Karl Heinz Klopf
Fenstervideos - Susanne Jirkuff
Democracy and welfare for all - Martin Krenn
20 to 24 today - Pfarrzentrum Marcel Callo
Gassi - Susanne Kudielka & Kaspar Wimberley
Acropolis Linz - Frank Bölter
Pilot Project Auwiesen - Uwe Jonas
Garden of Senses - Petar Radisavljeviæ
zerlegt und verspielt - Auwiesen - Doris Prliæ
SOLARCITY
Signposted - Anna Meyer
Journey to Surinam - Andrea Knobloch
Home Entertainer - AKKU
Claim Your space - Streetwork Ebelsberg Pichling
The other side - Volksschule 52 solarCity, AHS solarCity, Hartlauerhof
A breeze - Marcelo Cardoso-Gama & Johanna Kienzl
zerlegt und verspielt - solarCity - Doris Prliæ
NOT FIXED YET
Living in hope - Marlene Haring
LINZ-SOUTH
Eightythree - A leap through time - Sabina Köfler, Kristina Kornmüller, Stefan Messner, Petra Moser, Ulrike Seelmann, Felix Vierlinger
Lived maps - Heidi Schatzl
Nomad City Passage - Rebekka Reich & Oliver Gather
Local tour - Festival der Regionen
Water shuttle - Festival der Regionen
Supaclub South - Stadtwerkstatt, Subversivmesse, Festival der Regionen
MEDIA, DISCOURSE AND MEDIATION
On location in suburbia - spotsZ
Normality in crisis - Festival der Regionen in Kooperation mit social impact
Public space in the city - Peter Arlt, Hans Kropshofer, Georg Ritter, die Fabrikanten
The last session - Peter Arlt
