Press conference April 12, 2007
Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
10 a.m., O.K Center of Contemporary Art / Mediendeck, Dametzstr. 30, 4020 Linz
4 p.m., The Austrian Film Museum, Augustinerstrasse 1, 1010 Wien
2009 will be an annus mirabilis for Linz. In that year the capital of Upper Austria will be the European Capital of Culture, together with Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania: honorific labels galore that are a source of pride to all concerned. More important however is the question: What does that development actually mean? And what changes will it bring?
First and foremost: Europe will become a tangible reality. With a wide array of events, with much creative input into the artistic programme and the cooperation of open-minded, inquisitive visitors. The concept of the European Capital of Culture dates back to 1985, and the magnetic pull associated with it has been on the increase ever since. This is because cultural capitals showcase European diversity and offer a wonderful opportunity to let that diversity make a major impact.
LINZ 2009 IS ALREADY OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCKS – COLLABORATION WITH CROSSING EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL LINZ
“For Linz as an upcoming European Capital of Culture, Crossing Europe is a match made in heaven. Here’s an optimal blend of striving to achieve artistic excellence and inherently international approaches and experiences. In the design of our 2009 program, Crossing Europe is one of the indispensable epicenters.” (Linz09 Artistic Director Martin Heller)
The two organizations have already agreed to join forces in order to give festival guests an unmistakable foretaste during the time leading up to the Capital of Culture year of just what an exceptional cultural event Linz09 is going to be.
And indeed, a program has already been orchestrated for 2007 that will give audiences a sense of what they can expect in 2009.
The Crossing Europe Film Festival is a perfect fit in the Capital of Culture’s lineup of prelude projects scheduled for spring 2007:
• Schaurausch (Viewing Spree) – “Art into the City!!” is being staged right in downtown Linz, especially for people living in the city and the outlying areas.
• Hubert von Goisern is serving as musical ambassador on a Linz Europa Tour that will take him far beyond Austria's borders.
• Crossing Europe is attracting international attention on site.
Cooperation with the Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz
In addition to the marketing impact and the placement of the Linz09 logo on all Crossing Europe promotional material, there are other benefits resulting from this joint venture:
• Endowing the 2007 CROSSING EUROPE Award European Competition:
The €10,000 prize for the film that wins the European Competition is financed by Linz09.
• Production of the new festival trailer:
The new festival trailer by the young photographer, animated film maker and video artist Karo Szmit, based in Upper Austria, is funded by Linz09. Not only will the new trailer open every festival screening; 50 copies are also being sent to movie theaters throughout Austria to promote the festival.
THE LINZ09 PROGRAMME DURING THE YEAR 2007
• Crossing Europe Filmfestival (April 24-29, 2007)
www.crossingeurope.at
• Schaurausch – Art into the City!! (May 10-June 1, 2007)
In downtown Linz, artists from Austria and abroad will be transforming 50 shop display windows into works of art. The first curated exhibition in collaboration with the O.K Center for Contemporary Art will be staged at three sets of venues: downtown shop windows in 2007; cellars and underground passageways in 2008; and, finally, the rooftops of Linz in 2009. The artistic concept’s dramaturgy thus proceeds from bottom to top—“So close to heaven!”—and reaches its climax during the Capital of Culture year.
http://www.ok-centrum.at/schaurausch/
• Hubert von Goisern’s “Linz Europa Tour” will take Linz09’s musical ambassador on a journey far beyond Austria's borders on which he’ll encounter artists from 14 countries. The medium of music will be their common language. The tour will make about 40 stops along some of Europe’s great rivers, and each concert will constitute an exploration expressed in the language of music of the web of differences and similarities inherent in this continent’s incredible regional diversity. Linz is both the point of departure and the hub of this extraordinary project.
The tour will set off in the spring of 2007 on a cargo ship converted into a floating stage and head eastward on the Danube. Throughout his journey to the delta where the river empties into the Black Sea, Hubert von Goisern will be inviting musicians on board for jams, rehearsals and joint concerts.
The tour will head westward in 2008. The culmination will be in the summer of 2009: a multi-day Harbor Festival in Linz at which all artists who took part in the Linz Europa Tour 2007-2009 will get together for a major concert event.www.hubertvongoisern.com
• sicht:wechsel (22. Juni – 30. Juni 2007)
sicht:wechsel, an international integrative cultural festival, will be held in Linz for the first time in June 2007. The aim of sicht:wechsel (change of perspective) is to present different arts and aesthetics of people with special needs to a broad public. Linz09 has gotten involved and is thereby already intensifying the presence of the Capital of Culture initiative in 2007.
www.sicht-wechsel.at
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT LINZ 2009 EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE
A City of Possibilities
Linz: 190,000 inhabitants; the hub of an economically thriving region with a population of over half a million; set amidst a lovely landscape on the banks of the Danube an hour and a half from Vienna.
But Linz is much more than that. It is a city whose recent history is made up of chapters as diverse as the dark times of National Socialism and the unparalleled upswing of the last 20 years. It is also a city with a present, one that is unmistakably stamped by its vitality and selfconfidence. And, finally, it is also a city in which the future is taken seriously–in the planning that’s done and the action that follows.
And it’s for this very reason that the Capital of Culture year isn’t just pyrotechnics but a milestone on the road to the future. Changes are in the air and they are being greeted by an eagerness for innovation and experimentation. After all, a Capital of Culture initiative that is averse to risk-taking isn’t worth its salt.
Culture – A genuine part of people’s lives
The lineup of events hasn’t been finalised yet, but the work is proceeding at full speed. It is driven by the wish to imprint images of the city on Europe’s cultural memory. For this purpose a peaceful suspension of normality is to be proclaimed for fantasy and creative freedom to transcend the day-to-day routine.
That culture is not something completely divorced from the rest of one’s life is part of the self-awareness of people in a former predominantly blue-collar town. In Linz, music, theatre, visual arts, film and the innovative ideas of a thriving underground scene are soaked up by appreciative audiences. At the Ars Electronica Festival and the Museum of the Future, in the Lentos Museum of Art, the Brucknerhaus, the Landestheater, the O.K Center for Contemporary Art and the Landesgalerie, at the Festival of the Regions and the Crossing Europe documentary film festival–there are many venues dedicated to culture in Linz. But culture is also played out on the city’s streets and squares, in its green spaces, and up and down the river that runs through it.
“Culture for All”: Linz 2009 will follow this utopian motto through. The demand to make top quality accessible to each and everyone is advanced in a spirit of stubborn detachment.
The people behind Linz09
A European Capital of Culture involves the heads, hands and hearts of a wide variety of men and women. And people’s readiness to get involved has been a joy to behold. After all, having Europe visiting is a unique opportunity for Linz to show what makes it such a special place. The city as well as the surrounding region, our political parties, and members of the business community ranging from global players to local firms are joining forces to take advantage of this opportunity.
To orchestrate this effort, a thoroughly professional staff has been assembled. Martin Heller is artistic director of Linz 2009 and ultimately responsible for the programme and its impact. This choice of someone from outside was a deliberate one: Heller is a Swiss citizen with extensive international experience implementing major projects of this kind. He knows that Linz will rise to the occasion and come through with flying colours. In his task he will be supported by authors and artists from Linz and around the world. Indeed, it is the artists and authors who are the soul of this adventure. They set the rules the Capital of Culture will follow.
THE MANAGEMENT BOARD
Martin Heller
Born 1952 in Basel. Studies at the College of Art and Design in Basel and the University of Basel in (History of Art, Ethnology and European Ethnography). Art criticism, judging and consultancy work.
From 1986 curator, then in 1990 director of the Museum for Design in Zürich, from 1997 also director of the Bellerive Museum Zürich. Numerous exhibition projects and publications, in particular on design, photography, art, media and popular culture. Lectures and courses in museums and schools both in Austria and abroad. 1995-97 Guest lecturer at the National College of Design Karlsruhe.
From 1999-2003 artistic management of the Swiss national exhibition Expo.02. Subsequently self-employed cultural entrepreneur (Heller Enterprises, Zürich, www.hellerenter.ch), with clients in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. From 2004, board of directors of Vitra Holding AG. Regular lectures, including seminars and judgings, texts for magazines, catalogues, books, electronic media.
Walter Putschögl
Born 1957 in Linz. Degree and post-graduate studies – graduated as Doctor of Law at the Johannes Kepler University Linz. 1982 started work with Dachstein-Fremdenverkehrs-AG, 1990 employed by National Tourist Board in Upper Austria, today known as ‘Oberösterreich Tourismus’.
1990-1996 Manager of the Interessentenbeitragsstelle (~Office in charge of collecting tourism-related fees from interested parties) and as such solely responsible for the development of the organisational unit. 1996-2002 managing director-representative of the National Tourist Board, responsible for the entire commercial division. Additional responsibilities in daughter companies of the National Tourist Board: authorised representative of Oberösterreich Werbung GmbH, advisor for Oberösterreich Touristik GmbH and management board of Oberösterreich Tourismus Technologie GmbH.
2003-2005 Commercial director of ‘Oberösterreich Tourismus’ (Upper Austria Tourism).
