LINZ TEXAS Eine Stadt mit Beziehungen on show in Graz
The leisure industry exploits gaps in the industrial areas of Linz close to the centre.
Copyright: Roemer van Toorn, 2008
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Press Conference: Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 11 a.m.
in the stadtmuseumgraz
Opening: Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 6 p.m.
in the stadtmuseumgraz
Duration of the exhibition: 25 September – 02 November 2008
Speakers at the opening:
Otto Hochreiter, Director of stadtmuseumgraz
Martin Heller, Artistic Director of Linz09
Angelika Fitz, Curator of the exhibition
Mag. Siegfried Nagl, Mayor of the City of Graz
Dr. Erich Watzl, Deputy Mayor of the City of Linz
Franz Dobusch, Mayor of the City Linz
THE EXHIBITION
Linz, the capital of the province of Upper Austria, is a medium sized city, a description it shares with most other European cities. Situated as it is between industry and culture, economic centre and rural life and the tourist hotspots of Vienna and Salzburg, the city has been putting its place in the middle to good use and has displayed a remarkable knack for re-inventing itself. On the one hand it is still burdened with the image of a dull industrial city inextricably associated with the Nazi era, on the other it hosts international cultural events such as Forum Design and Ars Electronica.
It is this position in the middle that the exhibition LINZ TEXAS Eine Stadt mit Beziehungen, a cooperative venture by Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture and Architekturzentrum Wien, addresses in a playful manner. Using photo and film sequences, videos and objects, it underlines the “elective relationships” that exist between Linz and a wide range of cities worldwide.
In 2009 Linz is going to be European Capital of Culture, which is an ideal opportunity for the city to add new features to its profile. What cities can Linz take as a model and what can others learn from Linz? What does Linz have in common with Madrid, Wolfsburg or Seattle? Which of its properties do you also find in Moscow, Manchester or Davos? An urban road movie is looking for answers to such questions.
In LINZ TEXAS Eine Stadt mit Beziehungen the City of Linz and the visitors of the exhibition are sent off on a journey of the imagination that takes them not only to Texas but around the entire world. Almost twenty cities and regions are diagnosed as comparable to Linz on the basis of their “elective relationship”. In these comparisons the size and the location of Linz’s counterparts are less important than events and special features that shape the collective cultural memory or that have unjustly been allowed to lapse from that memory. What is interesting about Seattle for instance is the fact that it is possible for a new musical scene to have its origins in a provincial town and still to conquer the world. Or take Salzgitter: Here the question arises what life is like in a town whose economic and urban planning structures were shaped by National Socialism. Some towns are almost like Linz’s identical twin sisters, others, as is often the case with relatives, exhibit only a few shared features.
The exhibition LINZ TEXAS has set itself an ambitious goal. “Eine Stadt mit Beziehungen”, a well-connected city, underscores aspects or properties of the city that invite comparisons with other cities that seem partly obvious, partly absurd. The categories of the images on show at the exhibition are as varied as the cities’ urban narratives; these are told through private snapshots, professional architectural photographs, newspaper photos and tourist souvenirs. The result is a stimulating series of comparisons that aims to focus our gaze on the city and its connections and to give wings to our imagination.
Opening hours: Tue – Sun: 10.00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Exhibition Team:
Concept: Angelika Fitz, Dietmar Steiner (Az W), Martin Heller (Linz09)
Curator: Angelika Fitz
Exhibition architecture: Heidi Pretterhofer (arquitectos)
Exhibition graphics: Barbara Eisenköck (MVD Austria), Michael Rieper, Christine Schmauszer
Curatorial assistance: Christina Nägele
Project coordination Az W: Katharina Ritter
Project coordination Linz09: Gudrun Wallenböck
Project coordination stadtmuseumgraz: Margareth Otti
Accompanying publication:
LINZ TEXAS Eine Stadt mit Beziehungen
© 2008 Springer-Verlag/Wien
Editors: Angelika Fitz, Martin Heller
Graphic design: MVD Austria / Michael Rieper, Georg Skerbisch, Christine Schmauszer
German and English
Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture sponsored by:
City of Linz
Province of Upper Austria
Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture
European Union
Press contact:
Mag. Pia Leydolt / Linz 2009 Kulturhauptstadt Europas
T +43 / (0)732 / 2009-37
F +43 / (0)732 / 2009-43
pia.leydolt@linz09.at
Mag. Annette Rainer / stadtmuseumgraz
T +43 / (0)316/ 872-7611
annette.rainer@stadt.graz.at
