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3...2...1...09 – Opening

Press Conference
Monday, 15 December 2008, 11.00 a.m.

December 31, 2008 to January 2, 2009

The opening of the Capital of Culture year has to live up to a wide array of expectations—in particular, the needs and desires of the people of this city and the surrounding region. After all, the Capital of Culture year belongs to all of us. Sensitization of the general public and a high level of popular commitment are what it takes to guarantee the emergence of a sense of identification and a feeling of hospitality that a European Capital of Culture has to evoke. Plus, the opening ought to make a high-profile statement about Linz for all the world to see and to thus get people fired up to check out all the great things that are happening here. And ultimately, the Opening09 should set in motion a smooth segue into subsequent events on the lineup.

The program already kicked off in 2007; a bit more intensity and diversity were added in 2008 to build up anticipation of and enthusiasm for the big upcoming year. The Linz09 lineup includes Linz’s major signature productions like the Ars Electronica Festival and the Brucknerfest. It’s also serving as a framework for special exhibits like “Tiefenrausch–Rapture of the Deep,” “LINZ TEXAS. A City Relates,” “The Führer’s Capital of Culture” and “Political Sculptures,” as well as the Linz Europa Tour.
Placing special emphasis on the weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas is designed to engender the dramaturgical effect of a countdown to really get people looking forward to the turn of the year as well as to get Linz’s traditional Advent guests into the Capital of Culture mood.

The Capital of Culture year will begin at the stroke of midnight. The festivities will commence on New Year’s Eve and continue on New Year’s Day and January 2nd as well. There’s also a full lineup of activities and events designed to appeal to locals and tourists alike set for the following weekend, January 3-4, 2009.

Linz’s traditional New Year’s Day offerings provide an excellent framework for an interesting and highly diversified array of presentations in this initial phase of the Capital of Culture year.
Every year, locals and tourists join in to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Linz: at gala dinners in the city’s restaurants, at fancy balls, on Danube riverboats, in the pubs on Landstraße and in the Old City, as well as on the Main Square with the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company’s entertainment stage and lead-in to the midnight countdown. These Linz customs will be featured events on the Capital of Culture lineup just like always. And then there’s the traditional Oberbank Silvesterlauf 6k race and the annual Aperschnalzen (the ancient peasant custom of “whip-cracking” to awaken the fertility of the fields) in front of the Landhaus. Plus, Austrian classics like the ringing of the Pummerin bell in the steeple of Vienna’s St. Stephan’s Cathedral and dancing to Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz will also play a role.

Even if the lineup of events and projects already commenced last year, it’s extremely important to launch the Capital of Culture year in grand style—to make a prominent, unmistakable statement and to celebrate this wonderful time together.
And, here again, this very intentional decision to kick off the Capital of Culture year on New Year’s Eve is another aspect of a way of going about things that sets Linz apart from most other European Capitals of Culture.

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