Linz09
European Capital of Culture – Austrian style
MúzeumCafé 11.
In recent years the title ‘European Capital of Culture’ has been awarded to towns close to Hungarian hearts, including Krakow and Sibiu (Nagyszeben). In 2013 Košice will pride itself as the bearer of the title and next year Hungary will be aiming to succeed with respect to its own ‘culture capital’, the town of Pécs, and come out favourably in terms of the inevitable comparisons. This year the Austrian city of Linz, so far mainly noted for its industry and less for its cultural life, is the European Capital of Culture, together with Vilnius in Lithuania. One of the key slogans promoting the city on the sides of trams is: “Linz. It’s changed!” The serious preparatory work is obvious and clearly did not start with their ‘countdown’, the fireworks and the ‘symphony of rockets’ on New Year’s Eve, which was attended by the president of Austria along with 130,000 others who waltzed at midnight in the cold by the Danube. Dozens of preliminary programmes including major music and film festivals, as well as exhibitions have taken place since 2007. The greatest ‘bang’ of the January start undoubtedly featured the inauguration of the Ars Electronica Center (AEC) built next to the city-centre bridge on the bank of the Danube. It is not really an art museum in the true sense of the term, for most exhibited items cannot be referred to as works of art, even with the best goodwill. Industrial design, automation, digital and media art, the world of robots, and bio- and nanotechnology are displayed in this four-storey glass-covered building, which itself is an object of art. At night tens of thousands of LED lights transform it into a bizarre, colourful and constantly changing picture-statue. Opposite the AEC, across the Danube, the Lentos Kunstmuseum built in 2003 is just as surprising in its appearance and at night it also changes into a work of art, colouring the river surface purple. The exterior of the hyper-modern building is also covered with glass and the interior is designed with pure and simplified forms dominated by visible concrete surfaces. It was here that an interesting selection entitled Best of Austria. Spitzenwerke aus Österreichs Muséen und Kunstsammlungen opened on 1 January. With reference to Pécs – or lack of it – next year’s European Capital of Culture is practically invisible in the Linz09 programme. Its name, let alone the promotion of its existence cannot be seen anywhere. This is remarkable, especially considering that countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Turkey with no particular reason are represented with programmes. Still, looking on the bright side, from a zero position you can only improve. As it happened, the managers of the Pécs European Capital of Culture went to Linz for the opening, at least according to their website. It is a pity they may have not noticed the essence of Linz while apologizing for their own troubles.
Vilnius – not only on the map
Characteristically for Vilnius, a great emphasis in their programmes is placed on the relationship between people and nature. They have included the Golden Age and the present, the period of Post-Modern arts in images and texts, conferences, as well as music from sacral to jazz. Pécs is presenting itself in the Lithuanian capital: in October it will hold a cultural month involving music, visual arts and literature.