Linz 09

The Austrian city of Linz reveals what it takes to be the next European Capital of Culture – streets alive with the sound of music and art on every turn. Asif Hashmi reports

The egg yolks, tortes, cherries and apples plastered all over Linz09’s marketing material – stand-ins for the zero in “09”– seem to be intended to trigger fun, creative thoughts about Linz, the new European Capital of Culture. And what these ad quirks certainly make clear is that Linz’s year-long jamboree of cultural happenings isn’t just about heritage, history, or heavy, high-brow musings requiring a degree in art history to comprehend. It’s also a celebration of the simple things, such as the food, drink and lifestyle.

As usual, there are the big, annual, grandstanding events that pack the city’s cultural calendar. In April, movie buffs will be treated to the Linz Film Festival, classical music aficionados will gather for the open-air Frischluftklassik in June and Brucknerfest in September, and in July the general public will be able to witness 130 juggling, clowning and fire-eating street artists taking part in the Pflasterspektakel. In September, digital arts festival Ars Electronica will be taking over the city in true futuristic fashion.

But Linz’s big art agenda also gives way to whimsy in 2009, and its Capital of Culture status is helping the city take a wry look at itself. Anyone hungry for a cultural quickie can swallow the city’s uncomplicated charms in a couple of hours. Like Linzer torte, the delicious local almond and jam cake, a serving of culture is on offer everywhere – at once pretty, filling and sweet.

Walk through the main square, the Hauptplatz, to see the marzipan-coloured Habsburg buildings with plaques commemorating visits by Mozart and Beethoven. Head down to the Danube and Linz’s art strip. There’s Lentos, a glass-clad contemporary art mecca that lights up at night; the Brucknerhaus, a starkly modernist concert hall, and a sprinkling of big, abstract statues along the grass strip in between. Wander back down a side street and you’ll come across a café in a cobble-stoned square putting on a sing-along Schubert karaoke night.

Unhappily, there’s a pinch of Führer in the mix, too. Chew on Linz’s culture cake without thinking and you won’t really understand Austria’s third-largest city. Having left to study art in Vienna, Hitler returned to his self-proclaimed home town as conquering dictator in March 1938. From the balcony of Linz’s town hall he brought the world closer to war by announcing the union of Germany and Austria. Just off the Hauptplatz, he built the imposing Nibelungen Bridge to span the Danube. Hitler had plans for Linz to be one of his five “Führer Cities”, along with Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Nuremburg.

To its credit, Linz09 tackles the Hitler connection head on. Perhaps it doesn’t have a choice. With the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II and the 120th anniversary of Hitler’s birth both taking place in 2009, it’s something the city won’t be allowed to forget.

Running until April is The Culture Capital of the Führer, an exhibition that displays Hitler’s architectural blueprints for the city, together with paintings and statues that were once slated for his “Führer Museum”. A year-long exhibition in the Hauptplatz also shows what everyday life was like under the Nazis.

Given this history, it’s perhaps not surprising that many Linz09 events show a desire to unsettle things as they are.

To celebrate the New Year, the city becomes a glittering stage in January, with fireworks over the Danube, previews of the newly expanded Ars Electronica digital arts centre, the new opera house, and parties in Linz’s clubs and bars. But Linz09 decrees that speeches, fanfares and fireworks shouldn’t be reserved for official anniversaries only. Visit the mildly contrived “blow up” party to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the dynamiting of the Harter Plateau high-rise public housing scheme. Drink bubbly mineral water and listen to Handel’s Water Music around a fountain made from fire brigade hoses to celebrate 42,340 days (116 years) of Linz’s Municipal Water Supply System. Smoke yourself into a nostalgic stupor while commemorating the production of the first and last cigarettes at what used to be Europe’s largest tobaccoprocessing plant, a modernist design classic.

In a similar vein, musicians from the margins – genres from the new EU states, far more unworldly to old EU ears than world music – play live down at the docks, at the Linz Posthof. Pagan metal from Latvia, grindcore jazz from Poland, and world dub trance from Hungary are all on offer throughout the year.

Electronic music from the Good Night Stuff crew will play at Linz’s motorway ramps and in other unexpected “blank places”, where music merges with the sounds of the city. Carry on reclaiming the marginal at the Pixel Hotel – it turns unexpected, unused areas of Linz into hotel rooms. Stay in an abandoned garage fitted with all mod-cons, or in a garden that’s set inside a former factory storage room – bicycle included.

Perhaps because of Linz’s political past, Linz09 doesn’t shy away from more bottom-up disorder. From March, the Rebellinnen! bus will take visitors on a political troublemakers’ tour of Linz, calling at various protest sites. In April and May, learn how to be a ninja with the Social Impact team. After donning camouflage and receiving anti-surveillance training, visitors go on a stealth tour of Linz’s CCTV cameras.

In summer, take part in Badetheater and travel by train, boat or bicycle from Linz to resorts on the Danube. Sail in specially constructed paper boats and watch theatrical performances in and out of the water.

In October, the Doppelgänger festival includes shadow puppets, TV talking heads and digital animations. In November, puppet characters from around Europe, including Austria’s Kasperl, Italy’s Pulcinella, France’s Guignol and Spain’s Don Cristobal, cock an anarchic snook at authority in general.

“That’s the way to do it!” as England’s Mr Punch would say.
For more details, visit www.linz09.at

How to become an EU Capital of Culture
It’s not just history that gives Linz09 its quirks – the European Union is also partly responsible. To qualify for the European Capital of Culture designation, a city needs to offer a programme of participatory cultural events, meaning everyone who wants to should be able to get involved. It should also promote cross-European collaboration. And, given the tough competition, events need to be innovative to stand out from the cultural crowd.

Vilnius, Lithuania
Capital of Culture 2009, too!
There’s little chance of running out of events to tug your chin to in Linz, but if you do fancy a change, then try Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. This buzzing city is also sharing the Capital of Culture crown in 2009, and special events to check out include a street musician day in May, an all-night culture festival on midsummer’s night and an art in unusual places project in September.
For more details, visit www.culturelive.it