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For more than twenty years I have crossed

the Hauptplatz in Linz. Twice a day. All

together that adds up to about 15,000 times.

My route takes me from the underground car

park to my book store, and back again in the

evening. 1.5 million footsteps. Which makes

me think: just how limited is my radius of

action? I have come to know the main square

actually rather well in the meantime, but the

southern part of Linz still remains an enigma.

Every now and then I set out to explore Linz.

I never cease to be amazed when my route

takes me past the Voest compound and

I observe the orange red glow of steel being

poured. Regardless of age, whether born here

or newly arrived, we are all children of a steel

city. That is as it should be; it connects inside

and outside. Not an industrial city or a city

of culture, but always only both.

Alex Stelzer lives in Linz

and owns a bookstore.

CHILDRENOF STEEL CITY/ALEX STELZER

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LINZ.BOOK

10/11

In 2009 Linz and all of us will be the

Cultural Capital of Europe!

With due respect, but also with passion and imagina-

tion, we are preparing for an extraordinary year. As

hosts to Europe, we take pride in presenting what we

have to offer. We hope this book will serve as a useful,

original, informative and enjoyable approach to dis-

covering our city. In turn, we are eager to learn from

what our guests bring to Upper Austria.

The number of construction sites attests to what

taking such a big step means.

New buildings to house cultural institutions, both in

the narrow and the broad sense, as well as other con-

struction work will enrich the city. At the same time

a programme is taking shape that will signal, to

people both within and without the city, how much

we consider culture a decisive factor for societal

development.

With these prospects we would like to make the

best possible use of our adventure called Cultural

Capital of Europe and to celebrate it in due form. We

most cordially invite you to join us! Get to know our

city, which has undergone such momentous changes,

under new and perhaps unusual perspectives.

Discover the idiosyncrasies and the character of the

people of our region – they will help you feel at ease

and make you want to return time and again.

Being named Capital of Culture is a privilege and a

commitment: it obliges us to take the future seriously,

embark upon risks and search for innovative solutions.

Join us on our quest!

Dr. Erich Watzl

Vice Mayor and Cultural Consultant of the City of Linz

Franz Dobusch

Mayor of Linz

Dr. Josef Pühringer

Governor of Upper Austria

LINZ, EUROPE AND YOU!/

12/13LINZ

BOOK

LINZ. A DECLARATION OF LOVE/MARTIN HELLER

Almost everyone loves Paris. Most people love

New York. Or Barcelona. Or, conceivably, Vienna.

But can you love Linz? Even as a non-Linzer?

You can. I am the living proof.

Granted, I don’t love Linz the way I love Paris. Nor

the way I loved those first proud capitals of culture,

in the days when the whole format was still in

the making. Cities like Athens or Florence, whose

historical dimensions alone were such that they

flattered Europe.

I love Linz in a way that is reserved entirely

for this city.

There are others, I know, who love Linz in their

way. ”Capital of Culture Must Burn“ was recently

sprayed on a pedestrian bridge in Linz. What did the

anonymous author mean? Rome burnt and Nero

looked on. And Zurich burned. It burned so badly,

back in the early 1980s, that when the heat subsided,

a new, more life-affirming and more cosmopolitan

Zurich took the place of the old one that Huldrych

Zwingli had bequeathed to us.

But Linz? Must Linz burn in order to be Capital

of Culture?

In the meantime part of the spray-painted slogan

has been scrubbed away. I’ve no idea by whom.

Whoever did it, must have had an agenda of their

own. The word ”Burn“ has been left intact.

Love can sometimes burn. When one is head over

heels in love. When a brief glance is enough to

set off sparks. When every fleeting touch leads to

a heat build-up.

Yet this is not how it is with Linz – or with love.

Not with my love, anyway.

I for one did not fall in love with Linz at first sight.

I had been here for quite some time before it all

began. Gently. When the professionally induced

attention I owed to Linz turned into affection.

And when this affection mutated into love: the sort

of love that is heart-warming; honest; does not shy

away from conflict; seeks reconciliation; and does

not, in a spirit of generosity, hold past mistakes

against the other. Because the other, because Linz is

headstrong, opinionated – and quite simply unique.

Such love is neither the love you find in great

literature nor in kitschy sitcoms. Glamour and vanity

are as noticeable in their absence as emotional

exuberance and flowing juices.

My love for Linz takes as its text the city’s everyday

life. It is to do with its culturally active core: with its

altogether unusual frankness and the plainspoken

promptitude with which judgements of taste, artistic

assessments and expectations of the uses something

can be put to are articulated here.

Elsewhere volume upon volume of aesthetic theory

would be written about what precisely is meant by

”Das taugt mir“, which baldly translates into ”I like

it“. The daily use of such Austrian formulae in Linz

testifies to a judgement independent of tradition and

precedent that is no less than exhilarating. It seeks

neither confirmation from others nor legitimisation

by tradition nor the blessing of the discourse that

happens to be fashionable at the moment.

What counts is the city’s own cosmos of values.

If this cosmos were a self-contained, hermetic one,

it would be impossible to get Linz to move. And love

would have its work cut out. This is indeed how

it might look to begin with. With time however, as

affection grows, you realize that the opposite is the

case: the Linz cosmos is an accessible one. Culture is

the key in this city not just to selling tickets or to

lobbying for this, that or the other: it’s what really

moves people. Yet for culture to be able to do that,

you really have to put in an effort. You have to

muster the curiosity to find out what it is that ”taugt“

people, and the reasons why they like it. And why

they cannot find it in them to whip up enthusiasm

for certain other things. All this has to be done

without any condescending pandering to Linz’s

existing expectations.

This is how it is with a love for Linz. Burning? Well,

no. Warming, yes. In a sustainable manner. I like it.

Martin Heller lives in Zurich and Linz and is Artistic

Director of Linz 09.

14/15

16/17LINZ

BOOK

LINZ BY THE SEA/MELISSA STEINLECHNER

In my opinion Linz is a very beautiful city! It

may be small but it has plenty to offer, such as the

Ars Electronica Center, for example, and other art

institutions, the botanical garden, the bi-annual fair

called the Urfahraner Markt. Linz has a lot of natural

scenery, I mean in comparison to other cities, not

just parks that have been artificially laid out but

rather untamed nature! I like that and furthermore

we have more air because of the trees.

Linz actually has many leisure-time activities. There

are many stores to shop at. The cinemas are not bad

either. I can always manage to find a film I would

like to see: at the Cineplexx they are showing Harry

Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Chronicles

of Narnia or at the City Kino they have War of the

Buttons or Zaina, Rider of the Atlas. And that’s

enough for me. I like to spend time at home and read

or draw, or play with my best friend, Mimmi, and

her brothers and sisters in the garden.

I think it’s super we have so much modern art and

the exhibitions are interesting for children as well.

Or the Klangwolke for young and old alike,

the fireworks at the end, or the Dragon Express.

I am looking forward to ’09 when Linz is Capital of

Culture! We certainly have much to offer!

What don’t I like? Perhaps that the Danube is so

dirty. But unfortunately we cannot change that.

Or perhaps that some of the houses are so ugly? But

again, what can we do about that? I cannot think of

anything else. But there are certainly things that I do

not like about Linz!

What if Linz was by the sea? With a sea to ourselves,

sandy beaches, and salt-laden air? Cliffs, warm

weather up to 40°C. It would be great to relax on a

sandy beach, sunbathe and go swimming. Olive trees

would grow here, oranges and lemons, and we

would have fish markets, prawns, octopus –

like in Italy.

Yet, on the other hand… Just imagine: the grass

would dry up, there would be no more deciduous

forests and no snow! Just cold, wet rain in the

winter, day in and day out! And no autumn. We

would have scorpions inside our houses, our shoes

and under rocks. Poisonous snakes in the yard,

lion’s mane jellyfish in the sea. That’s not so nice.

I have often wondered whether things would be

different if Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp

had been born and raised in Linz. Would we have

more tourism? Or would perhaps even more movies

be shot here? Who knows, perhaps!

I don’t know about others, but I like Linz.

Melissa Steinlechner is a pupil and lives in Linz.

18/19

20/21

22/23LINZ

BOOK

Linz is the link between the Mühlviertel, the region

north of the Danube, and the terra firma to the south.

Linz is the bridge. Linz is the centre. It’s the bottle-

neck of the hourglass known as regional history.

Everything that seeps into Upper Austria must pass

through here in order to qualify as progress. It has

been like that for centuries, ever since the country’s

most powerful landowners, the great monasteries,

built themselves impressive houses in the city and

ever since the city has become the seat of the

province’s government. The priests and teachers

who would later baptise, educate and bury the rural

population were trained in Linz. Linz was where

people began and ended their careers as civil

servants. In Linz domestic servants and nannies

found work. Later it was industry that provided

the bulk of jobs.

There was not a family in the country who did

not have someone in Linz to turn to in case of need.

Unfortunate vice versa the city dweller without

family or friends in the country who was able to

offer the advantages of the country – fruit fresh

from the trees, freshly butchered pork, a place in

unspoilt nature. Linz is at the centre of this web of

relationships and in close contact with what we

call ”the country“.

Friends of the regional poet Franz Stelzhammer

had a monument erected to him in Linz to comme-

morate him as part of the mythology of Upper

Austria. At the same time, this is definitive proof

that each ”Heimat“ needs a city – and that Linz is

the city for Upper Austria.

And what about today? In Linz there are shops,

schools, universities, authorities that can shape

local decisions, hospitals in which to recover, and,

of course, jobs. A good place. In this city it’s possible

to plan a future for oneself. This kind of capital

has nothing to do with subordinating oneself and

even less with being subservient. Linz as the point

of reference was, and is, taken for granted by Upper

Austrians; its streets are familiar practically to

everyone. It is not a coincidence that the busiest

street in the city is named ”Landstraße“, the road

to the country.

The whole state makes good use of its capital city.

Upper Austria comprises a great variety of towns,

from Steyr to St. Florian to Wels, from Schärding

and Freistadt to Kremsmünster, Gmunden and

Hallstatt. Hills, mountains, lakes, and plains.

Linz has had its work cut out. The city faced an

uphill struggle in the last century to regain its

air quality, a new image, and its place in history.

Being cultural capital in 2009, it may find its

place in Europe perhaps in a more playful mood.

Linz was always forced to re-invent itself – city of

employment, city of business and commerce, city

of culture. It has constantly had to re-define itself

and draw boundaries.

Upper Austria, the land, however, has never been

given to self-torture. It has always had a soft spot for

Linz. Linz is part of the family. It is neither the big

sister nor the rich uncle: Linz is something like a

cousin twice removed, a relative you see mainly on

special occasions. You keep yourself up-to-date

about his physical health. You have come to terms

with his obstinacy and his ambition to always be the

first; after all you know his thoroughly good nature.

And there are smiles all round when you meet!

Siegfried Kristöfl lives in Kremsmünster and is

a cultural manager at Kremsegg Castle.

AN UPPER AUSTRIAN FAMILY HISTORY/SIEGFRIED KRISTÖFL

24/25

26/27

28/29LINZ

BOOK

INSTANT STIFTER/A COLLAGE // MARTIN STURM

”My local regional supervisor, with whom I am on

the friendliest terms, has nominated me for the

position of General Administrator of Upper Austrian

schools, the matter is currently with the ministry. If

our aims are met, then we have much to hope for…“

”That wretched educational system! Hottest of

hot seats for over 2000 years!! If there is one thing

that should never be neglected, that one thing is the

educational system! Think of the revolutions, think

of the civil wars – the toil, the blood, the misery!

All to hammer home ideals that could better have

been instilled in childhood – and at a thousandth

of the cost. There are times when my heart could

break at the thought of it. Our government is hard

at work today, but the vital proposition –

that education is the principal and most sacred duty

of the state – is not being addressed! It is the very

foundation stone of the State: we ourselves are the

very lifeblood of the State, and it is the duty of the

State to ensure that we grow up into free citizens,

rather than into wild beasts to be corralled and caged

lest we escape and cause havoc! I once told the now

late Prince Metternich: The country school master

is the most important person in the land.

We discussed the topic further and he agreed and

asked where the money for these ideas of mine

would come from. I did not know – I am not a man

of finance. I still do not know, but what I do know is

that the state spends more money patching up all the

damage that inadequate education brings than it

would cost to educate the populace properly in the

first place. Those who do not want to chain the

people of the Earth in a continual blind loop of

virtue and vice, of law and violence, of ascent and

descent, of despair towards God, but rather believe

that each lifetime can be spent in the pursuit of the

highest degree of development and rationality must

see that that such aims can only be realised by that

most sacred of all achievements, the education

of the people. In this way and only in this way

can such a goal be attained.“

Vienna, June 3, 1850. Minister for Culture and

Education: nomination decree of Adalbert Stifter

to County Superintendent for Primary Schools

in Upper Austria:

”…by means of the assigned instruction you will

familiarise yourself with the range of official duties

and the limits of your department and, may I add,

I am most satisfied at how well you understand the

importance of the office entrusted to you, and the

promising industriousness you possess …“

Signed Graf Thun von Hohenstein

”I am in my office daily before 8 a.m. where I can

compose poetry in the deepest of silence, before the

others arrive at around 9:30 or 10. When this sweet-

est of my daily tasks is complete, I must attend to the

drudgery of school paperwork until 2 o’clock. The

afternoon is devoted to preparation, relaxation, and

an assortment of selected activities such as drawing

and painting. When I am at school in the mornings,

my scheduled poetry time is 6 to 8 or 9 o’clock

in the evening. I am working simultaneously on two

volumes of stories for young people”.

”Over time, my official duties have become more

pleasant. I have set myself the goal of practicing

moderation and fairness – it has been noticed and

my charges now come to me with greater trust. The

schools throughout the county are diverse, but also

very good, in their very nature, as far as I can tell.

I find myself wishing I could take home many of the

dear boys and girls I encounter. However, if I did so,

there would be no room in the apartment! After

I receive my travel advance I will explore the high

mountains of Salzkammergut, the autumn weather is

most congenial to this task. In winter I will to the flat

lands. I did well to put in for primary schools.“

”If I only had time, and did not have this official

post!! Often – often my inner voice tells me I have

not lived for nothing, I have yet to create something

that will live on after my death. Material and

thoughts pile high, they palpitate and push to

be expressed; but then I have not the time, and the

tedium of daily tasks and the feebleness of the

people I have to work with and cannot avoid cast

a shadow over my exultant mood.”

”...Strands leather sole cork window pane…“

”If I had a life of tranquility (winters in Vienna and

summers in the mountains beneath the trees and

clouds) I would be able to give all my attention to

truly important things, to the clean and the beautiful:

writing in the morning, drawing, reading and pur-

suing science in the afternoon and spending my eve-

nings either with dear friends or outdoors or in my

garden – but I dare not think of that, or else, as Jean

Paul says, the god within becomes enraged.“

”...broomstick cleat whipcord fur…“

”I deeply bemoan my situation. If I were indepen-

dent, I would perhaps have […] achieved much

greater things – but it was not to be, I must endure

my destiny, along with my anguish. I often think

of Kepler, the great star gazer, who had also suffered

in the city of Linz before he wrote his law of planets.

Now a plaque adorns his former residence and

they have erected a monument to him in the city

of his birth…“

”My dearest friend, if only you knew of my condi-

tion! Together with the hay from a bale, the cleat,

the window pane, the leather sole, the cork and the

broomstick that swim in my head, a bright ray often

shines, clearing aside the clutter, trying to create

a clear temple for great and tranquil gods; but when

I enter my office, there are baskets of things for me to

take care of. This is the real misery, rather than the

time my office demands. If I had been able to coast

along and take care of business without putting my

heart into it, if I had possessed the astounding degree

of calm many civic officials possess, I would not

have lost the art of creating poetry; but that is what

happens when the church is converted into a barn:

the service itself goes awry.“

”I believe things conspire against me. You know

I am not vain about my work, you know my

diffidence, my everlasting corrections (you of all

people!); you know how dissatisfied my work

always leaves me, but there remains the feeling […]

that I am capable of something masterly that would

stand the test of time and place me alongside the

great masters; there remains a deep hallowed drive

in my heart that compels me to proceed in this

direction – but I am never allowed the necessary

peace of mind: little things are forever nagging at me,

official duties and demands made by people who

deem themselves important, and so the opportunity

to be great flits away. Happy indeed those who have

never had to experience such anguish! Yet unhappy

too never to know the zenith of what life can offer.

No, let the anguish remain, and with it my chance

to sup with the gods.“

Martin Sturm lives in Linz and is the director of the

OK Offenes Kulturhaus Oberösterreich.

30/31

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34/35LINZ

BOOK

When in Urfahr, I feel drawn to the Danube.

This has not changed, even though you no longer

get that sense of wilderness as you walk from the

railway bridge to Lake Plesching, and nature has

been tamed to accommodate such urban ideas as

half pipes, dog crap and Nordic walkers.

In the hills round Linz wilderness is no longer

available either. The city has notions what forests,

meadows and streams should look like: tended,

mowed, entombed in rigid beds made of granite.

I feel drawn to the Danube. To its brown waves that

lap the shore between the silvery willows whenever

an articulated tug and barge, its hatches filled with

goods and its deck with rusting cars, floats past

towards its port of destination in the east. I feel

drawn towards the soft, grey Danube sand and the

gravel bars with their polished flat pebbles. I ignore

the sounds of the motorway and the commuter

parking lot. I feel drawn to the wooded banks,

to the shadows of farmhouses long since gone.

Elderflowers for frying in batter, morels, perry pears,

old varieties of apples whose tartness perhaps stores

the memory of swooshing floods; nuts, plums, and

elderberries for stewing and blueberry stained hands.

And the small pleasure gleaned from that little bit of

self-sufficiency that still survives within sight of the

Chemiepark and the city’s steel works.

The great wilderness of the city that cannot be

found among the rotten poplars has moved on a few

steps to the steel, glass and concrete of the U-Punkt

Centre. In the old quarter of Urfahr, demolition and

construction have likewise got out of hand and have

resulted in a number of non-places. Here the wilder-

ness has found new nesting places. Here there is an

opportunity for you to submerge and disappear.

Steps reeking of urine that are supposed to take you

to Billa actually lead to time warps off a pedestrian

underpass, countless dead corners and a lavatory,

which, if you have to use it, will peel the thin skin of

civilisation off you on entering. Ankle deep puddles.

The odour signals a predator’s cage. This is not the

only association with wild forests: on the far side of

the wall there’s a rustling noise and a drilled

spy-hole reveals a mischievous, probing eyeball.

And they are digging yet again. The Ars Electronica

Center is expanding. The swans will have to find

themselves another living place when their bank

is lit too brightly. Perhaps they will leave the city

altogether. Yet we know that Linz is not located

on the banks of Lake Traun, and the AEC can apply

the remedy of creating virtual swans.

Artificial wilderness.

When in Urfahr, I feel drawn to the Danube.

This has not changed. I am searching for the

wilderness of Linz.

Eugenie Kain lives in Linz and is a writer.

THE WILDERNESS OF LINZ/EUGENIE KAIN

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40/41LINZ

BOOK

The CEO of the prospering bank that had originally

started out as a rural savings bank lives in Linz-

Urfahr. From his perch high above the city he can

look down on it. The mayor of Linz also lives in

Urfahr but from his windows he sees little more than

the walls of his neighbour‘s house.

People say everyone in Linz would like to live in

Urfahr. The majority of Linz inhabitants however do

not live in the northern part of the city, but south of

the Danube. The further south, the more proletarian,

according to sociological demographics. People in

Linz today don’t want to hear that because the word

”proletariat“ is frowned upon in this blue collar city.

And who, nowadays, even says ”blue collar city“?

Linz is, after all, a city of culture. That at least is

what current city advertising would have you think.

Most inhabitants of Linz live in island-like sections,

in large urban precincts consisting of apartment

blocks. When they were built, they were actually

outside the city as it then was, and for a long time

planning failed to connect them properly to the city

centre. Each precinct was an entity in its own right,

even if the infrastructure was at first a bit patchy.

Up until the late 1930s Linz was not really that big.

In Urfahr the city‘s perimeter extended no further

than to the old pub ”Zur Kaiserkrone“ at the begin-

ning of Knabenseminarstraße. In the south the city

ended at Polygon Square, today’s Bulgariplatz.

Way down south there was Kleinmünchen with its

working-class textile industry population and lower

middle-class Ebelsberg. East of Polygon Square lay

Franckviertel, a traditional blue collar neighbour-

hood, which has become an attractive proposition

for immigrants today.

At the end of the 1930s and in the early

1940s, neighbourhoods were constructed that are

colloquially known even today, more than seventy

years later, as ”Hitler buildings“. These parts were

unattached at the time to the city centre and formed

islands in the fields of Urfahr and on farmland

round the Bindermichl and Spallerhof.

During the extensive phase of rebuilding and con-

struction after World War II, many new islands were

added to the existing archipelago. In the south, they

filled the empty spaces between the buildings

from the Nazi era and Bindermichl and Spallerhof

expanded until they merged. Well into the 1980s

this quarter was considered to be Voest territory.

For a long time, being a ”Voest worker“ meant

that as a member of the elite of Linz’s blue collar

workers and earning good money you belonged

to a respected community.

Today all this is seen in a different light. In the

meanwhile, almost everyone considers themselves

middle class in a city in which the middle classes

never played a dominant role in cultural terms.

Board the city tram and travel south. Beyond the

main train station you’ll hear foreign tongues spoken

more often than before. Neue Welt, Kleinmünchen,

Ennsfeld – the outskirts are also part of Linz. Have

the new residents in these precincts arrived in Linz?

Do the residents of Solar City identify with Linz as

their new home?

An address in the city centre once again has

a certain cachet. It has also been easier to come by

since urban planning hit the limits of further

expansion and discovered the virtues of increasing

site density. Nonetheless, the dream of owning a

detached house in suburbia continues to be dreamt.

Some love living in the centre of the city for its

urban qualities, others still hang on to leafier dreams.

The CEO of the former rural savings bank in Linz has

made his dream come true. But for most residents of

Linz, reality is different.

Erhard Gstöttner lives in Linz and is a journalist at

the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten.

THE CITY OF ISLANDS/ERHARD GSTÖTTNER

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46/47LINZ

BOOK

”Lentia“ was the name the Romans gave to a not par-

ticularly important fort they built at the bend of the

river. The river was the Danube. In 1490, even as

Linz became the capital of ”the territories above the

Enns“, it was, with its 2000 inhabitants, a small city

at best. This is how a Venetian envoy described Linz

in 1492: ”Lince is a small place and boasts few nota-

ble buildings. The city area hardly extends beyond

its main square. There are few shops – if any.“

Seeing the Nibelungs sail past was the most impor-

tant event internationally that Linz had to offer in

a long while. Turner was here, travelling the Danube,

as well as Dürer (at least the Elder) and the pope

(two actually) and, off and on, a Habsburg.

In the following decades, Linz began to acquire a

reputation as a commercial centre before reverting to

its former, more staid existence as an industrial

town. This did not change until the mid-19th cen-

tury and the advent of the horse-drawn railway to

Cesky Budejovice, which was the first railway for

public transport in continental Europe. The con-

struction of the western railway line from Vienna to

Munich, which was completed in 1858, finally drew

Linz into the orbit of the modern world.

Even visitors with little time to spend in Linz will at

least stop off briefly at the Main Square. It is a market

place, the historical economic centre of the city

(even though markets were held at a different loca-

tion originally) surrounded by the baroque houses of

the bourgeoisie and extending almost right to the

Danube at the point where the road from Venice to

Prague crosses the river.

The Hauptplatz continues to be a mirror of Linz’s

history to the present day. Historical quotes point to

each of the successive historical eras and to all of the

city’s important events. There is the Plague Column,

which has become one of the Linz landmarks, and

it is right next to the Town Hall balcony from which

Adolf Hitler addressed the cheering crowds. Below

the Hauptplatz is a bunker, whose existence is indi-

cated to this day by a slight subsidence of the ground

in the square above. This is where the population,

including the National Socialist city administration,

were supposed to find shelter during Allied bomb

raids. Linz, the ”Führerstadt“, was a priority target

for these bombing raids because of its heavy industry.

The turning points in the 20th-century history of the

city can still be felt in Linz: the Civil War of 1934;

the Anschluss; the subsequent Nazi rule with its

extermination camps in the immediate environs of

the city, at Mauthausen, Hartheim and Gusen; the

rebuilding of its industries and their restructuring in

the ’80s and ’90s, accompanied by the great venture

of Ars Electronica, which is training its sights also

on a virtual future.

Today’s elegantly refurbished facades and the blue

skies above the main square are a testimony also

to this most recent chapter in the city’s history.

The renovation of its architectural substance and

an unpolluted environment are direct results of the

present prosperity, which is itself the consequence

of a successful response to economic and structural

change in Europe.

It is evident that there is no single way of confront-

ing the dark sides of this history. Reactions range

from shamefaced reticence to painstaking research

on the Nazi era. Today’s Linz is a city that actively

confronts its specific urban character. Its own

history plays an important role in this process: it is

the source from which the identity of the present

flows and which is vital for working on that identity

in future.

Embarrassed and speechless consternation has

given way to critical questioning. In the same way

the glorification of supposedly carefree eras of

history has been eclipsed in favour of a detached

contemplation of history in its totality.

When does history begin? It has begun already –

the present is after all the past of the future. And

that is when the way we have handled the lessons

of history will be judged by the next generation

of Linzers.

Niko Wahl lives in Vienna and Linz and is

a historian with Project Development Linz09.

WHEN DOES HISTORY BEGIN?/NIKO WAHL

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AT THE CENTRE OF THE CENTRALREGION/DOCKING STATION OR COMPACT CITY? // MARTIN FRITZ

Linz is the centre of a central region. With its peri-

meters in a state of flux, the ubiquitous transit and

feeder roads and a railway line that practically cuts

the city in two, Linz is a hub and turntable within

a larger area rather than a self-contained urban

entity. The central region that is inscribed within the

overall area forms a triangle whose corners are the

cities Linz, Wels and Steyr. The zone beyond that

core triangle makes up the far larger part of Upper

Austria. Roughly speaking it’s an area extending

almost to the Alps in the south and southwest and

to the Czech border in the north and northeast.

It can be crossed in each direction in an hour’s drive,

with Linz as the starting point. As you cross it, you

travel along a trajectory that links reputedly remote

country life and the excesses of a rowdy Saturday

night in the Altstadt.

This hour’s drive also indicates the radius of the vir-

tual ”mental map“ on which the inhabitants of Linz

plot in all probability formative places or regions

outside the city’s perimeter. In Linz, you come across

the protagonists of this dual lifestyle wherever you

go, particularly in the kind of setting that is usually

associated with the tag ”urban“: There is the manager

of the art cinema who would be loath to miss foot-

ball practice in his home town, even though it means

a 45-minute drive; the critical journalist with his

sailboat in one of the Salzkammergut lakes; the vice

rector who could ski to Linz from his home above

the city, or the city sociologist who is also an enthu-

siastic hiker. These are only a few random examples

of the multifaceted interactions of Linz with its wider

environs. These people’s paths cross with those of

other ”Linz users“ coming from the opposite direc-

tion; from small towns to the city to see a film, hear

someone give a presentation or attend a lecture –

without forgoing the pleasure of waking up the next

day to the sound of birds singing in their garden.

Many others traverse the city limits every day: the

early morning traffic jams on Rudolfstraße that are

handled with consummate routine contain a signifi-

cant portion of the Upper Mühlviertel’s male popula-

tion. Trains and buses carry the so-called ”commuter

pupils“ from numerous neighbouring communities

to the city‘s schools. Quite a few public figures are in

danger of getting caught by the radar speed traps

during their daily commute from the surrounding

communities (”Don’t ever call Traun a suburb“,

was the well-meaning advice given to me by a media

manager). The same predicament is shared by the

many women for whom the Linz job market has

primarily part-time jobs on offer. This means these

women make a significant contribution to the noon

and early afternoon traffic, when the rush is on to

pick up the children from day care. In between, one

finds people heading for an appointment ”in town“,

where there are centralised service institutions for

almost all kinds of economic activity.

It is these fitful bursts of movement that reveal a

general tendency: Linz is not the final destination or

the centre, it is just one of many ports of call within

a daily routine of being on the go. The day could

begin, for example, with breakfast in Ansfelden, and

continue with the part-time job at PlusCity. Next

comes the race home to cook a warm lunch for the

children back home in Ansfelden, then one of them

has to be taken to an appointment with a doctor in

Linz. This is great, thinks the partner, who has called

on the cell phone from his workplace in Steyr: if

errands must be run in Linz anyway, a gift for

mother could be purchased at one of the stores on

the Landstraße. Now as an urban centre Linz should

count itself lucky if the female main character of this

little fictional story enjoys navigating narrow city

streets, has money for the car park, has been plan-

ning anyway to just swing by and see a friend from

Traun, who happens to work off the Hauptplatz in

Linz, and if, last not least, there are no traffic jams.

However, this prototypical city patron from an out-

side community is much less likely to budge from

home if doctors, booksellers and employers, lured by

the promises of ambitious local politics, decide to

move to Ansfelden and set up in business there.

For communities within the city’s catchment area,

the imperatives are obvious: prevent migration to the

city, and attract new residents. Linz however is faced

with a dilemma: does it want to be an efficient dock-

ing station at the centre of the central region, loosely

oriented towards the nodes in the regional transport

network, or does it want to be a compact city that in

the best sense of the word primarily relies on itself?

Martin Fritz lives in Vienna and Linz and is the

director of the Festival of Regions.

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Bruckner is a giant. His music stands out in time

like an erratic boulder. Fallen from heaven like a

huge Egg of Columbus. We do not know where his

music came from, nor do we know where it went.

We do know, however, that something – or rather

somebody – has become manifest in it: Anton

Bruckner. A human being as a person, as sound.

The sources from which Bruckner’s musical ideas

were drawn remain an enigma. It is also strange that

he had neither successors nor students. Bruckner

admirers, however, number in the untold thousands.

All over the world, they come together in groups,

clubs and circles and share a sense of amazement at

this universe of sound, which seems to be detached

from the world as we know it.

Early on, attempts were made to depict Bruckner

with the image of an outsize child genius, a musical,

mental Gulliver in the land of Lilliput, as it were.

And how right they were! Goethe wanted children to

be given two things by their parents, roots and

wings. Bruckner is a veritable paragon of this ideal.

Like a persistent tremolo, the mythical and the inex-

plicable are the ground of his work. And his wings

carried him far into the future. His grasp of time was

to prove prophetic: soundscapes, blackouts, cuts,

cross-fades, flashbacks – concepts that would not

feature in artists’ grasp of time until decades later.

Bruckner shapes time. He used concertina effects,

distension, even loops and warps, the very concepts

in which modern science couches its descriptions of

time. Bruckner feigns no transitions, no syntheses

and no compromises.

They say Bruckner was naïve. What a misconcep-

tion! How could someone be naïve, who was aliena-

ted by the concept of development at a time when

everyone else still believed in it? At a time when

everyone – even the cardinals – still believed that

everything made sense, that all we have to do is to

continue picking the thread apart until the inherent

meaning becomes apparent, until something like

God’s Plan is revealed? Development, according to

this understanding, could thus be understood like

the unravelling of an intelligently designed ball of

wool, whose beginning and end must lie in one

hand: in a word, in-dividual.

Not a chance! Bruckner rips us to shreds. He casts us

back onto ourselves. He recasts us as contemporary.

He turns us into ”dividuals“. Into torn beings. Into

human beings that are incessantly divided. Beings

dissected by medicine, divided up by psychology,

dissected by market research, pulverized in patch-

work families. And in desperate dichotomy we cling

to such outmoded concepts as person and individual.

Bruckner is the same that we are: unbelieving

believers or believing unbelievers. In this sense,

Anton Bruckner is in turn certainly the most

ardent believer: Job.

Linz, too, approaches this erratic boulder, with an

open mind, marvelling and full of joy.

Peter Androsch lives in Linz, is composer and

artistic director for music with Linz09.

BRUCKNER IS A GIANT/PETER ANDROSCH

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FROM (NEXT TO) NOTHING/AILEEN DERIEG

Various descriptions of Linz make great play of

the city’s transformation from a ”city of steel“ to

one of “culture“. The transformation would seem

practically complete, yet the relevance and conse-

quences of these two different designations are

rarely discussed. There is a long history behind the

”city of steel” moniker. Linz has always been an

industrial city, even at the time of the first stirrings

of the industrial revolution and before that,

when metal working etc. was still in the hands of

craftsmen; many of those craftsmen were resident

in Linz. Cities like Vienna, Salzburg and Prague,

which had established themselves as university

cities and important cultural centres, with the artists

and creative minds, the audiences and patrons that

are part and parcel of this status, produced ”high

culture“ on a grand scale. In Linz on the other hand

the need for and the production of the fare of high

culture remained fairly limited for a long time.

However, in a place where there is next to nothing,

there is room for things to develop.

I arrived in Linz in the mid-1980s. Having immedia-

tely got a job as a waitress in a bar frequented by

students, artists etc., I was impressed at the ease

with which people in Linz connected. For example,

someone sitting at the bar would come up with an

idea for some sort of event and the person sitting

next to them would chip in and suggest a suitable

venue. Making contacts, getting to know other

people and tapping into their resources seemed to

be much easier in Linz than in Innsbruck, where

I had studied. Conversely, the cinematic fare on offer

in a city without liberal arts university departments

was, at best, pathetic in comparison to Innsbruck.

Some entertainment was provided, however, in

the form of ventures vaguely inspired by notions of

experimental or alternative art.

At that time, Linz had no reputation to defend.

The city was regarded as a case study in environ-

mental pollution and poor air quality, and ”art“ was

almost irrelevant in that context. Much has changed

in the past twenty years. The air quality has signifi-

cantly improved and many people, along with me,

have grown older. Some of the art students now

teach at the city’s Art University. And because of the

successful image change, the city does now have a

reputation to defend.

”Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to

lose…“ Perhaps the old Janis Joplin song merely

reflects a fatalistic cliché, and maybe the fact that

these words now cross my mind is only evidence of

sloppy sentimentality on my part. However, I cannot

help feeling that the representative ideas of culture

that have meanwhile established themselves in Linz

give rise to expectations that are restrictive and that

foster new demarcations. I also believe that the

city’s relaunch and the makeover of its image would

not have been possible without the freedom that the

absence of these kinds of ideas allowed.

It is as if those active in the areas of art and culture

had to enter into another round of negotiations with

the genies that have been let out of their bottles: in

order to keep open spaces really open.

Aileen Derieg lives in Linz and is a translator.

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”Linz is more beautiful than Salzburg“. This was the

title of an article I wrote in 1979 for a publication

called ”linz aktiv“. Its subtitle was ”New urban

architecture in Linz since 1945“. At the time this was

both heart-felt and barbed with polemical intention.

It was meant to refer to the distinctive architectural

history of a European city of medium significance,

a city moreover that could not blindly rely on a tota-

litarian baroque super ego that goes such a long way

with city tourists but offered instead original archi-

tectural examples from every epoch of its urban

history. The position occupied by Linz – this is my

considered opinion now as it was then – is broader,

more comprehensive, more detached and less

marked by hysteria than is the case with Salzburg.

Linz has architectural examples from all periods

and they are all more than adequate. What the

city lacks are the kinds of highlights hyped by the

marketing strategists of today’s city tourism. There

are no ”alien“ edifices built by contemporary

international star architects in Linz, whose appeal to

new short-term visitors has in any case little, if any,

lasting effect.

This is more than compensated for by the

tradition of Austrian 20th-century architecture that

is admirably represented by exemplary buildings.

To begin with there is the energetic and self-assured

urban planning of the interwar years: Kurt Kühne’s

council estate Scharlinz (1919-1929) is a fine

example as is also Urfahr Crematorium by Julius

Schulte (1925-1929). The School Sisters’ women

students’ dorms and their preschool designed

by Hans Steineder (1927-1929), one of Peter Behrens’

students, and above all the tobacco factory by

Peter Behrens and Alexander Popp (1929-1935)

belong with the most important examples of modern

architecture also from an international point of view.

During the era of National Socialism Linz received

a tremendous boost. The Hermann Göring Werke,

the bridgehead, the council housing developments –

all of these have left their imprint on the city.

The attitudes they express and their history continue

to provide ample material for historical study.

The post-war era too is awaiting reassessment.

Arthur Perotti, whose Bulgariplatz and New

University are unrivalled documents of the spirit

of the times, was one of its most formative forces.

Comparable in quality among today’s buildings are

Heikki Siren’s Brucknerhaus, the church of St Teresa

by Rudolf Schwarz and the Lentos Museum of

Contemporary Art by architects Weber&Hofer. If all

goes well, Terry Pawson’s new music theatre could

well become a deserving and self-confident member

of this architectural family.

Linz is more beautiful than Salzburg also because

it is more receptive. Today Linz represents in its

architecture the golden mean as it were of European

normalcy. It would be wonderful if those who wield

political power were to become aware, in a spirit

of self-confidence and pride, of this invaluable

substance and if the creative forces did not set their

sights on the impossible and on what is unthinkable

in these parts, but would take up the challenge

involved in a circumspect improvement of what

is already there according to the standards of the

best architectural practice that are so copiously

documented in Linz. That would be something truly

sensational, something spectacularly new in the

architectural history of Europe. Perhaps we might

even link this to the sentimental historic appeal: In

Linz beginnt’s. Or in other words, if Linz takes the

lead, the rest will soon follow. This could not come

at a better time.

Dietmar Steiner lives in Vienna and is the head of

the Architekturzentrum Wien.

LINZ IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN SALZBURG/DIETMAR STEINER

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MY ONE AND GLOBAL LINZ/HERBERT LACHMAYER

Linz assuming the title of Capital sets all clocks right.

”Linz in the World“ has been current as a concept for

quite some time, since businesses based in or near

Linz have established their presence on a global scale.

Slogans such as ”Linz Greets Vienna“ were probably

unhelpful in terms of increasing the self-confidence

of the Upper Austrian capital, as little desire was

in evidence on the part of the Viennese to be

”greeted by Linz“.

Come 2009, Linz will once again become a capital by

opting for a detour that is worthwhile – namely that

of culture. Linz recognised the potential of culture long

ago and has pursued it with some consistency.

Initiatives included Forum Metal, Forum Design –

and then there is Ars Electronica as a well-established

tradition, for which the challenge is on for 2009 to

once again leap over the shadow of its own history.

And yet a note of caution should be sounded. The

European ”cultural“ label may ultimately pale in view

of an overly eager determination to ”have“ culture.

Culture is similar to taste – limiting the criteria of taste

to two hours a day and ignoring them for the rest of the

time just means you have no taste. Culture is unsuited

for use as a ”label“, as it is essential to be at least

minimally culturally active yourself. This is why the

so-called cultural needs have to be carefully examined:

regretfully classifying someone as in need of culture

has patronizing, contemptuous overtones. Under-

standing and comprehending art entails contextuali-

sing it in societal terms in our everyday practices.

Reception as a mode of cultural transmission is much

closer to artistic productivity than is often assumed.

Transfer and making art accessible will be even more

important in the future than they were in the past. On

one hand, art does not explain itself, and on the other,

strategies to make culture more accessible may double

as research strategies and vice versa. Culture includes

of course society’s appropriation of technological

progress. For this to take place a combination of taste

and intelligence is required: an imaginative as well as

passionate intellect will consider the sophisticated

refinement of the senses as important as the brilliance

of reflecting rationality.

When aesthetic everyday practices get stuck in the pres-

tige trappings of compulsive lifestyles, individualism

loses all depth. The savoir-vivre is lost. Yet it is this

savoir-vivre that the life of a cosmopolitan urban

individualist is all about. This applies also to Linz on

its way to becoming Cultural Capital of Europe.

Linz can acquire the attributes of a true capital if it

makes use of a concept of educated, intelligent taste

that would have to be further refined for 2009. A cent-

ral quality that has to be borne in mind is ”ingenuity“.

This term was used in the 16th and 17th centuries

to refer to the interface, so to speak, between rhetoric,

science, philosophy, early technology and art as

the common source of all innovation and creativity.

Ingenuity, properly updated, picks up these ideas

from early modern times and assigns them a vital

role in conceptual and experimental terms in

the renegotiation of the dichotomy implemented in

the 19th century between the artistic imagination on

the one hand and scientific-technological innovative

genius on the other.

Everyday creativity en route to an urban lifestyle

should pave the way to a majority of the population

acquiring the kind of knowledge required for orienta-

tion. This would be a new departure coming on the

heels of the large-scale failure of ”education“, which

was heavily biased in favour of the upper class any-

way and only helped give expression to the corporatist

social differences that have taken such a heavy toll in

the course of Austrian history.

This being so, our hope must be that it will be

possible to make the idea of transfer central to this

new orientation-based knowledge, as would only

be fitting in the context of this contemporary version

of the Enlightenment. The chance for Linz to become

a memorable capital consists in its meeting the

challenges of experiment in an exemplary way. This

will enable it to conquer the present without waiting

for 2009 to arrive. Linz will again do justice to its

global status without the need to feel provincial –

we know, after all, that provinciality is not a location

but a condition.

Herbert Lachmayer, the founder and head of the

Da Ponte-Institute for Librettology, Don Juan research

and the history of collecting, lives in Vienna and holds

a chair at the Kunstuniversität Linz.

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TO LINZ, VIA DETOURS/IKE OKAFOR AND MARIETA RIEDL

I came here from Innsbruck seventeen years ago.

I liked Linz. It’s nice and flat and surrounded by

open fields, unlike Innsbruck, where the mountains

can seem to bear down on you. In the beginning,

that was about the only ”open“ aspect. In Linz,

people do not approach strangers easily, especially

when someone’s external appearance clearly

indicates that he or she is a foreigner. I have very

distinct memories of sitting in a lecture hall in which

the row in front of me and the one behind me would

remain unoccupied. At the time there were very few

Africans at the university. However, after a while the

rows around me would begin to fill up with fellow

students. After fourteen years I decided to establish

the Black Community in order to assist and support

people like myself in similar situations.

Linz often showed me its ugly face. Linz was

threatening. At that time there were many right-wing

extremists and skinheads about, or Punks with their

rainbow hairstyles. I found there were few places

I could go to without running into trouble and

where I felt free. The main square during the big

festival was such a place. In large groups people

were generally friendlier; I could move around and

dance. The Urfahraner Markt is another such place.

Or Stadtwerkstatt. And the parish church in Urfahr.

And today? What used to feel threatening is much

less in evidence. Linz has changed and so have I.

I believe I am less driven today: I have come to terms

with the city, and the city has made its peace with

me. One sees things in a different way. Perhaps we

have even become friends. When I walk around Linz

today – something I really enjoy doing – I see the

pleasant qualities; the beautiful parks, the outdoor

pools, for example, facilities for people, for families.

I enjoy being in Linz, I like the city and I would not

exchange it for any other place If I could, I would

even campaign for mayor of Linz, my adopted city!

Ike Okafor lives in Linz and is co-founder and

chairman of the Black Community.

I came to Linz about ten years ago via Nürnberg,

a detour. When I first arrived, I thought my German

was quite good. However, my first encounter with a

resident of Linz taught me better: at the supermarket

the salesgirl at the cold cut counter stared at me

when I ordered ”100 deka“ of sausage, in the belief

that ”deka“ meant ”gram“, as it does in Bulgarian.

Or in the lift at my student dorm a young man asked

me if I wanted to go ”obi oda aufi“ (”up or down“ in

local dialect) and of course I ended up on the wrong

floor thinking ”obi“ must have something to do with

the German word for ”up“ (oben), when in fact it

was the other way round.

My first impressions of the city? The numerous

parks – I find Linz unbelievably green. And the tram:

I was quite impressed that Linz had a ”Bim“ –

in Bulgaria trams are only found in the capital.

And the Linzers? Compared to Bulgarians they are

less spirited and more reserved. In the students’

residence though, I was integrated quickly. I began

to develop a relationship to the city through my

studies. That was both a detour and a shortcut.

Students are sometimes more open, at least some

of them are. My first contacts were made already

during the first week in the residence’s bar. And

shortly afterwards I started going out in the evening

to the ”notorious“ Mensa fests. From the beginning

I had good contacts to the head of the student union

and the foreign student service office.

I think assimilation has been easier for me than for

Ike. Most likely because at first glance my physical

attributes and outward appearance do not indicate

I am not from Linz. Over the years, during my

university studies, I made many friends, friendships

that have lasted to this day. Yet most of my really

close friends are also from Bulgaria. In addition to

our nationality we have something else in common –

we are all married to Upper Austrians.

Ike is right: Linz has changed. I believe that Austria’s

accession to the EU and the accession of Southern

European countries have helped make Linz

more international, multicultural and open over

the last years.

Marieta Riedl lives in Linz and heads the

”Die Grünen Interkulturell OÖ“

(The Intercultural Section of the Upper Austrian

Greens) and is co-founder of the first Bulgarian

private school in Linz.

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DREAMING LINZ/CHRISTINE SCHÖPF

I dream of a city that is familiar and at the same

time irritatingly foreign.

Arrival at the train station – a new, stylish building,

modern, luminescent, uncompromisingly metro-

politan in its effect, functional. In the passage to the

entrance hall a wallpaper that apparently takes its

cues, as it changes its colours and sounds, from

the changes in the numbers of passers-by – the inter-

active installation of a well-known media artist. On

a touch screen I type in where I am headed for and

immediately multicoloured LEDs show me the way.

Computer terminals deliver detailed information

on every imaginable aspect of the city: sights, hotels,

restaurants, shops, banks, current cultural and enter-

tainment events. Showcases displaying posters are a

thing of the past, finally, and snappy and informative

video clips make you really curious to see the city.

Incidentally, every household in this Linz has free

broadband internet access, internet access in hotel

rooms is a must, WLAN covers the whole city and

most public institutions have an adequate density

of internet cafes and surfing stations. Recently the

city has introduced a special service for users of

mobile phones: they can have all the information

they need for their individual sightseeing tour sent

to their mobile phone; via mobile architectural

monuments recount their history, cultural events

scheduled in the city are previewed in the most

stimulating manner in audio visual trailers – and it's

a foregone conclusion that concert tickets and table

reservations for dinner are booked via mobile phone.

E-Government and public web space are taken for

granted in this city of mine. After all, for the past

thirty years the city has hosted Ars Electronica,

a renowned media festival, with its emphasis on

technology, art and society and on an intensive study

of digital media that has been one of its hallmarks

from the start. The Ars Electronica Center, a place

where everyone can acquaint themselves with the

digital present and future, has been a fixture in Linz

for over ten years. Citizens react with gratitude:

E-government puts paid to time-consuming visits to

civic offices and allows active participation in

democratic processes.

Even short-term visitors will quickly recognise they

are stopping off in a truly digital city. This is palp-

able not only at the airport or the main train station

but in the city as well: art in an architectural context

features media art in all its variants, and numerous

stores and businesses have adjusted to the omni-

presence of media in everyday life. Goods on store

shelves will be updated via RFID technology, fashion

victims will become accustomed to using CAVEs as

fitting rooms and when ordering you simply use the

internet or a special mobile phone service.

And then there is that sudden awakening. It is

true we’ve been dicussing all these possibilities –

and also the impasses connected to them –

for almost thirty years at Ars Electronica. Some

of them may have sounded utopian at the time

yet meanwhile reality has overtaken us. Even so,

much has remained the stuff that dreams are made

of in my city.

However: dreams, whether they have what it takes

to be realised or not, are an indispensable part of

reality. 2009 could mean a great step forward for all

of us, if we are prepared to take our dreams seriously.

Christine Schöpf lives in Linz and is

head of culture / science at ORF Upper Austria

and co-director of Ars Electronica together

with Gerfried Stocker.

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IT’S ALL JUST DEAD SPACE/LENA TREVES

If you are looking for interesting places in Linz,

you’ll find they are few and far between. Along the

Danube there is a string of theatres and museums,

churches, the Nibelungen Bridge – hardly what you

would call a hotspot – and other equally uninter-

esting ”sights“. It’s all dead space really. The only

people who go there are those who were purposely

misled by diverse so-called city tours, idiots in

search of an occupation therapy, and the sort gene-

rally known as ”art lovers“, a pseudonym for the

senile, decrepit, lonely and utterly clueless. These

”art lovers“, galvanised by approaching death, will

fight over tickets for that Beethoven symphony at the

Brucknerhaus, the one in which ”Fate knocks at the

door“, to once again feel what it was like to be truly,

wildly alive. Those who do not yet have one foot in

the grave try out the effect a pub crawl in the Alt-

stadt will have on them. Vodka shots as a substitute

for Beethoven. First the Sega Bar, then Röders, and

then the Vanilli until 8 a.m.

There are many places in Linz that I love – or hate –

and one of them is off the beaten track, away from the

Altstadt, the Landstraße and the ”hotspots“ of Linz.

As I descend the narrow staircase, I can often hear

the music already. If no one has been there in a

while, there is a smell of dust or beer in the air; per-

haps no one has carried the empty bottles outside.

I love sitting on the old sofa, listening to the loud

music and partying with the others. No one ever

complains that it is too loud, something that would

happen almost anywhere else in Linz. The far left

spot on the sofa is the best because from there the

laptop or the iPod are in easy reach.

By now I associate probably hundreds of songs

with this place, always the same songs and each

time I hear them, they seem new and brilliant. Time

passes faster here; even when I am resolved to be

back in the Altstadt before midnight, it’s suddenly

3 a.m. or later before I realise it!

Often the beer is not chilled yet because the fridge is

already well past its prime, or someone has forgotten

to buy Red Bull, mineral water, orange juice or coke,

but nevertheless I always manage to find something.

In the kitchen it’s mainly glasses and ashtrays that

fill the shelves, there is little room and the mugs,

pitchers and cups that far outnumber all other

types of china are difficult to store away.

It may not be the most beautiful place in Linz, it’s

not new or modern, and it’s away from the city’s

noise and bustle, but that is precisely why I like it.

Lena Treves lives in Traun and goes to school at

the local Bundesrealgymnasium.

96/97

98/99

LINZBOOK

Who would have thought that this dictum, once a

taunt the Viennese cabaret hurled at the city whose

name famously rhymes with ”Provinz“, could one

day become a straightforward wish? And for me, too,

of all people? Two years ago it was not easy for me

to leave behind my hometown on the Weser in

northern Germany to start from scratch as a guest

worker in Linz. Friends constantly got mixed up

about where I was heading: ”Did you say it’s Graz

you’re going to or Linz?“ Today I feel at home here

and I know the city as well as my old hometown,

Bremen, which in any case is not my real hometown

as my family roots are in Bavaria. This has led to my

being introduced at public appearances with the

words, ”He’s German, but actually he comes from

Bavaria.“ Do Bavarian roots make somebody’s

German origins more palatable to the Austrians?

Yet, as I see it, Linz actually has more in common

with Bremen than with Munich! The Linzers have,

for example, something pleasantly unpretentious, an

almost Hanseatic understatement that I prefer to the

cocksureness that you occasionally see in the

Bavarian capital. In Linz, you can go to the theatre

without immediately realising that all the ladies

have come straight from their hairdresser or that

sartorial outfits are more important than the play.

Having said that I must in fairness add that it may

take twenty minutes or more at public functions for

all the political bigwhigs and guests of honour to be

introduced and bid welcome with all of their titles

and functions: surely there must be a more republi-

can style to proceed on such occasions than this?

To return to the sunny side: I have never experi-

enced such culinary delights as in Linz and in its

wonderful surrounding countryside, the Mühl-

viertel. The Upper Austrian cuisine of roast pork

with light, fluffy dumplings, a good glass of wine

and Bohemian-style pastry stuffed with plum jam

for dessert – wow! ”Bremer chicken ragout“ could

not hold a candle to that, not in a month of Sundays.

For me, hailing as I do from the Upper Palatinate,

understanding Austrian idioms is not much of a

problem as Bavarians at least generally share such

specifically South German words as Erdäpfel,

Paradeiser und Fisolen for potatoes, tomatoes and

string beans respectively. However when someone

recently asked me if I had just moved because I was

travelling with a ”Tuchent“ (duvet) in my

”Radlkorb“ (bicycle basket), I had to resort to looking

up the words in an Austrian-German dictionary…

Can a person with a background in culture also be

a football fan? I admit in the beginning I missed my

home team, Werder Bremen. Yet, slowly an interest

and feelings of empathy developed for the Linz ASK,

which, at the time this was written, were actually in

second place in the Austrian Soccer League. Only a

few months earlier, who would have believed the

team would make it to the first league?

What else is charming about Linz? When I have

visitors, there is a spot I love to take them to: the

Franz Josef Belvedere on Freinberg. Looking down

upon the city from these heights enables me to

explain to them all of Linz. What do I tell people

when I have a chance to talk about the city and my

growing love for it? I will gladly tell you – next time

we meet in Linz!

Ulrich Fuchs lives in Linz and is Deputy Artistic

Director and head of Project Development Linz09.

LINZ IS WHERE WE SHOULD BE …“/ULRICH FUCHS

100/101

”

102/103

104/105

LINZBOOK

VALE OF DELIGHT/MARIO TERZIC

Is Linz beautiful? It depends – compared with

Salzburg, Florence, Bruges, or Nice, it is not. Never-

theless Linz is remarkably beautiful, especially

when it manages to come to terms with its industrial

history and integrates aesthetic settings into its

industrial landscape.

The Danube forms the borders on the north and

east side of an industrial area called Lustenau

(literally: ”vale of delight“). In the north, it extends to

the winter port with its gentle westward current.

On the far side of the Danube, the dense forests of

Pfenningberg are visible from almost anywhere in

the city. In the west, the Mühlkreis motorway forms

an uncrossable gulf cutting Lustenau off from the

city centre. To the south, the large industrial

compounds of the Chemie Park and voestalpine

steel works create a formidable span – a ”southern

mountain range“, so to say. If you were to count

Pfenningberg as part of the city, Lustenau would

be the centre of Linz. It is a section of the city that

encompasses 350 hectares in which the castle

grounds of Schönbrunn in Vienna could fit

three times over.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Lustenau,

formerly known as ”Katzenau“, comprised farms

and market gardeners as well as a racecourse,

barracks, a brewery and a number of small factories.

The spacious Danube backwaters with their

floodplain forests snaked through the region. In

1938, with the erection of the Reichswerke Hermann

Göring and the Stickstoffwerke, Linz suddenly found

itself an important centre of the chemical and the

steel industry. After World War II, and in the years

of reconstruction, Lustenau was dedicated as an area

for heavy industries and given the structure that

it has retained up to now. The Linz harbour basins

were built, as well as the tank harbour, the landfill

for factory compounds and a network of roads

serviced by an arterial road, the Industriezeile. Even

today, Lustenau has remained an area of constant

motion – demolition work, construction, landfills,

relocation. Traffic abounds on the roads, by rail

and on the water. A pulsating centre that is one of

Austria’s most successful industrial areas.

In between, one cannot fail to notice many highly

visible islands – hundreds of little gardens, hedges,

bushes, magnificent solitary old trees, and: the

Danube. It is here that Lustenau can enjoy a sense

of tranquillity. Gardens are areas of bucolic repose,

islands of slow leisure and poesy. The amount of gar-

den activity in Lustenau is remarkable – proof that

people yearn for paradise in a city where life is loud

and follows the beat of machines and heavy traffic.

It is an expansive, mosaicised industrial garden,

shot through with functions urban and rural, and

transformed into a compound entity of industrial

democracy and rustic idyll. An area where every-

thing is accessible for those who take the time to

look – an area frequented by workers and by other

citizens of Linz as well as by tourists on bicycles,

and those simply passing through on their way to

Vienna or Passau.

Mario Terzic lives in Vienna and is a professor at

the University for Applied Art.

106/107

108/109

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LINZBOOK

The Danube. It carries the memories of Europe, its

thoughts, desires and dreams. For a long time, if you

looked up the river, you were looking into the future,

if you looked down, into the past. The river can take

you to far-off places, all the way across Europe, but it

will always bring you back again, to one of its many

ports. The Danube has seen its share of blood. What

has this mother of all European rivers not been made

to suffer? Yet the river is headstrong and unpredicta-

ble and will impose its will on its bedfellows.

Brooding, melancholy, its banks sparsely populated

for some of its stretches, in others exuberant and

pulsing with life. Europe floats on the Danube.

River Kilometre 1333: Vukovar is located on the

right-hand bank, Serbia on the left. The cityscape

one enormous crusty wound. Scars that will perhaps

never go away, even when the gutted buildings are

one day pulled down or rebuilt. Whenever this

society goes through a patch of rough weather, they

will itch and ache. In the city, you hear echoes of the

war the moment you strike up a conversation with

one of the locals. They smile, if at all, shyly and with

great diffidence. An elderly man tells me a long story

as we stand in the shadow of a tree. He keeps on

pointing to the other side of the Danube with his

right hand. At some point I take my leave of him and

walk back to the boat. Across from the stage, more

poignant even as a memento mori than the ruinous

buildings I am surrounded by, is the charred skele-

ton of what probably was a linden tree. Apparently

it had been under continuous fire for days before

finally going up in flames.

River Kilometre 953: Orsova in the early morning,

the day after the concert. Some elders, who grew up

in Orsova, a town that was submerged entirely when

an upstream dam burst in 1972, claim they do not

remember ever having seen so many people volunta-

rily gather in one spot as had been the case for our

concert. We will weigh anchor in half an hour’s time

and sail through the last locks of the Danube. We are

now at the so-called ”Iron Gate“, a name reminiscent

perhaps of the great courage and exertion it used to

take to navigate these gorges, which are studded

with rocky outcrops and treacherous shoals. We are

still above the dam; the Danube is now a large lake

seamed on either side by wooded mountains;

it’s like a fjord.

River Kilometre 860: From this point, the Danube,

having finally broken free, moves unhindered

through a landscape that is getting ever flatter. The

river in turn is getting wider, dotted on either side

with bathing beaches and with idylls that look fami-

liar from the paintings of the romantic period: in the

shallow water of the bays there are cattle, in the

distance horse-drawn carts loaded with hay; fishing

boats lie moored to the banks. The two banks are

endlessly far apart. Having passed through many

locks and regulated stretches, the river has rid itself

of its yoke for good and after the latest feat of carving

its way through the Carpathian Bow, it is noticeably

at peace with itself and the world.

River Kilometre 750 passes by. We have now travel-

led approximately 2500 kilometres. The Danube has

female contours, a female soul. Its depths are unfath-

omable, its flow direction must often be divined;

it is all but indiscernible beneath its mirror-like sur-

face that reflects every thought, every image, every

emotion and even casts the observer back on him-

self. This is an unapproachable world, hemmed in

by uprooted trees that each have a story to tell.

All movement has ground to a halt, like at the end

of a pendulum swing, before the next movement sets

in, the next tide, the next flood, the next romance,

the next passionate overflow. Again and again there

are islands – which will have ceased to exist this

time next year, having given way to new ones.

River Kilometre 0, the lighthouse of Sulina.

By now the lighthouse is 12 kilometres inland from

the sea. Before the Danube was put in a straight-

jacket of dams, Europe grew by as much as one

kilometre annually; the present regime has reduced

this to 30 centimetres. We sail down the clearway

to kilometre -12. There we stop the engine and drop

anchor off a short stretch of beach next to another

lighthouse: the Black Sea. Horizon of dreams.

Turning point. The starting point of the return

journey or a new beginning?

Hubert von Goisern lives in Salzburg and is a musi-

cian. This is an excerpt from the log documenting

his Linz Europe Tour East for Linz09.

THE CAPTAIN’S LOG/ HUBERT VON GOISERN

112/113

114/115

116/117

PICTURE CREDITS

CONTENTS

Fabrikstraße, Lentos Museum of Modern Art . . . . . 4

St. Peter, Chemiepark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Urfahr, Wetlands near the Danube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Urfahr, Dragon Railway –

model of Linz Hauptplatz around 1900 . . . . . . . . . 10

Centre, Hauptplatz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Urfahr, North Bank of Lake Plesching . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Hafenviertel, Commercial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Volksgartenviertel,

Open Air Chess in the Volksgarten . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Urfahr, North Bank of Lake Plesching . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Volksgartenviertel, Handel-Mazetti-Straße . . . . . . . 26

Hafenviertel, Farmstead Lahmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Franz-Josefs Belvedere, Donaulände . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Hafenviertel, Club-house of Tarmac curlers . . . . . . 32

Lustenau, St Barbara Cemetery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Hafenviertel, Farmstead Lahmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Volksgartenviertel, Wissensturm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Hafenviertel, Lahmer’s Fish Restaurant . . . . . . . . . 38

Humboldtstraße, Turkish green grocer’s . . . . . . . . . 42

Hafenviertel, Lahmer’s Danube fishery . . . . . . . . . . 44

Bergschlößl, Wissensturm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Waldeggstraße, Weingartshofstraße . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Donaulände, Urfahr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Gesellenhausstraße, Kolpinghaus

(former Gestapo headquarters), Memorial Plaque

for the Victims of National Socialism . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Volksgartenviertel, Volksgarten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Centre, Hauptplatz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Centre, Landstraße . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Urfahr, Excursion Boat ”MS Helene“,

Lentos Museum of Modern Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Donaulände, Brucknerhaus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

St Peter, Voestalpine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Altstadtviertel, Hofgasse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Plesching, Overflow Basin Lake Plesching . . . . . . 66

Industriezeile, Snack Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Pfenningberg, Pub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Donaulände, Austria Tabakwerke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Hafenviertel, Winter Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Spallerhof, Spallerhofstraße . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Winter Port, Shipyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Urfahr, Pöstlingberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Hafenviertel, Ignaz-Mayer-Straße . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Römerberg, Nibelungenbrücke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Franckviertel, Kreisslerplatz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Urfahr, Steyregg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Donaulände, Donaupark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Froschberg, Gugl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Urfahr, AEC Futurelab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Altstadtviertel, New Cathedral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Plesching, Solar City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Spallerhof, Weekly Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Kleinmünchen, The Furnace (Pub) . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Donaulände, Lentos Museum of Modern Art . . . 104

Landstraße, Schaurausch 2007,

The Fall of the Books by Alicia Martìn . . . . . . . . . 105

Danube, Excursion Boat ”Fitzcaraldo“,

Railway Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

St Peter, Voestalpine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Industriezeile, Estermannstraße . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Danube, Excursion Boat ”Fitzcaraldo“ . . . . . . . . . 114

Danube, Excursion Boat ”Fitzcaraldo“ . . . . . . . . . 115

Hafenviertel, Commercial Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Wissensturm, Volksgartenviertel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

118/119

CHILDREN OF STEEL CITY/Alex Stelzer

LINZ, EUROPE – AND YOU!/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Dr. Erich Watzl, Franz Dobusch, Dr. Josef Pühringer

LINZ. A DECLARATION OF LOVE/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Martin Heller

LINZ BY THE SEA/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Melissa Steinlechner

AN UPPER AUSTRIAN FAMILY HISTORY/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Siegfried Kristöfl

INSTANT STIFTER/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Martin Sturm

THE WILDERNESS OF LINZ/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Eugenie Kain

THE CITY OF ISLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Erhard Gstöttner

WHEN DOES HISTORY BEGIN?/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Niko Wahl

AT THE CENTRE OF THE CENTRAL REGION/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Martin Fritz

BRUCKNER IS A GIANT/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Peter Androsch

FROM (NEXT TO) NOTHING/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Aileen Derieg

LINZ IS MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN SALZBURG/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Dietmar Steiner

MY ONE AND GLOBAL LINZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Herbert Lachmayer

TO LINZ, VIA DETOURS/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Ike Okafor and Marieta Riedl

DREAMING LINZ/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Christine Schöpf

IT’S ALL JUST DEAD SPACE/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Lena Treves

LINZ IS WHERE WE SHOULD BE …“/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Ulrich Fuchs

VALE OF DELIGHT/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Mario Terzic

THE CAPTAIN’S LOG/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Hubert von Goisern

LINZ SERVICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

IMPRINT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

”

LINZSERVICE

120/121LINZ

BOOK

LINZ – CITY OF POSSIBILITIES

190,000 inhabitants, at the heart of an economically

successful region with over half a million people,

only an hour and a half’s train ride from Vienna,

located on the banks of the Danube and surrounded

by an unbelievably beautiful countryside –

that is Linz!

Yet there is more to Linz than meets the eye. It is a

city with a varied history, which includes the dark

chapter of National Socialism as well as the unprece-

dented upswing of the last twenty years. Music,

theatre, fine arts, film and the innovative ideas of the

Indie scene regularly draw audiences in Linz –

audiences that are keen on anything contemporary.

Ars Electronica Festival and Brucknerfest, Museum

of the Future and Lentos Kunstmuseum, Bruckner-

haus and Landestheater, OK Offenes Kulturhaus

Oberösterreich and State Gallery, the Festival of

Regions or the Crossing Europe Film Festival are

so many different versions of one and the same

corollary: culture is at home in all those places. Yet

culture is also lived and experienced in the streets

and squares of the city, on the water and in the green

spaces. This page will be the visitor’s guide to the

abundance of possibilities Linz has to offer.

WWW.LINZ.AT

is the official Linz city webpage and provides

information about history, culture and events,

as well as important services, including

public transport schedules, hotspots and an

interactive city map.

WWW.LINZ.AT/TOURISMUS

Here you will find all the resources you need for

your stay in Linz. Accommodation, restaurant tips,

events and highlights, sightseeing (museums,

botanical garden, Linz Zoo, etc.), city walks and

tours, excursion tips and information about boat

trips on the Danube. On top of this you can find

the recipe of Linzer Torte, shopping tips and hiking

trails. These pages also offer useful information

about travelling to Linz by boat, train, plane or car, as

well as getting around within the city and the region.

122/123LINZ

BOOK

Ars Electronica Center

www.aec.at

Brucknerhaus

www.brucknerhaus.at

Choreographic Center Linz

www.cclinz.org

Cinematograph

www.cafecinematograph.at

City Galerie

www.citygalerie.at

Galerie ARTPARK Lenaupark City

www.artpark.eu

Galerie Brunnhofer

www.brunnhofer.at

Galerie Seidler

www.galerieseidler.at

Galerie Simone Feichtner

www.galeriesimonefeichtner.com

Galerie Thiele

www.galerie-thiele.at

Johannes Kepler Universität

www.jku.at

KAPU – Kulturverein und Veranstaltungszentrum

www.kapu.or.at

Katholisch-Theologische Privatuniversität

www.kth-linz.ac.at

Kellertheater

www.linzerkellertheater.at

Kindertheater Kuddelmuddel

www.kuddelmuddel.at

Kulturzentrum Hof

www.kulturzentrum-hof.at

KunstRaum Goethestrasse

www.kunstraum.at

Kunstuniversität

www.ufg.ac.at

Landeskulturzentrum Ursulinenhof

www.ursulinenhof.at

Landestheater

www.landestheater-linz.at

Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz

www.lentos.at

Linz Genesis – Stadtgeschichte

www.nordico.at/genesis/genesis.html

MAERZ Künstlervereinigung

www.maerz.at

Moviemento and City Kino

www.moviemento.at

Oberösterreichische Landesbibliothek

www.landesbibliothek.at

Oberösterreichische Landesgalerie

www.landesgalerie.at

Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen

www.landesmuseum.at

OK Offenes Kulturhaus Oberösterreich

www.ok-centrum.at

Posthof

www.posthof.at

Schlossmuseum

www.schlossmuseum.at

Stadtmuseum Nordico

www.nordico.at

Stadtwerkstatt – Unabhängige Kulturvereinigung

www.stwst.at

StifterHaus – Zentrum für Literatur und Sprache

www.stifterhaus.at

Theater Phönix

www.theater-phoenix.at

Transpublic – Institut für urbane Forschung und Gestaltung

www.transpublic.at

Wissensturm

www.wissensturm.at

USEFUL

Taxis

www.taxi6969.at, T +43 732 6969,

www.taxi2244.at, T +43 732 2244

Shared Taxis

www.linzag.at, T +43 732 661266

Ambulance

144

Police

133

Fire Brigade

122

Camping in Linz

Camping Pichlinger See

www.camping-linz.at

Camping Pleschinger See

T +43 732 247870

Hotspots Linz

www.linz.at/hotspot

Linz from A-Z

www.linz.at/service

Weather Report

www.linz.at/wetter

Event Calendar

www.linztermine.at

LINZ TOURISM

Weekend Offers/Linz City Ticket

www.linz.at/tourismus-angebote.asp

Linz Austria Guides

www.linz-tours.at

Linz City Express

www.geigers.at

Linz Webcams

www.linz.at/Tourismus/tourismus_Webcam.asp

Linz in Picture www.linz.at/Aktuell/aktuell_11287.asp

Seasonal www.advent.linz.at www.donausommer.linz.atwww.kulturwinter.linz.at

Rickshaw-Servicewww.rikscha.at

NATURE

Biology Centre www.biologiezentrum.at

Botanical Gardenwww.linz.at/botanischergarten

Danube boat tripwww.donauschifffahrt.linz.at

Kepler-Planetarium Linz www.sternwarte.atwww.sps-marketing.com/kepler

Linz Markets www.linz.at/maerkte

Linz Zoowww.zoo-linz.at

INDUSTRY

Tour of voestalpine Stahlwww.expeditionvoestalpine.com

Harbour round trips on MS Helene www.donauschifffahrt.at

CULTURE

WWW.LINZ.AT/KULTUR

Anton Bruckner Privatuniversitätwww.bruckneruni.at

Architekturforum Oberösterreichwww.afo.at

2009

2009

ˆ

ATHINA1985

FIRENZE1986

AMSTERDAM1987

KØBENHAVN1996

PARIS1989

GLASGOW1990

DUBLIN1991

ANTWERPEN1993

MADRID1992LISBOA

1994

LUXEMBOURG1995/2007

THESSALONIKI1997

STOCKHOLM1998

WEIMAR1999

BERLIN1988

AVIGNON2000

BOLOGNA2000

BRUXELLES2000

KRAKOW2000

HELSINKI2000

PRAHA2000

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA2000

PORTO2001

ROTTERDAM2001

SALAMANCA2002

GRAZ2003

GENOVA2004

LILLE2004

CORK2005

PATRA2006

LIVERPOOL2008

STAVANGER2008

SIBIU2007

ISTANBUL2010

TURKU2011

TALLINN2011

MARIBOR2012

REYKJAVIK2000

PÉCS2010

BERGEN2000

GUIMARÃES2012

ESSEN2010

BRUGGE2002

EUROPEAN CAPITALS OF CULTURE1985- 2012

127/127

126/127

LINZ BOOK

Linz 2009 – European Capital of Culture

December 2007

PUBLISHED BY

Linz 2009 Kulturhauptstadt Europas

OrganisationsGmbH

Gruberstraße 2

4020 Linz, Austria

www.linz09.at

RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT

Martin Heller, Artistic Director

Walter Putschögl, Financial Director

EDITORIAL STAFF

Julia Stoff, Kristina Hödl

CONCEPT + DESIGN

Linz09

Buchegger, Denoth, Feichtner

Haslinger, Keck.

TEXTS

Peter Androsch, Aileen Derieg, Martin Fritz,

Ulrich Fuchs, Hubert von Goisern, Erhard Gstöttner,

Martin Heller, Eugenie Kain, Siegfried Kristöfl,

Herbert Lachmayer, Ike Okafor, Marieta Riedl,

Christine Schöpf, Dietmar Steiner, Melissa

Steinlechner, Alex Stelzer, Martin Sturm, Mario

Terzic, Lena Treves, Niko Wahl

TRANSLATION

Otmar Binder, Nadine Lichtenberger,

pp. 58/59: Aileen Derieg

PHOTOGRAPHY

Paul Kranzler

PRINTED BY

Holzhausen Druck+Medien

© Linz 2009 Kulturhauptstadt Europas

OrganisationsGmbH, 2007

IMPRINT

128/129LINZ

BOOK

LINZ09TOP CLUB