booklinz€¦ · but can you love linz? even as a non-linzer? you can. i am the living proof....
Post on 25-Jun-2020
0 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
LIN
Z 20
09 K
ULT
UR
HA
UP
TS
TA
DT
EU
RO
PAS
LINZBOOK
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
LIN
Z B
OO
KLI
NZ
2009
EU
RO
PE
AN
CA
PIT
AL
OF
CU
LT
UR
E
LINZBOOK
4/5
6/7
8/9
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
32/33
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
36/37
38/39
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
42/43
44/45
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
48/49
50/51
52/53LINZ
BOOK
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.
54/55
56/57
58/59LINZ
BOOK
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
60/61
62/63
64/65LINZ
BOOK
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.
66/67
68/69
70/71LINZ
BOOK
”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
72/73
74/75
76/77LINZ
BOOK
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.
78/79
80/81
82/83LINZ
BOOK
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.
84/85
86/87
88/89LINZ
BOOK
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.
90/91
92/93
94/95LINZ
BOOK
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
110/111
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
top related