After Graz, Linz is the second Austrian city which has been chosen to become the European capital of culture for one year, the year 2009. Linz is the capital of Upperaustria. It has 189.355 inhabitants and is the third biggest city of Austria.

So, which special cultural events will or did take place at Linz until the end of December?

Pflasterspektakel: The “Pflasterspektakel” is one of the largest and most important street art festivals in Europe. It takes place every July in the city center of Linz which is (for three days) transformed into a huge stage for every kind of street arts and street performances. Every year there are about 200.000 people who visit the Pflasterspektakel and enjoy the many different performances and shows. There are performances of about 120 street art groups and solo artists from over 40 nations at over 40 locations in the city. This year’s Pflasterspektakel took place from Tuesday, July 23 to Saturday, July 25. The flair of the whole city during these days was great as it has been in every of the 23 years of Pflasterspektakel before. Another very nice detail: The whole event is every year for free. For more Information about the Pflasterspektakel visit its website www.pflasterspektakel.at.


Academy of the impossible: The academy offers a variety of workshops in the areas of dance, acting, music, singing and using your fantasy with very special teachers from all over the world. Everybody can participate in these workshops. There are no criterias for being allowed to participate and the prices are quite reasonable, also for young people. Some of them are even for free. There are workshops with duration of some days and there are also workshops which are only for one day. For more information visit the website of the academy:
http://www.linz09.at/en/projekt-2455859/academy_of_the_impossible.html

30th Ars Electronica Festival: This is an annual festival for art, technology and society where (as the highlight) some outstanding computer artists are awarded with the Prix Ars Electronica. Of course their work is shown at the festival too. This year’s festival will take place from 3 to 8 September and will be dedicated to the topic “future”. The festival is (as every year) organized by the Arc Electronica Center, the so called “Museum of the Future” which is worth a visit any time of the year. At the beginning of the year it has moved in new, even bigger building than before and is one of the most impressive museums of Linz. If you want to read more about it and few some pictures, please visit the museums website: www.aec.at

There are of course many more special events in Linz during this year like a walk around the roofs of some buildings of the city center with an observation-wheel on top of a house, two big theatre festivals which also include a lot of dance performances, the Brucknerfest (a festival with classical music) and a lot of special exhibitions.

Just visit the website of Linz2009: www.linz09.at or simply come to Linz and experience one of the two European cultural capitals of the year 2009.

Sources:
Websites quoted in the article.