LENTOS
The Lentos is another highlight of Linz’s riverside cityscape. Set immediately adjacent to the Brucknerhaus and the Danube Park, this architecturally striking museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art opened in 2003. The facility is extraordinary in numerous respects—for instance, the 2,500-m2 main exhibition hall, the largest of its kind in Austria, was conceived to display works of art in just the right light to do justice to them.
During the Ars Electronica Festival, Ralo Meyer is going to present a history from 1986 to 2003, from the crash of the Challenger to the crash of the Columbia, raising questions on how we perceive our world. This installation will be in the Lentos’ 1st Underground Level.
Lentos, credit Tourismusverband Linz/Presseamt
Ars Electronica Quarter
The Ars Electronica Quarter is host of all the events of CREATE YOUR WORLD – Futurefestival of the next generation.
OK
As a creative artist, you really have to admire Linz. This is by no means a megalopolis, but the number of institutions here fostering cultural life and the arts is truly impressive. It’s enough to make an out-of-towner a little envious.
One of these facilities is the OK Center for Contemporary Art. Situated in a former school, the OK provides artists working in contemporary genres—defined to be as all-encompassing as possible—a setting in which to develop projects and present them to audiences.
The structure itself was adapted so that the functionalities of a school building could be preserved for the most part while still providing sufficient open space in which to showcase works of art in ways that do justice to them. Ars Electronica is looking forward to staging the CyberArts Exhibition in this very interesting venue.
OK - Offenes Kulturhaus - Credit: OK-Offenes Kulturhaus
UNIVERSITY OF ARTS LINZ
Right on Hauptplatz and thus easily accessible from several Festival event venues is the University of Arts Linz. Founded after World War II to bring about a radical change of course from the Nazis’ artistic and cultural policymaking, this educational institution has stood for free inquiry and artistic freedom since its very inception.
Kunstuniversität Linz
ARS ELECTRONICA CENTER
If you head north from Hauptplatz, you come to the Nibelungen Bridge that spans the Danube and links downtown Linz with the Urfahr neighborhood on the northern bank—and thus actually connects Linz with Linz (but that’s a matter of dispute among locals and there’s no need to go into it here). Since 2009—the year of Linz’s reign as European Capital of Culture—the northern bridgehead has been dominated by the new Ars Electronica Center, a highlight of the cityscape, a truly modern museum, a real architectural eye-catcher.
You can spend hours in this place—wracking your brain about technological issues and their consequences in our lives, browsing and rummaging through the exhibits, doing some hands-on exploration, taking things apart and reassembling them in some fascinating new way.
When you eventually kick back in the Skylounge, you can let you gaze sweep across the downtown skyline—the Tabakfabrik (a former tobacco processing plant), the Brucknerhaus, the gateway to Hauptplatz, the New Cathedral and Schlossberg castle.
Ars Electronica Center
NEUER DOM
When you think of Austria and churches, the ones that come to mind first are probably St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Charles Church. Both are in Vienna—one an ancient landmark, the other a magnificent Baroque edifice. But when Austrians are asked to name the country’s largest church, most just shrug their shoulders and then express surprise when told it’s New Cathedral in Linz. There it has stood in all its glory since 1924, providing room for 20,000 worshippers (that’s no typo, folks)! Its pictorial windows are impressive indeed.
Neuer Dom Linz © Wikipedia, Vesta
DONAUPARK
Locals refer to it as the Donaupark; officially, the city’s longest meadow is named Donaulände. The riverbank park premiered as the site of forum metall, an alfresco exhibition of large-scale sculptures that have adorned the area along the Danube since 1977.
In the evening, this is a great place to stroll and enjoy the Sun’s last rays. And it’s not too far from the AEC.
Donaupark forum metall © Wikipedia, Maksim
