Untitled - Oiip

introduction
The european
Question
European Capital of Culture
Linz, with its 190,000 inhabitants Austria’s third largest
city, shares in 2009 the honorific title of European
Capital of Culture with Vilnius, the Lithuanian
capital. In the eyes of some people, this is above all
a privilege, which will boost the city’s development
and earn it a great deal of attention. Others stress
the challenge and the enormity of the task that is
involved. Both are of course right. This becomes
particularly apparent, when the European dimension
is taken into account: Linz presents itself to Europe,
and Europe presents itself in Linz.
Addressing the issue of Europe is quite obviously
one of the tasks that devolve on a culture capital.
The first question to be raised is what Europe we
are actually referring to here. The European Culture
Capital format was born from an initiative put forward
in 1985 by the then Greek Minister of Culture, Melina
Mercouri. EU members were to take turns annually
in a predetermined order in nominating a city which,
pending approval by the EU Commission, would
then be designated European Capital of Culture by
the Council. An EU resolution adopted in 2000 made
also non-EU members eligible for this process during
the period of 2005-2010. This brought us the benefit
of Stavanger assuming the role of Culture Capital in
2008, and in 2010 the 12-million metropolis Istanbul
will in that capacity attract flocks of curious visitors.
European Identity
Europe’s internal division into “EU Europe” and
“non-EU Europe” draws attention to the question
of what consequences the respective status entails
and leads us to the Linz09 project EXTRA EUROPA.
Is there such a thing as a shared “European identity”,
a shared “European culture”? Or is it perhaps
one of Europe’s strong points that it has no homogenized
identity and no shared culture and that it
has no wish to develop anything of the sort, preferring
cultural diversity instead?
Terms such as “European identity and culture” are
used a great deal in common parlance. It is true
that we intuitively tend to use them above all in
the context of the EU package. How European do
non-EU states feel? What reasons are there for not
wanting to join the EU or for not being allowed to
join? EXTRA EUROPA deliberately flirts with such
questions – primarily because it wants to trigger a
debate about them. We want the word “extra” to
be understood not only in the sense of “outside”
or “excluded” but also in its other sense as a kind
of honorific, in an affirmative/emphatic sense, in the
sense of “particularly/especially”. Is it not the case
that some non-EU states are in fact particularly European,
that they represent values and qualities that
are especially associated with Europe?
Norway, Switzerland, Turkey
To pursue our investigations we have selected three
exemplary countries that we want to look at in detail
in EXTRA EUROPA: Norway, Switzerland, and
Turkey. We want Linz09 to serve as a platform for
these countries to present samples of their political
and scientific discourse and of their artistic and cultural
activities. Arranged along a line from Europe’s
remotest South East to the heart of Central Europe
and on to its furthest North West, these countries
are about as diverse as possible in political, geographical
and cultural terms. This choice looked like a
challenge to us, as it is quite unique. Perhaps it is
also surprising or counterintuitive: at first sight there
appears to be little these three countries have
in common apart from the fact that none of them
belongs to the EU.
EXTRA EUROPA: the Programme
The two main components of the project are a
symposium at the Linz Wissensturm (20/21 March)
with high-profile panels comprising experts from
the three countries plus Austria, for which access
will be free; and the EXTRA EUROPA FESTIVAL (19
March – 3 May). With 60 or so different projects the
festival will feature an artistic and cultural programme
that includes dance, theatre, music, literature,
film, cartoons, and fine arts from the three EXTRA
EUROPA countries.
Before and during the symposium the “Forum09”
will take place. It will provide the framework for a
meeting of 80 pupils from the three EXTRA EUROPA
countries plus Austria and the Czech Republic, who
will be discussing the same issues addressed by
the participants of the symposium.
EXTRA EUROPA Partners
The Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia proved
a strong and committed partner and sponsor from
our first beginnings. In the course of two years of
intensive collaboration we have put together an
EXTRA EUROPA: SWITZERLAND programme that
assembles 30 projects. During and after the EXTRA
EUROPA FESTIVAL in Linz, selected projects will
also be shown in several Swiss cities. For the programming
of EXTRA EUROPA: TURKEY we found
a congenial partner and sponsor in Istanbul 2010,
whose team has provided invaluable help in all
questions related to content. For EXTRA EUROPA:
NORWAY we are deeply indebted to Norway’s Ministry
for Foreign Affairs (Section for Global Cultural
Cooperation) and to the Arts Council Norway for
their trust and support.
From the beginning, the three countries’ embassies
in Vienna have provided invaluable support. They
have been patient companions, advisors and mediators
without whose help EXTRA EUROPA could
not have been realized. We have also received substantial
assistance from oiip (Österreichisches Institut
für Internationale Politik) in terms of the contents
and conceptual framework of EXTRA EUROPA.
We are particularly pleased that the following wellknown
journalists and writers from the EXTRA EU-
ROPA countries and Austria have taken up our suggestion
that they contribute essays to the project:
Morten Stroksnes (Norway), Lukas Bärfuss (Switzerland),
Cengiz Aktar (Turkey), and Klaus Stimeder
(Austria).
We would also like to express our gratitude to partners
and organisers in Linz and its environs whose
enthusiastic commitment to the idea of EXTRA EU-
ROPA has led them to either organise related projects
of their own or pool their efforts with the three
countries involved.
Susanne Puchberger,
Project developer and editor of EXTRA EUROPA
06
07