Linz Europa Tour West – Striking a balance

Linz Europa Tour West: The Wrap-up, 25 September 2008

Donnerstag, 25. September 2008, 20.00 Uhr
Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz

One of Austria’s most remarkable musicians, Hubert von Goisern, set off in 2007 on a voyage across Europe, the Linz Europa Tour 2007 – 2009, to spread the message of Linz European Capital of Culture 2009. To do so as effectively as possible he made use of the languages spoken in the countries he crossed. Having completed a successful tour to the East in 2007, he returned this year on September 1 from his tour to the West. On September 25 Hubert von Goisern and Martin Heller, the artistic director of Linz09, met at the Kunstmuseum Lentos and the two took stock of the last few months.

In summer 2007 Hubert von Goisern travelled down the Danube as far as the Black Sea on a freight barge equipped with a stage. This summer he travelled western Europe on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. The 29 concerts of the Western Tour, which took place over 10 weeks (27 June 2008 – Obermühl an der Donau until 31 August 2008 – Passau) in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, attracted a total audience of more than 50,000.

The Western Tour featured a comprehensive programme with side events and other measures designed to promote Capital of Culture Year. In Vienna, Linz, Obermühl, Deggendorf, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Offenbach, Mainz, Ulm, Cologne and Düsseldorf the tour included presentations of the project and press events. In this way many international and local media were alerted to Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture.

The Linz Europa Tour West was featured in 2,485 print media and by 39 TV stations and 16 radio stations in seven countries. In Austria these included APA, ORF, Kurier, Der Standard, Kronenzeitung, Die Presse, Salzburger Nachrichten, OÖ Nachrichten, Profil, News, Österreich, Die Rundschau, Life Radio. On the international stage the media reporting on the tour included DPA, Bayerisches Fernsehen, 3sat, Arte, WDR, SWR, Deutschlandradio, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Focus, Die Tageszeitung, Nürnberger Zeitung, Passauer Neue Presse, Frankfurter Rundschau, Südwest Presse, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Westdeutsche Zeitung, Aachener Zeitung, Thüringer Allgemeine, Kölner Wochenspiegel, Rhein Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau and many others.

ORF and Bayerisches Fernsehen put out the first five parts of a series of documentaries entitled Goisern Goes East; these were watched on average by 320,000 viewers. The same series will be broadcast by 3sat towards the end of the year. Two more instalments covering the Tour to the West are being produced and will be ready for transmission in spring 2009.

The project website www.linzeuropatour.com had 26,000 visitors during the two months of the tour in 2008 and 325,000 page views.

In 2009 there will be a reunion with all the artists Hubert von Goisern met in his role of Linz09’s envoy over the last two years. Together they will bring a multilingual and many-voiced cargo to shore– right at the half-way point of Culture Capital Year, with the objective of making the concept of European integration into a living reality. The unique project of Linz Europa Tour has laid the foundations for this and has given Linz09 the opportunity of playing a pioneering role even before the Big Bang that will explode into life on New Year’s Eve.