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It’s not mandatory, it’s not permitted … to say anything, write anything, react to anything. Cultural programs are mostly consumed passively; those partaking of them just sit around, stand around, walk around. This project reacted to this inactive state by launching new discourses and instigating response.

This initiative interlinked a number of individual Linz09 projects. Its approach was to make the city itself a setting in which to experience what went on here in the not-too-distant past. Because Linz is a place of memory and of commemoration. Because history is omnipresent here. And it’s everybody’s business: Linzers old and young, school classes, tourists, visitors, friends, guests and fans. They all posed questions, sought answers, got worked up, wrote, became enraged, were delighted or astounded. Some even laughed as they personally unraveled the threads of historical narratives, made them visible and integrated them into their daily lives. MEDIATING THE ENCOUNTER WITH MODERN HISTORY went forth in pursuit of traces of the past. Project staffers designed 10 discursive educational programs designed to make the past come alive for various age groups. From March to December 2009, children, young people and adults were invited to rediscover this city and its history.


WHAT // Mediation programms
WHEN // Throughout 2009
WHERE // In Linz and Upper Austria

IDEA / CONCEPT // Hannah Landsmann, Daniele Karasz, Adam Wieczorkowski

Educational program for students // Contemporary history as family history

Six addresses in Linz are points of departure for an out-of-the-ordinary encounter with history. The pupils will be on the go around town, tracking down traces of the past and playing PR advisor to the mayor. Their assignment is to trace descendants of families who experienced the time of National Socialism in Linz and to invite them to a get-together. Once they’ve completed their research, the job of PR advisor begins: discussing what might be of importance and interest for these guests in Linz, what sort of dinner will be served, who will be seated next to whom, and whether a Linzer Torte is the proper welcome gift.



WHEN // Beginning in March 2009 / Mondays throughout the Upper Austrian school year
DURATION // 2 hours
WHERE // City of Linz
FOR WHOM // appropriate for pupils age 14 and up
Category: School



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