The programme of European Capital of Culture - Esch2022 has become clearer after the organisers unveiled at a press breakfast yesterday the activities planned around the historic industrial site of Esch-Belval.
In recent months, the Esch2022 team, in collaboration with its national and international cultural partners, has been working on the projects launched on its initiative. The evaluation of the call for projects has also been completed. In around 500 days, a varied programme for residents and visitors to the European Capital of Culture will kick off. The programme consists of projects launched directly by Esch2022 and concepts proposed within the framework of the call for projects. All these projects will be carried out throughout the territory of the European Capital of Culture.
One of the highlights will be an exhibition with the working title "Perspectives of Europe", scheduled for the end of 2022. In this exhibition, historians Pit Péporté and Sophie Neuenkirch, from Historical Consulting Luxembourg, will address the theme of Europe: its society, its representations and its perspectives. Pit Péporté explained: "This exhibition examines clichés, stereotypical representations and tries to find out where these clichés come from, how they came to be, what they say about us... Do they contain some truth? And what influence do they have on the rest of the world?"
For the scenography of "Perspectives of Europe", the team is collaborating with Nils Van Keulen and Itamar Naamani of Utrecht-based Tinker imagineers, which specialises in the design of immersive and multimedia exhibitions. "Perspectives of Europe" is one of four major exhibitions held in the Möllerei with renowned partners from the cultural world. The Zentrum für Kunst und Medien in Karlsruhe, the House of electronic Arts Basel and Ars Electronica in Linz will also organise exhibitions on the theme of "Remix".
At La Massenoire, two major documentary exhibitions will link the region's past and present. Between February and May 2022, the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) of the University of Luxembourg will present an exhibition based on its research project "Remixing Industrial Pasts in the Digital Age". As part of the Esch2022 cultural programme, university scientists are devoting four years to studying the history of the southern region and its residents. Recently, they organised a history workshop at Annex22 in Esch-sur-Alzette. The scenography will be carried out by Chiara Ligi, who lives and works in Milan. From October 2022, the exhibition of Paris-based photoreporter and director Samuel Bollendorff and Marseille-based sound director Mehdi Ahoudig will conclude the cultural programme of La Massenoire. They will present a documentary exhibition with photographs, provisionally entitled “Cross-border Workers: lives in stereo”.
During summer 2022, the installation of a platform will transform the Plancher des Coulées, at the foot of Blast Furnace A in Esch-Belval, into a world dedicated to the performing arts. In July, the TROIS C-L - Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois and LUCODA - Luxembourg Collective of Dance will organise workshops and present contemporary dance choreographies for three weeks.
Ideas submitted as part of the call for projects will also be implemented on the former industrial site of Belval: in the Rocklab, the National Research Fund, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the University of Luxembourg and the Rockhal will jointly carry out the project “Remix Science: the Sound of Data”. Scientists and local artists will work together to merge data and music.
This project is one of around 140 bids selected following the call for projects. The first contracts will be signed soon. Françoise Poos, programme director, explained: “This is an important moment in the creation of the Esch2022 programme. More than 100 project leaders have already been informed of the amount of co-financing for their projects, the others will follow shortly. We are delighted with the many positive feedback from our partners, but above all with the many projects carried out in close collaboration for the European Capital of Culture".
Little by little, the public will now discover these projects and the people behind them. As well as project presentations during press breakfasts, videos in which the project leaders present themselves and their ideas will be published on the Esch2022 website and social media from the second half of November 2020.
