European Capital of Culture 2022, part 3
“Remix Culture” and blast furnaces: Esch celebrates the borderless Luxembourg
Former blast furnaces are in the Belvaux district of Esch, one of the three European Capitals of Culture in 2022.
© Harald Tittel
The Luxembourg Capital of Culture Esch wants to tell the story of a region – from the steel industry to the digital age. More than 2000 events are planned.
Nowhere in Luxembourg do the past and the future meet more visibly than in Esch. Next to long-cooled brown blast furnaces there are modern university buildings with shiny facades, old industrial buildings border on chic apartment houses and the streets are international: 120 nations are at home in Luxembourg’s second largest city. As the European Capital of Culture 2022, Esch is taking on the great diversity – and taking an entire region with it under the motto “Remix Culture”.
The city in the south of Luxembourg is planning around 160 projects with more than 2000 events, some of them cross-border, together with municipalities in neighboring France. “This is a great opportunity for Esch and for the entire region to show that we can also do culture,” says the mayor of Esch and President of Esch2022, Georges Mischo.
So far, culture fans have always been drawn to the capital of Luxembourg. That should now change. “Esch2022 is a stepping stone for us.” The program includes theater, exhibitions, dance, performances, workshops and digital art – with different focal points in the participating locations: In Luxembourg there are eleven municipalities, in France eight municipalities with a total of around 200,000 inhabitants.
Thematically it is about what unites the region: A common industrial history made of ore and steel, the cultural diversity – and visions for a borderless Europe. “Remixing” in different categories (art, Europe, nature) should create something new and – above all – encourage the public to participate.
Georges Mischo, President “Esch2022” and Mayor of the city of Esch / Alzette
© Hardl Tittel / DPA
The makers have colorful things on offer for all the senses: from the European Fantastic Festival to culinary “taste of the region”, cross-border theater, exhibitions on industrial heritage, modern music and the fire festival. At the same time, Esch2022 invites you to explore the border region, under the green of which the history of ore, iron and steel can be found almost everywhere.
Opening party on February 26th, 2022
“In the south of Luxembourg, the origin of immigration took place in Luxembourg and thus what we are now,” says the Luxembourg Minister of Culture Sam Tanson. With the mining of iron ore in the second half of the 19th century, thousands of workers from other countries came to the region with the iron-rich red earth. Today almost half of the almost 650,000 inhabitants of Luxembourg are non-Luxembourgers.
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The big opening party of Esch2022 is planned for February 26th, 2022. It should rise as a “Remix Opening” in Esch and Esch-Belval – on squares, stages and on street corners with live music, DJs, dance, light installations and projections. And: as a “participatory experience”, with anyone who wants to – from street performers to circus performers – can take part.
But because of the acute corona situation, people are now worrying again, says Mischo. “All major events are of course still in question with Corona.” He doesn’t see any problems with exhibitions because the number of visitors can be controlled. Other events, however, cannot be tackled with a distance of two meters. “I’m a positive person and I hope the situation calms down again,” says Mischo.
“Hacking Identity – Dancing Diversity
A warm-up program is already running in the regions before the official start. The local art scene is just as much involved as international top artists – with events that couldn’t fit better: like the multilingual play “Idiomatic” in the Escher Theater at the end of January, in which five actors speak five different languages.
View of the culture factory in Esch in Luxembourg
© Birgit Reichert / DPA
Esch has invested a lot of money for Esch2022, which focuses on the contemporary. 32 million euros were spent on conversions, renovations and infrastructure. The city gave a further 10 million euros to the project, and the state contributed 40 million euros.
Important exhibition locations will be in Esch-Belval on a former steelworks site. In a refurbished Möllerei, for example, there will be media art: The first exhibition on the program is “Hacking Identity – Dancing Diversity” from the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM). And in the old Massenoire, where cast iron was made, there will be documentary exhibitions on the industrial past, present and future.
In the city of 36,000 alone, 80 projects are planned. An important “cultural pole” in the city is the area around the new art gallery, the theater and a former cinema that is being converted into a theater for children and young people. There is also the culture factory and the former “Bridderhaus” hospital, which is becoming a residence for artists. Before Corona, the organizers expected one million to 1.5 million visitors that year.
Esch2022 should give the region a boost not only in terms of culture, but also in terms of tourism. On a “Red Rock Trail”, guests can marvel at over 90 kilometers of beautiful nature and brownish-red earth. And in Micheville, France, the “Arche” (L’Arche) has emerged as a new cultural center for art, music and new digital technologies. In 1995 and 2007 the capital of Luxembourg was named European Capital of Culture.
In 2022 there will also be two more cities in Europe: Lithuania’s second largest city Kaunas and Serbia’s second largest city Novi Sad.