The Deep Space Live – Series “LINZ_EINST/JETZT” which compares historical pictures of Linz with their current views is having it’s next installment on November 15th at the Ars Electronica Center. MMag. Maria Jenner, who’s taking care of coordinating and programming the series and works at the Archiv der Stadt Linz talks about how the cooperation with the Center got started and how a look into the past can influence the development of a city.
Linz from above, south of the Hauptbahnhof
How did the cooperation between the archive and the Ars Electronica Center came to be?
It all started in 2009 when Linz was cultural capital of Europe. The archive wanted to present historical content in an interesting way and the Center wanted to share it’s Know-How.
Where do the pictures come from, where do you find them?
The pictures are all from the archive which has been filled over decades by institutions, companies and various other people. Even today people are bringing their photographs to us so that they become part of the archive, for many it’s important to keep track of our history and to contribute to that.
What criteria are deciding which photographs you choose for a session?
We choose the pictures that best suite the theme. If possible we are looking for photographs with a lot of detail, because this really works well on the huge screen of the Deep Space.
The Ars Electronica Center and one of it’s architectural predecessors.
What are going to be the topics of the next sessions?
November 15th is going to be about LINZ_EINST/JETZT where we compare historical footage with current one, on December 13th it’s going to be about monuments and statues.
What are the things we can learn from comparing the old Linz with the current one, how does the past influence the present and the futur?
The interesting aspect of historical topics are the different things you can pull out of looking at historical photographs. Some see the differences, some say that not much has changed, and the nice thing is that if you look at the pictures at the Deep Space and really go for the details, both sides can be right.