Maribor 2012: Ready to start

December 2011

Maribor is already counting down the hours remaining until 13 January 2012, the day of the beginning of its undoubtedly historic project: being 'the European Capital of Culture'. Visitors passing through Maribor in these December days can already feel a certain 'cultural vibration' in the air, because among the numerous New Year ads and decorations, it is impossible to overlook all the advertising announcing the Capital of Culture. Despite some considerable problems the city has been facing, it is aware of its great opportunity and will try to take advantage of it as well as it possibly can.

Programme Miracle

The entire European Capital of Culture project has been divided into four major programme sections. On the basis of invitations to tenders and the team members' own ideas, around the 412 different events and happenings have been incorporated in these programme sections, some of which will take place throughout the entire year. With a budget of approximately €15 million (which is said to be the lowest in history for such projects), a relatively innovative programme has been created.  As already mentioned, an important part of the project events, even some of the most attractive ones, will also take place in the partner towns Ptuj, Murska Sobota, Novo mesto, Velenje and Slovenj Gradec.

In this respect, two programme sections — Urban Furrows and TownKeys — have remained almost unchanged. They are based on the establishment of a completely new relationship between the city and its inhabitants that would develop at a level of human connections, mutual assistance and solidarity, through which urban life could be cultivated without any major financial resources.  Programme Director Mitja Čander sensitively considered the prevailing trends that have been significant for the European Capitals of Culture in the past few years:  to reduce the number of glamorous projects and performances of famous art companies and individuals that attract great audiences but do not leave any permanent traces behind, in exchange for something that can create a new identity of the city and activate its energy.

Arrival and departure terminal

Programme team of project: young and courageous.

Within Terminal 12, the most 'classical programme section', offering performances and productions of famous art companies and individual artists, we can expect some interesting guest performances by theatres such as the Les Ballets C de la B of Alain Platel (Belgium), the Cabaret New Burlesque (United States), the Radu Stanca National Theatre (Romania) of Slivio Purcarete, the Bartabas Horse Performance Academy from Versailles, the Forman Brothers Theatre (Czech Republic) and the Jan Fabre Theatre (Troubleyn/Jan Fabre VZW, Belgium) with its world premiere of 'The Saint Gangster'. The Slovene National Theatre from Maribor will perform Slovene productions based on the cooperation between Slovenian and foreign artists; the Anton Podbevšek Theatre from Novo mesto, named after a Slovenian avant-garde poet, will prepare the project 'Man with Bombs'; the collaboration between Slovenian, Austrian, Japanese, Croatian and American artists will be the basis for the productions of the theatre companies En Knap and Superamas, the Pandur Theatres and the Croatian National Theatre from Zagreb (the performance 'War and Peace' based on the authorial manuscript by Tomaž Pandur), and Bunker Betontanc and Original Tempo. Among the most interesting projects are also 'The Tailors of the World' by Dušan Jovanović and Büchner's drama 'Danton's Death' performed by Jernej Lorenci, the Slovene Youth Theatre and the Ptuj Theatre. In this section, the project Twelve is also extremely important.

Within this project, Maribor will host notable, internationally renowned and leading personalities from various creative fields, ranging from artistic genres to philosophy.  Maribor and its partner towns expect to be visited by Charles Simic, Boris Groys, Jan Fabre, Rebecca Horn, Laurie Anderson, Goran Bregović, Tzvetan Todorov, Garry Kasparov, Mario Vargas Llosa and Peter Zumthor. They should present to the public their visions of the future with an essay and with lectures. These important events should attract interest of the domestic and international public.

Renowned auteurs from the region will start shooting an interesting project — a feature omnibus film. This project will also be carried out in cooperation with auteurs from Slovenia's neighbouring countries: Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Italy. The artistic manager of the project is the Slovenian film director and Palme d'Or winner Jan Cvitkovič. He will work with other, internationally renowned film creators, including director Roberto Dordit and producer Igor Prinčič from Italy, director Michael Glawogger from Austria, director Antonio Nuić and producer Boris T. Matić from Croatia and director Georgy Palfi and producer Peter Miskolczi from Hungary.

The three most important fine art exhibitions to be held are 'La belle peinture est derrière nous', showing great works of Picasso, Miró, Cezanne and Degas; 'Following the Taste', an exhibition of drawings with approximately 300 drawings from the London Tate Gallery; and in autumn 2012 also an exhibition of works from the Otto Mauer Collection. This collection includes over 3000 works encompassing a wide spectrum of modern art and Otto Mauer's heritage. This exhibition will be organised in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum in Ljubljana and will show around 50 works from the collection. The focus will be on graphic arts, including works of important Austrian and European artists of the 20th century, such as Otto Dix, Marc Chagall, Oskar Kokoschka, Maria Lassnig, Alfred Kubin, Arnulf Rainer and others.

Among the guest musical performances, the highlight will be the performance by Ivo Pogorelić with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Russian conductor Dimitrij Kitajenko. Within the framework of Festival Maribor, whose artistic director is Richard Tognetti, a violinist and chamber musician, the Mars Festival will be organised. This festival is a special Slovenian-Croatian event, first taking place in a Slovene town and then in a Croatian town. In 2012, the towns will be Maribor and Zagreb.

International dimensions

The innovative programme section called Cultural Embassies will cover the presentation of cultures from various European Union member states, such as Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Latvia and Cyprus, and many other countries, among them Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mexico and India. 

Particular attention will be devoted to the cooperation between the two Capitals of Culture, Maribor and Guimarães, Portugal: the youth exchange programmes 'Feeling the Future of Europe' and 'Letters of the World' are planned to connect school-age youth and encourage a quality cultural dialogue between Portugal and Slovenia through contests, while the purpose of the project 'History of the Future' is to connect secondary school pupils and help them establish a permanent dialogue.

The major sports project of the European Capital of Culture will be 'Maribor Football Culture', which will start with the premiere of the documentary film about the Slovenian football player Zlatko Zahovič, continue with friendly football matches between the team of artists and the team of co-creators of the Capital of Culture projects from Maribor and Guimarães.

Text by Jože Osterman, Sinfo, December 2011 
Photo: Marjo Pigac, Goran Blaganjac