The Stadtwerkstatt is an open event and project house in Linz. Founded in 1979 by young activists, it is the city's oldest autonomous cultural center. In addition to several music events each week, other cultural and artistic events are also held regularly. Three different associations operate in the Stadtwerkstatt building: the Friedhofstr 6 association (vulgo Stadtwerkstatt) with its Cafe Strom, art projects and events departments, as well as the non-commercial radio station Radio FRO and the net art and culture initiative servus.at.
History
The Stadtwerkstatt was founded in 1979 as an association in Linz with the "aim of critically examining the conditions of life in the city and promoting cultural initiatives on a popular level."
In 1980, the association moved into a vacant factory building in the Urfahr district of Linz, near the Danube. The building was used for residential purposes as well as for exhibitions and events. Shortly before demolition was threatened in 1983, the association launched the "Sgraffito Alchemia" campaign, in which the entire building facade was designed. Nevertheless, the building was demolished in 1990 in favor of a dormitory, and the association moved to the much smaller building at Kirchengasse 4, which is owned by the municipality of Linz.
From March 2001, the building was fundamentally redesigned and renovated. The offices located in the building, as well as Radio FRO, moved temporarily until the reopening in May 2002. In 2006, the Stadtwerkstatt's events drew about 19,000 visitors.
On a quarterly basis, the Stadtwerkstatt publishes the newspaper Versorgerin, to which one can subscribe free of charge. In 2015, another cooperation with the newspaper die Referentin was started.
In 2010, an annual artists-in-residence program started on a houseboat in Linz's Winter Harbor.
In 2012, the currency Gibling was initiated under the label punkaustria.at. This depreciating currency loses value every year. Every year an artist is invited to design this currency. The artists were Oona Valerie, Leo Schatzl, Deborah Sengl, Michael Aschauer, Judith Fegerl, Julius Deutschbauer, Eva Grün, Peter Weibel, OrtnerSchinko, Shu Lea Cheang and Franz Xaver.
Since 2015, STWST48, an annual 48-hour showcase extravaganza, takes place in September. This international event presents the artistic productions of the Stadtwerkstatt in a concentrated form and also artists working on the respective theme. STWST48 is co-curated by the artist Shu Lea Cheang, among others, and its cooperation partner is Ars Electronica.
Building
The Stadtwerkstatt was founded in a building at Friedhofstraße 6 and since 1990 has been located in the neighboring building at Kirchengasse 4, almost directly on the Danube, the Nibelungen Bridge and next to the Ars Electronica Center. The Stadtwerkstatt building houses the café and pub "Café Strom" on the ground floor, a large hall on the 1st floor as well as the studio of Radio FRO and an adjoining room often used as a bar or DJ room during events.
Initiatives
In accordance with its goal as an association, the Stadtwerkstatt promoted "cultural initiatives" such as the "Independent Filmmakers Linz (ULF)" and participated in exhibitions and the production of plays. But the members and artists of the Stadtwerkstatt also regularly undertook - often unusual - actions themselves, such as an "escalator concert" in the shopping arcade of the Lentia 2000 building complex in 1983 or the "machine room concert" in the Linz "Galerie Hofstöckl" in 1982.
Poster exhibitions such as "4 years of optical megaphone" in 1984, as well as the design of the facade of the old Stadtwerkstatt building in 1983, or the facade painting "Glowing vehicle" in 1986, were also part of the artistic activities of the Stadtwerkstatt.
In 1995 the book for the exhibition of the same name "Stadtwerkstatt in Arbeit 1979-1995" was presented in the Landesgalerie. The artistic examination took place and takes place in all genres above all however in the social plastic and in the range of the new media. This led to the development of the art and culture server servus.at in 1996 and the non-commercial community radio station Radio FRO in 1998. Both initiatives are independent associations and work in the house of the Stadtwerkstatt.
STWST-TV
Video productions found their way into various film events and since the founding of "STWST-TV", which was rarely actually seen on television, the Stadtwerkstatt has been able to make its own broadcasting concepts accessible to larger groups of viewers on several occasions.