Pumpkin cultural initiative
The Kulturinitiative Kürbis is an Austrian cultural association that sees itself as a platform for active cultural work and is based in Wies in south-western Styria.
Cultural initiative
Since the 1970s, cultural workers from the fields of theater , literature , visual arts, photography and music have been working on a year-round cultural program at the “Kürbis” . The broad artistic range is also supplemented by the publisher edition kürbis and the record label pumpkinrecords .
In terms of content, the program of the cultural initiative represents a crossover between the connection to regional tradition and the openness to the experimental and the new. The KI Kürbis received the Austrian Art Prize for Cultural Initiatives 2015 for its continuous cultural work over decades .
Theater in the pumpkin
The history of the cultural initiative began in 1971 with the cultural work in the circle of the rural youth Wies and above all with the joy of young people in theater.
In 1976 it was decided to raise the theater to a semi-professional level and the association "Kalendarium" was founded. This created an association that not only brought productions like the “Burgstaller Bauerkalender” and cabaret to the stage, but also performances by classical and contemporary authors. In 1979 the group was awarded the honorary prize for the most interesting rural performance at the International Youth Theater Days in Bad Radkersburg and in 1982 the prize for the best ensemble performance at the International Youth Theater Days in St. Lambrecht.
In 2002 the KI Kürbis Wies received the Folk Culture Prize of the State of Styria, especially for its services to the modern folk piece.
In 1987, the attic of the local armory was converted into its own theater, the Theater im Kürbis, and from 1993 the cultural initiative was also able to use the Burgstall castle barn leased from the market town of Wies, where summer theater productions have been staged annually since then.
From 1987 the conversion of the cultural initiative from a pure theater association to a multi-discipline enterprise dedicated to as many different genres and art forms as possible began. Since then, readings, concerts, exhibitions and cultural and political panel discussions have been held in the Theater im Kürbis and at various other venues in Wies and the region.
A total of at least three to five own theater productions take place each year. The program includes classics by William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe or Bertolt Brecht and contemporary authors such as Felix Mitterer, Dario Fo and Daniel Glattauer, as well as experimental attempts and world premieres by young authors; among other things, a short play competition was announced in 2001.
Furthermore, international theater festivals have been organized since 1988, and since 1992 (since 2005 in cooperation with Theaterland Steiermark) the international puppet theater festival "Summer Dream Harbor", which groups from all over Europe come to the region, has been taking place every spring.
The workshop work of the AI pumpkin is an important pillar. Founded in 1972 from the “Playground” series, the theater workshop for young people was initiated in 1995. Since 2013, workshops have been offered specifically in the theater sector (with subsequent productions), but also in the fields of writing, painting and photography for children and young people.
Atelier in the swimming pool
From the 2000s onwards, the pumpkin culture initiative devoted itself increasingly to the fine arts.
In the foyer of the Theater im Kürbis, artists show their work for a year. For a while, exhibitions also took place in the premises of the town hall in Wies.
Since 2010 artists have also been invited to create works within the framework of "Art in Public Space", including artistic interventions by Erwin Posarnig, Wolfgang Temmel , Bernhard Wolf , Viktor Kröll, Andrea Schlemmer and others in the Wies area .
In 2012, the atelier in the swimming pool was opened, which is designed both as a workplace for artists and as a meeting place with contemporary art. There, the KI invites pumpkin artists as artists in residence twice a year .
In addition, the "Wieser Art Day" takes place every autumn, at which various art forms are shown at various locations in Wies.
edition pumpkin
From 1989 the Austrian writer Wolfgang Pollanz , who u. a. is also one of the program designers of the cultural association, as editor of a small publishing house within the cultural initiative.
One of the first publications made the new small publishing house known beyond the relevant circles, namely the prose volume "Among the most beautiful women in the world" by the Stainz- based poet Reinhard P. Gruber .
Further books by Andrea Wolfmayr , Mike Markart , Alfred P.Schmid, Anna Nöst, Werner Schandor and Martin Wanko followed, including Barbara Frischmuth 's children's book "The story of the Stainzer pumpkin seed" and the volume of poetry "The emptiness between stars" by Lilian Faschinger Blind New York author Stephen Kuusisto in a German-English special edition, each in black and Braille, a module of the project "sinnlos" within the framework of Graz 2003 by the artist Wolfgang Temmel, who also lives in Wies .
In addition, the "edition kürbis" has also specialized in the publication of anthologies , so far books on topics such as pop music ("Lauter Lärm", 1994), traveling by train ("Höchste Eisenbahn", 1992), Essen ("Menschen.Fresser", 1996), drinking ("Seventeenth", 1994), science fiction ("2001", 2001), Christmas (Festes Froh ", 1996), traveling (On & Away, 2010) or sex (" SEX ", 1998, or SEX , Volume 2, 2005), the range of authors ranges from the Bachmann Prize winners Franzobel and Peter Glaser to the Viennese author Daniel Wisser , from Andrea Sailer to Monika Wogrolly .
In 2006 the autobiography "Alpenkönig und Menschenfreund" by Austrian pop star Austrofred was published .
From 2015 the series "Pop! Goes the Pumpkin" will appear in the edition kürbis with literary texts on the subject of "Pop Music".
pumpkinrecords
pumpkinrecords is an Austrian indie label that is also operated by the pumpkin culture initiative.
It was founded by the Austrian author Wolfgang Pollanz , whose declared goal is to bring music out of the pop mainstream. The spectrum ranges from post-rock to singer-songwriter acts and electro-pop.