On the occasion of the formal opening of OÖ Kulturquartier in Linz – a gallery coming into being by a merge of the renowned OK Offenes Kulturhaus, an important cultural centre and gallery of contemporary art, and an adjacent Landeskulturzentrum Ursulinenhof – the state of Upper Austria asked the Audabiac civic association to collaborate with it in organising the large-scale Labyrinth of Senses exhibition in Linz from 14 June to 20 September 2012 (under the name Sinnesrausch in Austria). This will be the most extensive exhibition project to date from the ORBIS PICTUS or... cycle. Within the scope of this venture, we will also present our six exhibitions, which are permanently touring at home and abroad (the Gate to the World of Creative Human Imagination, Leporelohra (“Mosaic Game”), the Labyrinth of Light, Golem, PLAY, and Sensorium).
Labyrinth of Senses is being held under the auspices of the regional governor of Upper Austria Josef Pühringer, the Czech deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs Karel Schwarzenberg, the mayor of Prague Bohuslav Svoboda, the governor of the region of South Bohemia Jiří Zimola, the mayor of the statury city of České Budějovice Juraj Thoma and the president of the Czech Christian Academy Tomáš Halík.
In keeping with Comenius’ aspirations, we are striving to help bring nations closer together through art. In connection with this and under the conceptual direction of Petr Nikl, within the framework of our exhibitions we have been showcasing contemporary Czech and foreign artists for a number of years. If the number of visitors who have come to these exhibitions as well as the media response to them are anything to go by, we have been truly successful in this endeavour. In 2009, under the auspices of the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Ján Figeľ, exhibitions from the ORBIS PICTUS or... cycle became part of the European Year of Creativity and Imagination. They were also part of the accompanying events for the Czech presidency of the EU Council, thereby contributing to the positive presentation of the Czech Republic abroad. At the same time, the exhibitions have garnered unprecedented acclaim from media outlets such as CNN and the New York Times, which published extensive reports about these shows.
From this perspective, we consider the Labyrinth of Senses exhibition to be extraordinarily important, because relations with our southern neighbours are not always what we would like them to be or quite how they should be between members of the European Union. Consequently, we would like to use this exceptional cultural event to deepen our knowledge and understanding of each other and to improve our neighbourly relations. As usual, the exhibition will be accompanied by a range of cultural events, lectures, and discussion programmes. In the coming years, the Labyrinth of Senses exhibition should visit Slovakia, Germany, Poland, and Hungary with the same objective in mind.