"A revolution would not be bad"

When we visited the group a short while ago in their premises in Bâtiment IV in Esch/Alzette, the funeral party of Esch 2022, with the motto "Endlech riwwer!" (Finally over!), with which the artists' collective satirically laid the Capital of Culture to rest a few days ago, was still to come. The official closing ceremony of Esch 2022 had already taken place the week before.

The collective, which in addition to its actions also makes films, performs plays, shoots videos and now and then even publishes a newspaper, has repeatedly voiced criticism towards the Capital of Culture and Esch's cultural policy over the past months, so that at first glance one might have assumed that the name Richtung 22 (Direction 22) had something to do with Esch 2022. But it doesn't, as Ada, our interview partner, explains to us. In 2010, when Richtung 22 was founded by young film and theatre enthusiasts, nobody knew that one day something like Esch 2022 would come to life.

Uncertain future

"The number 22 is an allusion to the new century. It is to make clear that the group is future-oriented, towards the 22nd century", says Ada, who speaks to us on behalf of the collective, although Ada is probably not even her real name, as most members of the collective act in public with pseudonyms.