Kaunas officially started its year as European Capital of Culture 2022 with a 5-day celebration. The slogan “From temporary to contemporary” is an invitation to join Kaunas in creating change and the Contemporary myth of Kaunas Trilogy compares the city with a body and is based on the Beast metaphor, which connects all of the city’s different stories. As we can read in the first pages of the official programme guide “That Beast is a bit noble, a bit of a ruler of the underworld, part child, part jester, part warrior, part guardian, part airplane, ship, even automobile. It, like the city, is created from living and inanimate parts. It moves, changes, breathes, and never stops, because it is eternal!”.

One month before the official launch of Esch2022, in the former Ariston cinema in Esch-Alzette, the Esch2022 team presented the REMIX Opening project, the official opening event of the European Capital of Culture. Residents and visitors will be invited to the centre of Esch and Esch-Belval to be part of an extraordinary participatory event which will inspire visitors with its immersive multimedia elements. The participants’ creative energy will be at the heart of this first chapter of a region in transition.

By celebrating the great names of Serbian science, through art and culture, Novi Sad became the European Capital of Culture. More than 400 artists from Serbia and Europe, through Doček – a singular artistic celebration in Europe, reached zenith together with the audience, showing just how the heritage of those that influenced not just Europe but the whole world – Mileva Marić Einstein, Milutin Milanković, Dragiša Brašovan and Ljubomir Micić, should be kept and promoted. 

As is now known, in 2022 there will be three European capitals of culture, Novi Sad, kaunas and Esch. The first city to inaugurate the program will be Novi Sad, on January 13 at 20.22. Kaunas will follow on January 22 and then Esch on February 22 with a ceremony that will culminate on February 26. After Novi Sad today focus on the Opening Ceremony of Kaunas. On 22 January 2022, Kaunas will officially become the European Capital of Culture. The year’s programme, rich in events, happenings and experiences, will kick off with “Confusion”, a unique show of music, light, video and dance.

As part of the REMIX Festival and the REMIX Opening of Esch2022, the initiative Esch2022Moves was launched. Children, young people, senior citizens, amateurs, professionals, people with disabilities, everyone is invited to come and share their best dance moves on social media by January 20, 2022. Esch2022 will highlight the wealth and variety of movements in the widest sense of the word, whether as part of physical theatre, circus or freestyle, it is up to the participants to show us their creativity.