Chemnitz School of Garage
Intergenerational concepts for sustainable social change
Sustainability, the sharing economy and the repair society have always been practised in garages - but nobody called it that back in the GDR era. Today, these approaches are the answer to resource scarcity and social polarisation. At the Chemnitz Garage School, inventors, garage experts, artists, designers, architects and scientists met with European and local communities to translate the co-creative potential of garages into the present. In workshops, lectures and a summer course, the focus was not only on knowledge transfer, but also on the social aspects of the garage complexes, collective decision-making processes and fair participation in the city.
Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin and EU Japan Fest.
When: 24 to 31 August 2025
Where? Chemnitz, various locations
Garage studios
Garage 1: Organisation Garage with Constructlab (Alex Römer, Sophie Netzer) & #3000Garagen
Garage 2: HackLab with Dominika Sobolewska, Karin Pisarikova & Chaostreff Chemnitz
Technology studio for coding and prototyping as well as makerspace for material experiments and upcycling design. Cooperation with Chaostreff Chemnitz.
garage 3: REIFENLAGER with Guerilla Architects (Anja Fritz, Silvia Gioberti) & Bagalut Customs Chemnitz
Garage design with reused materials such as car parts, tyres and scrap metal. In collaboration with Bagalut Customs, a local car tuner community.
garage 4: Paradise Garage with Luise Rellensmann, Jens Casper (authors of The Garage Manifesto)
Combination of architectural theory and wild growth in the garage courtyard. The result is a small paradise and a manifesto of life in the Chemnitz garages.
garage 5: Garage of Solidarity with Kiosk of Solidarity (Moritz Ahlert, Jan Stricker) & Bordsteinlobby e.V.
Together with local initiatives and the garage neighbourhood, a joint vision was developed for the Vettersstraße intervention area.
garage 6: C my Garage, a mobile sign painting shop with Collective Works (Peter Zuiderwijk)
Mobile sign workshop to honour the garage spaces. Together with interested parties, pictograms, posters and banners were created for garage doors and interiors.
garage 7: Fractures: Urban Repair between Metaphor and Practice with Urban League Alumni: Artur Meier, Simon Ulrich, Christian Hörner
Creative exploration of urban decay and urban repair as a caring practice. Small and playful interventions in garages.
garage 8: THE CARS WE LIKE with Futurama Lab (Rainer Prohaska, Kilian Jörg)
Human-powered vehicles were created from found materials. Conventional urban mobility was scrutinised through the mobile sculptures created.
garage 9: PhotoSculpting the City with Chris Costa
Overlooked places were photographed and discussed. Images became sculptural objects that returned to the urban space and opened up new, participatory approaches.
