Chemnitz and the region are jointly applying for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025. To mark this occasion, the Lord Mayors and Mayors of the cities of Annaberg-Buchholz, Aue-Bad Schlema, Augustusburg, Freiberg, Limbach-Oberfrohna, Oelsnitz, Schneeberg and Mittweida invited a total of twelve international artists to make short visits to the region to introduce it to the public.

In 2025, a sustainable sculpture trail linking many cities in the region is planned, with works by artists such as Tony Cragg, Leiko Ikemura, Alicia Kwade, James Turell, Monika Sosnowska and Leonora Salihu. Silver, tin, iron, kaolin and cobalt, coal and uranium become art, the miners’ metaphors of light become their material.

An eventful history of innovative entrepreneurship and the labour movement since the 13th century, of permanent renewal and crisis right up to the upheavals of the 20th century become the backdrop for numerous exhibitions at different (also historical) locations.

But before that, it is important to exchange ideas with the local people, to explore the region and its history, and to identify the starting points for artistic debate. So this time the sculptors Uli Aigner from Austria, Christina Doll and Karolin Schwab, who works in London, went on a journey. Photography was represented by the Russian Anastasia Khoroshilova, the Israeli and representative of the ‘third generation’ Benyamin Reich and Andreas Mühe, born in Karl-Marx-Stadt. The artistic media video and “concept” were occupied by Donata Wenders, Konrad Mühe and the Turkish artist Gokcen Dilek Acay.

Photos: Ernesto Uhlmann