More than 100 projects and around 1000 events are planned for the Capital of Culture year 2025. The projects for Chemnitz 2025 are now being published in an initial preview. The full program for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 will be presented on 25 October 2024 with a press conference and a public event.
Museums and exhibitions
In October 2024, the Staatliche Museum für Archäologie Chemnitz (Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz) will open an exhibition on the past and present of mining. It shaped the economy and culture of the Ore Mountains on the border of Saxony and the Czech Republic for centuries, created wealth and acted as a laboratory for technical, social and economic innovation.
In its major exhibition “Tales of Transformation”, the Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Chemnitz Industrial Museum) compares the development of former industrial hotspots: Mulhouse, Tampere, Gabrovo, Łódź, Manchester and Chemnitz. As the “Saxon Manchester”, Chemnitz gave the starting signal for industrialization in Saxony, experienced rapid growth and finally deindustrialization – a profound challenge, but also an opportunity for reinvention. From April 2025, the exhibition will highlight, among other things, the impetus for the future coming from these cities and what they can learn from each other.
The exhibition project “European Realities” at the Gunzenhauser Museum also includes positions from various European countries, particularly from northern, eastern and south-eastern Europe. The diverse realist movements that were visible almost everywhere in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s are shown on a hitherto unique scale. The exhibition tells of hunger and misery, of the modernization of industry, reports on the economic upswing and cultural prosperity, of technological progress, the big city and nightlife, emancipation and diversity. (April-August 2025)
The Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz are dedicating one of their exhibitions for the Chemnitz 2025 program to the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. He is one of the most important pioneers of modern painting in Europe. His connection to Chemnitz is the family of textile industrialist Herbert Eugen Esche, whom he painted in 1905. Fear is always present in Munch’s paintings and determines his pictorial worlds. The exhibition planned for August to November shows this existential theme in the artist’s work and combines it with contemporary positions. With a direct link to the exhibition, a Pavilion of Fear will be created in the urban space, inviting visitors to discuss fear as an existential, global and personal theme.
Theatre
For the Chemnitz 2025 program, Theater Chemnitz is planning an extensive, multi-stage project based on Werner Bräunig’s novel “Rummelplatz”, the finale of which will be the world premiere of an opera in autumn 2025. From April 2024, writing workshops and a conference will be held in cooperation with the Chemnitz City Library and other partners in the Czech Republic and Germany.
Main projects and the PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail
Around twenty projects for the Chemnitz 2025 program are being developed by the project company itself, including five flagships. The art and sculpture trail Purple Path is one of them and, with over 30 international contemporary artistic positions in public spaces, is the most extensive program contribution for the Capital of Culture region. Seven works of art have already been installed and 20 more will be added in 2024. The official opening of this unique exhibition project is planned for April 2025.
Intervention sites
The city of Chemnitz is currently investing over 60 million euros in urban infrastructure as part of Chemnitz 2025. 30 so-called intervention sites are being created, most of which are already under construction. These range from the redesign of public spaces to the renovation of buildings, such as the former production hall of Chemnitz locomotive manufacturer Richard Hartmann (Hartmannfabrik). The opening of the Hartmannfabrik as Chemnitz 2025 headquarters and visitor center will be celebrated with an open day on 3 May 2024.
Festivals
50,000 visitors attended Kosmos Chemnitz 2022 in just one day. The three-day edition planned as Kosmos Europa in the Capital of Culture year (13.06.-15.06.) will have a much greater appeal and is already one of the most important events in the city’s cultural calendar. With countless stages, concerts, performances, exhibitions and discussions, Kosmos is much more than just a festival. Organized as a large community project, Kosmos invites people to engage in a democratic exchange on socially relevant and cultural topics. With their participation, tens of thousands of people send a clearly visible signal for tolerance and an open-minded society.
From May 30 to June 1, 2025, the HUTFESTIVAL – the successful Chemnitz festival of street art – will transform the city center into a large open-air stage for over 200 contributions from international artists and musicians for three days. What makes the HUTFESTVAL so special is the diversity of the art and the tangible proximity between the audience and artists. A grand, artistically staged opening is therefore planned for 2025 under the motto “Chapeau Chemnitz” together with the visitors.
Participation is the name of the game for Chemnitz 2025, especially for “Makers United”, the European festival for creativity, technology and innovation, which will take place from June 19 to 22, 2025. The local makers, their inventive spirit, their innovative strength and their desire to experiment are the focus of many projects for Chemnitz 2025 and here in particular. At the “Makers United” hands-on exhibition, they will come together with creatives from other European countries and invite you to discover them.
Sport
The bid book for the title of European Capital of Culture was brought to Berlin in 2020 by a group of cycling enthusiasts and presented to the jury there. A major project has since emerged from this: the European Peace Ride. In September 2025, the fifth edition of this special peace ride will take place, which does not see itself as a cycling race, but as a cultural and sporting community project and, with around 200 participants, will develop European appeal across national borders.
Photos: 1-2: Ernesto Uhlmann; Foto 3: Kristin Schmidt; featured image: Ernesto Uhlmann
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