From the programme
A selection of current highlights from the Chemnitz 2025 calendar
More than 1000 events are listed in the programme book, in the city and in the cultural region with a further 38 municipalities. We provide an overview of current programmes, exhibitions and events. Given the wealth of the programme, this can only be a selection. The complete overview can be found at chemnitz2025.de/veranstaltungen.
Tales of Transformation
Until 16 November at the Museum of Industry: Experience the exciting development of Chemnitz from industrialisation to the current transformation processes. The city gave the starting signal for industrialisation in Saxony and developed into the "Saxon Manchester". However, these "Manchester" cities can be found all over Europe and show that Chemnitz is not alone in its challenges: the French city of Mulhouse, Tampere in Finland, Gabrovo in Bulgaria, Łódź in Poland and, of course, the eponymous Manchester in northern England. How do they deal with their industrial heritage? What strategies do the cities have for their future and what can we learn from each other?
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Art festival tours
Until 17 August at Heizkraftwerk Nord: Under the title EVERYTHING IS INTERACTION, the art festival Begehungen aims to make the complexity of the issues of resource consumption, species loss and the climate crisis visible. The festival is intended to be an inspiring place for new, forward-looking discourse - a space for encounters, dialogue and creative impulses. It is part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025.
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Chemnitz Art Collections
European Realities
For the first time, the exhibition is dedicated to the diverse realist movements that were visible almost everywhere in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. It tells of poverty and misery, reports on the economic boom and cultural prosperity, scientific and technical progress, the big city and nightlife, emancipation and diversity. Never before has this artistic epoch been presented on such a scale.
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Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House
opens on 6 April, The former family home of the artist Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, one of the most important German artists of the 20th century as co-founder of the expressionist group "Die Brücke", has been restored and reconstructed over the past few years in line with its listed status. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays from 11 am to 6 pm.
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In the region
Sun seeker! Art and mining at Wismut
EXTENDED until 26 October at the Historische Baumwollspinnerei 1896 Zwickau: During the Cold War, SDAG Wismut in the GDR mined weapons-grade uranium for the Soviet Union. At the same time, it was a legendary "state within a state" and collected fine art on a grand scale. For the first time in Zwickau, at an authentic site of Wismut's history, the exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of the largest art collection of a GDR company, comprising more than 4,200 works. A pictorial expedition into the recent past, which also leads to the challenges of the transformation following German reunification.
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"No Secret": Exclusive insights into shaft 371
Wismut GmbH and the Wismut Stiftung gGmbH invite you to take a look behind the scenes of one of the most important sites of uranium ore mining in Germany. The "No Secret" exhibition opens in Chemnitz 2025, the year of the European Capital of Culture. For the first time, it offers the opportunity to gain an insight into the history of uranium ore mining and its lasting effects at an authentic site, which will be temporarily opened especially for this purpose.
Wismut GmbH and the Wismut Stiftung gGmbH invite you to take a look behind the scenes of one of the most important sites of uranium ore mining in Germany. The "No Secret" exhibition opens in Chemnitz 2025, the year of the European Capital of Culture. For the first time, it offers the opportunity to gain an insight into the history of uranium ore mining and its lasting effects at an authentic location, which will be temporarily opened especially for this purpose. The presentation will take place in the engine house of shaft 371 near Aue-Bad Schlema, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří. A temporary exhibition between generators, hoisting machine and depth indicator.
The PURPLE PATH is open
The PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail was officially opened from 11 to 13 April. The weekend offered a varied programme of art, culture and shared experiences throughout the region.
The PURPLE PATH connects the citizens of Chemnitz with each other and with those of 38 towns and municipalities in the region. Between Mittweida and Schwarzenberg, Glauchau and Seiffen, Freiberg and Schneeberg, a sustainably conceived and designed sculpture museum is being created in public spaces.
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#3000 Garages
#3000 Garages
Interior landscapes - A video installation about garage interiors
The #3000Garages project presents the approximately 30,000 garages in Chemnitz, most of which were built collectively and by the people themselves during the GDR era, as living archives, creative spaces and meeting places.
In artistic projects, the individual stories of the garage users are conveyed and creatively transformed against the backdrop of Chemnitz's city history, while festivals, workshops and art events activate the garage courtyards as socio-cultural community centres.
The following projects are currently on show:
Also in Chemnitz
Open process. Documentation centre
Since 28 May. The 1990s are known in East Germany as the "baseball bat years". The violence was the breeding ground for right-wing terrorist violence. The second and third generations of people whose parents came to Germany after the Second World War to rebuild the country were born in Germany. Based on the NSU complex, the exhibition shows these migration stories and the everyday racism that people are still exposed to today. But also their resistance to it.
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Collateral Sculptures
until 19 Dec. 2025, outdoor area of the Hartmannfabrik, a project by Chemnitz investor Udo Pfeifer and his family. The owner and the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz developed a temporary exhibition project for the Hartmannfabrik in the outdoor area. Selected artists of international renown were invited to place sculptures and works of art on the grounds and in the gardens of the Hartmannfabrik.
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Exhibition - Made in Saxony
Until 4 September, the "Werkschau - Made in Saxony" is presenting the most exciting projects and works from Saxony's cultural and creative industries. The exhibition shows how well thought-out design, smart solutions and unconventional ideas create added value.
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