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.
Fairground
Opera - Based on a novel by Werner Bräunig
At night on the fairground, longings are awakened. Wismut-Malocher escapes the dreariness and backbreaking labour at the funfair. The swing is at its highest point and the world is upside down: where should you go with yourself in post-war East Germany? War and fascism have left their mark on the people, material hardship determines their everyday lives, and an authoritarian regime wants to take control of them. But they still have dreams. Werner Bräunig's protagonists seek a place in the world, take on responsibility, develop and yet cannot escape themselves. Due to his unvarnished realism, author Werner Bräunig was targeted by the SED regime. He broke down as a result, but his big question remains: How do people become shapers of society?
Commissioned by Chemnitz Opera, Ludger Vollmer (composition) and Jenny Erpenbeck (libretto) have adapted the novel Rummelplatz for the opera stage for the first time. The world premiere will be accompanied by a participatory writing workshop, a conference that spans the arc from contemporary history to the Capital of Culture year 2025, and the Gedankenkarussell discussion series following the Rummelplatz performances.
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Indoor art
Extended until 12 October!
On display are works by several dozen artists from Europe and the USA who began their careers as graffiti or street art artists but have since turned to other techniques. Their works of painting, photography, illustration, design, music and fashion fill a hall of over 5,000 square metres. Murals are also created on various surfaces in public spaces. Talks with artists and performances will accompany the exhibition.
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Sporty in September
Whether it's figure skating, heavy athletics, athletics or football - Chemnitz is a city of sport and has produced one or two Olympians. If you want to try out different sports or just want to watch, you will get your money's worth, especially in September. We have put together some sporting events that are part of the Capital of Culture programme.
Whether it's figure skating, heavy athletics, athletics or football - Chemnitz is a city of sport and has produced one or two Olympians. If you want to try out different sports or just want to watch, you will get your money's worth, especially in September.
We have put together some sporting events that are part of the Capital of Culture programme: Sports United, European Peace Ride, #Be Active ...
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Chemnitz Art Collections
Edvard Munch. Fear
Until 2 November, the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz are presenting a special exhibition of works by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) that focus on the feeling of fear. Based on the themes that
Munch's art and the stages of his life, the exhibition focuses on fear, loneliness, illness, self-reflection, the ongoing confrontation with his childhood and Munch's stay in Chemnitz.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House
opens on 6 April, The former childhood 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.
PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail
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.
Works by more than 60 artists can be found on industrial wasteland, at railway stations, on riverbanks or in the still waters of a millrace. They correspond with farm and textile museums, connect with castles and old churches, their organs and their art. Sometimes they also play in illustrious nooks and crannies of UNESCO-protected old towns.
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Also in Chemnitz
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".
But these "Manchester" cities can be found all over Europe and show that Chemnitz is not alone in its challenges. How is the industrial heritage being dealt with there? What strategies do the cities have for their future and what can we learn from each other?
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Also in Chemnitz
ZADA pilot project
Since 2 September: ZADA - The German Centre for a Society without Anti-Semitism, Discrimination and Exclusion' is creating a new experience-oriented approach to personal confrontation with prejudice, conspiracy narratives, populism, fake news and anti-Semitism with the ZADA pilot project in Chemnitz in the Capital of Culture year 2025. The audiovisual exhibition tour "Challenge Your Perception" focuses on self-reflection of one's own thought and action patterns and how these can be controlled.
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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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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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#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: