Chemnitz market fountain

The winner of the market fountain competition was announced by the jury on 5 June 2019. It is the work of the London-based German artist Daniel Widrig entitled "Manifold". Building Mayor Michael Stötzer. "We had a huge range of designs. That was very pleasing, but also made the decision difficult." After two days of intensive deliberation and discussion, the jury decided "relatively unanimously" on the three winners. The chairwoman, Else Gabriel, Professor of Fine Art and Sculpture, informed the winner shortly after the decision was made.

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Concept | Idea

At the centre of the marketplace is a swinging, reflective bowl filled with water. In the "quiet centre", contemplation and calm are required to recognise the imperceptible movement of the water in the bowl. In this way, the bowl stands in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the market. Not only the sky, but also Chemnitz itself - its inhabitants and visitors are reflected in this stainless steel bowl. The slightest movement causes the thin layer of water in the bowl to overflow. This shows the beauty of water movement on the one hand and how fragile equilibrium is on the other. Equilibrium is not a static state, but a constant movement.

Anna Kubelik - Vita

Anna Kubelík graduated in architecture from the Architectural Association, School of Architecture, in London in 2004.
Today she works as a freelance artist and collaborates internationally with dancers, composers, directors and scientists as well as educational, research and cultural institutions. Her studies in architecture characterise her work as an artist and often lead her to realise art projects in public spaces. Kubelík's work has been honoured with various awards, including the Blooomaward of the Cologne Art.Fair and the National Endowment for the Arts (USA), as well as a fellowship from the 'Akademie Schloss Solitude', the 'Goethe Institute in Beijing' and the 'Villa Massimo' in Rome.

Concept | Idea

While she flooded a 70 square metre room and placed an architectural sculpture in the middle of it for her diploma in 2012, she has now developed a "fountain house" as a design for the fountain on Chemnitz market square based on her artistic interest in architecture and her own linguistic humour. Here, the water fountains emerge from the indicated window and door openings of a reddish concrete house. The warm colour of the concrete, which is polished to terrazzo on some surfaces, is a reference to the local Rochlitz porphyry, which the artist got to know in the Chemnitz cityscape. The fountain house will also be an eye-catcher at times of year when the water features are not in use.

Christin Kaiser - Vita

She was born in Erfurt in 1984 and lives and works in Berlin. Christin Kaiser studied at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg. In 2019 she received a scholarship from the Stiftung Kunstfonds. In 2017, she was awarded a residency scholarship in Beijing (CN). In 2014, she received the Hamburg Working Scholarship for her expansive, architecturally themed installations, which can include media such as sculpture, photography and video. In addition to solo exhibitions at Kunstverein Leipzig and Kunstverein Hamburg, among others, she has been represented in numerous group exhibitions, for example at Museum TEA (Santa Cruz), Kunsthaus Hamburg, ngbk (Berlin), Künstlerhaus Bremen, as well as in national and international galleries.

Concept I Idea

With the rainbow, Nina Heinzel wants to create a new landmark for Chemnitz. It is important to her to create a new, positive symbol that can be carried into the world in the form of photos. A rainbow symbolises peace, freedom, tolerance, hope, joy, happiness and optimism. The water flows freely down the last 2.30 metres, thus completing the shape of the arch. At regular intervals, the water jet should be interrupted for seven seconds at a time. Long enough to stand at the point of the water jet and take a photo. If you stand still for too long, you will get wet.

Nina Heinzel - Vita

The visual artist was born in Kiel in 1976. Her objects for public spaces deal with the peculiarities of a place or its history. Her exhibitions are a balance of seriousness and humour. Nina Heinzel was awarded the Gottfried Brockmann Prize in 2005 and the Cantonal Prize for Fine Arts in Switzerland in 2017. In between, she has realised numerous exhibitions and independent artistic projects as well as two art-in-architecture projects.

Concept I Idea

The fountain is conceived as a measure of climate change in that the height of the water jet would be controlled by current and historical data on sea level rise, as well as projections up to 100 years into the future. The fountain basin reflects both the melting of the polar ice cap and the holes formed by mining, in which the circles become smaller and smaller until they disappear under water. The design combines the local marketplace with a global context. The fountain is intended to be a meeting point and a place for dialogue about our way of life. Above all, it is intended to emphasise the question of whether we can maintain our way of life in the face of climate change.

Dagmara Genda - Vita

Dagmara Genda (born 1981 in Koszalin, Poland) works as an artist and art critic in Berlin. She holds a Master's degree in Fine Arts from Western University in Canada and a Master's degree in Cultural Studies from London Consortium, University of London. In an anonymous international competition, she was selected alongside eight other artists to create art-in-architecture designs for the 2020 Toronto Metro expansion. Her work has been shown at the following venues, among others: Arp Museum in Remagen, Esker Foundation in Calgary and Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff.

Concept I Idea

Matthias Lehmann's design for the Chemnitz market fountain works playfully with the 23 letters of the slogan: "CHEMNITZ - CITY OF MODERNITY" by scattering them randomly to invite people to sit down and engage in dialogue. In the centre is the colloquial Saxon word "DATSCH" (from: "naidatschn"), which ends in a fountain basin in the form of a puddle of water and invites the citizens of the city to do the same on hot summer days.

Matthias Lehmann - Vita

Matthias Lehmann, who grew up in Chemnitz, has lived and worked as an artist in Meissen since completing his studies at the HfBK Dresden.
As a sculptor, he has realised numerous art projects in public spaces.

Concept I Idea

Despite their abstract form, the four circular elements of his fountain design are figurative in their symmetry. Is it a group of people or machine parts? The forms are in dialogue with each other and with the inhabitants of the city. Visitors find themselves, other people and the architecture of the square reflected in the surface of the water. The fountain is therefore more than just a water dispenser or a sculpture. As an installation, it challenges our perception of the urban space, our surroundings and ourselves. It is a design that links to socio-political issues as a symbol of diversity, openness, dialogue and tolerance in Chemnitz.

Daniel Widrig - Vita

He is an artist and architect. After studying architecture in London, he worked with Zaha Hadid for several years and played a key role in the design of some of her best-known projects. After a one-year scholarship at the German Academy in Rome Villa Massimo, he founded the Daniel Widrig Studio, a London-based, internationally active design studio. He works in an interdisciplinary way at the interface between architecture, art, design and technology. His work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum London and the Pushkin Museum Moscow, among others. In addition to his studio
Daniel Widrig is also a lecturer at the Material Architecture Laboratory, a design research laboratory at the renowned University College London.

Concept I Idea

A cloud sculpture, which sits on a cantilever and sprays a fine mist, is an element of the ensemble that is visible from afar. The mist makes the area around the cloud pleasantly cool in summer. On dark winter days, the cloud is both a sculpture and an island of light. Two drinking water points fulfil direct purposes, the round basin can be used for contemplation or play and the large bench invites you to linger. The ensemble centres the square and is a new meeting and resting point. We are familiar with the cloud as an everyday natural phenomenon. As a symbol, it stands for the hereafter, wanderlust, freedom - a universal metaphor of longing.

Thorsten Goldberg - Vita

The visual artist lives in Berlin and realises projects in public spaces worldwide. He has taught at the art academies in Münster, Munich, Linz and Kiel. As a member of various committees, he is involved in the selection and organisation of public art competitions and their documentation.

Bruno Röver - Vita

He is a freelance architect and university lecturer and lives in the Nordwestuckermark. Röver works in various co-operations with colleagues and artists. He has taught at the AdBK Nuremberg, RWTH Aachen, Northeastern University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University and Loyola Marymount University, among others.

Concept I Idea

Water, wind and light are the elements that make the Silberbrunnen a year-round centre of attraction. The design is reminiscent of the history of silver mining in the Ore Mountains. It resembles a vessel surrounded by water, above which elements moved by the wind sway lightly, slowly and silently. Overflowing water pours out as a light-flooded curtain of water and, especially in the dark, looks like a swirling stream of seemingly liquid silver. Benches and a drinking fountain are placed around the scene. An ideal place to meet and, in summer, fun for children.

Rolf Lieberknecht - Vita

Studied at the TU Berlin (architecture) and at the Royal College of Art, London (fine art); scholarships and fellowships in London, New York, California and Massachusetts. Regular exhibitions since 1971. Various prizes and awards. The aesthetics of movement is the theme of his kinetic sculptures. 1989 - 2012 University professor for sculpture and three-dimensional design at the University of Duisburg-Essen and at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen. Since 1993 restoration of a listed property in Chemnitz-Einsiedel. Married Claudia Feest in 2000. Lieberknecht lives in Einsiedel and Berlin.

Concept I Idea

The design creates a link to historical buildings on the market square and recalls the industrial history of Chemnitz. The curved steel tube links the city's past and future. The shape of the fountain invites people to pause for a moment. People can meet here, refresh themselves and enjoy the views framed by the steel pipe. The fountain branches out in two directions, making its shape
shape is reminiscent of open arms.

Mojca Kocbek Vimos - Vita

The Slovenian architect and set designer has been focussing on architecture for three years. For Vimos, the individual user experience always comes first. Users should be able to develop freely in the newly constructed or renovated buildings. Vismos has already been recognised with numerous awards for its work.
At the "Month of Design" festival in 2014, she took first place with her spatial installation "Write to me". In 2016 she received
together with architect P. Boršic for a water sculpture for the city of Ljubljana. In 2017, together with the architectural firm "dekleva gregoric arhitekti", she developed a proposal for the renovation of the Slovenian National Theatre in Ljubljana and reached the round of the best four. In 2019, she founded her architecture firm "M.Kocbek Arhitekti".