Chemnitz jack of all trades

Kai Winkler

Kai Winkler is a household name in the city's independent cultural scene. The Alternative Youth Centre (AJZ) has been his home for more than 28 years, as he says himself. The 42-year-old is now also back on the board. He and his fellow campaigners also supported clubs in Chemnitz that had fallen on hard times due to the coronavirus pandemic with the cultural alliance "Hand in Hand". And for around a year and a half, Winkler has been involved in the European Capital of Culture 2025 project - all on a voluntary basis alongside his day-to-day work in the tyre industry. Because that's not enough, he has also been trying his hand at running a bar since last year.

You have a busy schedule. Have you been able to look back on the past year and what was your most memorable event in 2021?
Kai Winkler: That was definitely the European Peace Ride. For me, that was the most emotional thing that I did or helped to organise myself.

It was one of the highlights during the application phase for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025: In September 2020, 39 cyclists, one for each district, brought the official application book from Chemnitz to Berlin. The route taken by the cyclists was in the shape of a C on the map. This campaign has grown into something more - the European Peace Ride (EPR). Last year, almost 90 cyclists rode from Chemnitz to Prague and back within 36 hours. They covered over 413 kilometres and 5,500 metres in altitude. It was modelled on the legendary International Peace Ride, the most important amateur race in cycling from 1948 to 2006.

Why was that the most memorable event for you?
You can't just rehearse an event like that. It was so tightly organised, with so many people taking part. You can't imagine what could have gone wrong. It just had to work. The way we hugged each other when we arrived in Chemnitz at the Karl-Marx-Kopf was very emotional. But I didn't do my health any favours.

Because you didn't sleep during the 36 hours of driving or the three weeks before? You have to know that as the organiser, you didn't go on the bike ride.
(laughs) It would have been nice if it had only been three weeks. There were several phases where I couldn't sleep. When you work with partners across the border, things can go wrong. There are mentality and administrative issues that make people tick differently. I don't mean that in a judgemental way, you just approach things with different assumptions. To be honest, I would have preferred to have travelled with them that day. At least I would have had some peace and quiet on the bike.

The idea of the EPR goes back to the handover of the bid book in September 2020. That was an incredibly high-profile event. How did you get involved? Did you once again put your finger down too late when fellow campaigners were being sought?
Well, if I tell you this again now, many people won't believe me. But that's exactly how it happened: Steffen Ulbrich and I founded the company Fit4Bike in 2018 to set up a cycling team on the side. We are very active in cycling, have contact with clubs and race. With Fit4Bike, we wanted to establish a network of professionally managed bike hire stations. Because that doesn't yet exist in the Ore Mountains. When we started doing this and were already in talks with major investors, the pandemic hit and the demand for bikes increased. The investors who wanted to provide us with bikes were suddenly no longer able to meet their own needs. And, of course, hotels didn't want to talk to us because they weren't even open during that period. So we stood there with our newly founded company and our business model and asked ourselves: What do we do now? At the same time, we were working on our bid to become European Capital of Culture and my business partner and I were missing the sport in this process. I got to know Sören Uhle, the managing director of CWE, and we got talking. When that led to the European Peace Ride, we naturally kept our fingers crossed. Because that was exactly our topic.

How did you feel after the bid book handover?
It was overwhelming. With this ride, we were suddenly in the major German daily newspapers. Emotionally, of course, it was a big deal and everything else that followed came out of that. I think I said at the C that it was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. Now I said that about the EPR last year. Now I'm curious to see what will happen this year. For me personally, it has completely turned my life upside down and I am currently reorganising myself in many ways.

Kai Winkler describes himself as "the biggest philistine I know": married for many years, has two children and collects incense smokers. But he hides this stuffy life well on the outside.

For three years now, anyone who googles you regularly finds press articles about you. Why is that? You seem to be bubbling over with different ideas. Are you such a jack of all trades?
I really am. I can't say no. Most of the time, the ideas don't come from me but from others. But when it comes to realising them, I can help with my contacts. On the one hand, I have a completely normal commercial enterprise in the tyre industry, and on the other, I come from the AJZ and have been connected with the venue for years. I work there as a booker (editor's note: person who books artists), am responsible for the bar and am on the board. And then the pandemic was a reason for my presence. Due to restrictions and closed clubs, we had to reinvent ourselves in all directions. It's about the survival of an entire industry. And that's when me and my colleagues were regularly in the media with our cultural alliance Hand in Hand.

The "Hand in Hand" cultural alliance was founded at the beginning of 2018 as a reaction from the cultural and club scene to a right-wing march in the city centre. The first signatories included the following initiatives and organisations: Aaltra, AJZ, Atomino, Kulturhaus Arthur, Lokomov, N'dorphin Club, Nikola Tesla, Odradek, Subway to Peter, Spinnerei, Transit, Weltecho and Zukunft as well as the Fuego a la Isla Festival, the free radio station Radio T and the Chemnitz Stadtindianer. During the coronavirus pandemic, the alliance helped to ensure the survival of the club scene with solidarity tickets and the sale of cultural beer.

We're sitting in Subway to Peter for the interview: You also occasionally act as a pub landlord. What are your plans for the Chemnitz cult venue, which has been closed for a few years now?
Kai Rösner and Uwe Schmidt, who used to work at Subway to Peter, approached me with the idea of a micro-project called "Re:AnimierBar". We want to reopen this place, the Subway to Peter, because we're simply in the mood to reminisce about the old days. There was a party here last year that was a complete success. Now we're trying to create so much desire with the concept that maybe someone will go in and run it. We will be organising two events this year. One in May and one in September, which will be around Subway's birthday. If it turns out the way we think it will, it will be like the old days. Combined with the hope of opening up these premises to others again.

What convinced you that Chemnitz could be the Capital of Culture?
I was attracted by the machismo in the bid book, which was tailored to Chemnitz, because that is Chemnitz. This machismo can be found everywhere in the city. It also has something to do with our history. We can't adorn ourselves with high culture because we simply aren't that. That would be dishonest. In this respect, the bid book was very authentic. Then Chemnitz is a very torn city when it comes to our brown hinterland. I thought it was great that they dared to address this openly. We wouldn't have convinced the jury if we had made up something out of thin air.

What do you mean by brown hinterland?
I'm convinced that we had a Nazi problem in Chemnitz in the past, still have one and, if we as a city and as a society don't make a few efforts and deal with it, will continue to have one. This began in the 1990s and has continued until now. That's why it's important to do something about it. There are many people and initiatives in the city that are taking a stand against right-wing extremism.

Where does your love for this city come from?
My love for Chemnitz first had to grow. I came from Radebeul at the age of six, grew up on the Sonnenberg, grew up in Hilbersdorf and then ended up on the Kaßberg via Adelsberg. I can talk about our city quite well. I was and still am partly active in various clubs, found my home in the AJZ and brought my own world from outside to Chemnitz. Since the coronavirus crisis, we have been interacting and working together much more in the cultural scene, thinking things through together.

Where do you see Chemnitz in the Capital of Culture year 2025?
Because so many stakeholders are involved, it will be a great Capital of Culture year. It is important that it is sustainable and exists beyond 2025.