Art on the roof
Last Friday's KOSMOS festival was an opportunity to literally climb onto the roof of Chemnitz thanks to the European Creative Rooftop Network, in which the city participates. At the Haus der Verbände am Schillerpark, visitors were able to meet two international artists who were guests for a fortnight and shared their impressions with visitors.
Artist residencies for KOSMOS 2022
Emanuele Dainotti, an Italian living in Antwerp, specialises in virtual worlds. This has resulted in a love story between him and the city. The serious aspect is the events of August 2018 and what this has done to the city. When asked about the impressions he takes back with him, he says: "I'm impressed by the amount of space there is here. I was in Beirut for a while a few months ago. In Lebanon you experience the opposite, there is hardly any public space, which is a problem for people to meet and create something together and share it. That's why the opportunities here are really impressive. What I also like: People here are really very open once they have shed their initial shyness."
British artist Rachel Ramirez, who has lived in Faro, Portugal, for 17 years, rediscovered Chemnitz's rich textile history during her stay: "The core theme of my work is people's relationship with nature. I normally print on paper. But for Chemnitz, I printed on fabric in an unusual way, and I learnt a lot in the process."
She experienced the city as very open, with lots of space and open space and great, large buildings with few residents - plenty of room to green roofs with gardens. She also says: "Chemnitz is a very friendly and very safe place. It was a great experience for me here - and I would encourage anyone to come and get to know Chemnitz, at the latest in 2025."