In the volunteer editorial team, Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Kerstin is 59 years old and works as an office communications clerk. Born in Burgstadt, she is a volunteer at various Chemnitz 2025 events; among other things, she launched the countdown to the European Capital of Culture year together with Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and other guests.
The "Begehungen" art festival is not new to Chemnitz, but is already in its 22nd edition. This year, however, in the Capital of Culture year, it is particularly large and can be found at a very well-known and interesting location in the city, the Heizkraftwerk Nord. At the foot of the colourful Esse, one of Chemnitz's landmarks. The CHP plant only ceased operation a year ago after the end of lignite mining. I was not only excited to see the exhibits, but also to be allowed to enter this site with its huge cooling towers, which had been closed off to the outside world in the past.
On the Wednesday before the opening weekend, the festival's project manager had invited us to a briefing on the site. During a short tour of the two huge halls and the cooling towers, we were given the most important information and were able to ask our questions.
My assignment, on the opening Sunday, started at 2 pm. I could barely find a parking space for my car and there were a lot of people on the street (which is very remote) and around the site. That was a good sign and I was all the more looking forward to the afternoon at the northern CHP plant. My job was to make sure that the artworks were not touched or stepped on, and that not too many people entered the cooling towers at once, for example. The visitors had lots of questions about the exhibits, the artists, the site we were on and Chemnitz in general.
The festival had over 2500 visitors on that Sunday and 6500 over the entire opening weekend - what a response!
My impression is that the art festival is something special. The exhibition brings together 32 international artistic perspectives on the social, ecological and economic consequences of environmental destruction, on questions of justice and power as well as related social discourses. These themes are presented through installations, photographs, drawings, sculptures as well as video and sound artworks.