In the volunteer editorial team, Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Kristina lives in Neukirchen in the Ore Mountains. The former archivist and case manager has travelled to numerous events as a volunteer for Chemnitz 2025. She also loves writing, which is why she came up with the idea of collecting the volunteers' experiences - the starting signal for the volunteer editorial team.
Summer 2024: "So this is where a garage festival is to take place next year?" I asked myself during an assignment at the Harthweg 7 garage yard in Chemnitz. The large, wildly overgrown meadow was barely accessible. A parasol provided a little shade. Chairs were placed for the audience of the announced reading by author Leonore Cebulla. Artist Martin Maleschka took centre stage at the comparatively modest event. Many garage owners responded to his appeal to lend him spare parts from old vehicles that were no longer needed.
Whitsun 2025: Some of the many visitors had grabbed their bikes and rain gear. Together with families and friends, they had made their way to the garage festival at Harthweg 7. Visitors could only guess at the impressive diversity and proximity to citizens of the #3000Garagen project, one of the flagships of Kulturhauptstadt gGmbH. For those who wanted to know more, we volunteers provided information about the entire #3000Garagen project. We were happy to explain what the garage campus and the vehicle museum are all about. Our recommendation to explore various garage yards in the city as new, specific cultural sites was met with great interest by the visitors.
The stage was also all about garages. Tanja Krone and her band were my personal highlight. The programme was called "SONGS OF (IN)SECURITY - FIRST SECURITY CONFERENCE OF THE FORMER EAST." The background and starting point of this project is the idea that garages were and are places of security. The band had collected personal stories and opinions from garage owners. The material formed the basis for songs, music and spoken word contributions. The big question of this project was: "How safe do the people of Chemnitz feel in their city?" Not denying the Saxon dialect, the artists have created a piece of musical theatre that will hopefully be performed many more times.
In addition to Tanja Krone, the "Gruppa Karl-Marx-Stadt" also delighted the audience. Show host Lukas Ritzschel invited Martin Maleschka, among others, to a talk show. You know - the man with the spare parts.
The row of garages behind the big stage had become a small adventure mile. Visitors young and old took their seats in front of the "literary garage" to listen to garage stories by author Leonore Cebulla. Marcus Lehmann read his award-winning Chemnitz fairy tale. The location of the story? A garage, of course! "Kikaninchen" from television did the honours, MDR Kultur was represented and employees of Sparda-Bank, one of the many sponsors of the Capital of Culture, were available to talk to guests.
Before entering the festival site or on the way home, visitors were able to look into three open garages. The respective owners gave an insight into their hobbies. Occasionally, people still meet up for a beer, a barbecue and a chat.
At the "Bird's eye view" stand, the "Wollbine" invited Mrs Sabine Hochmuth to join in. Since 2024, a large tapestry has been created in various workshops and on other occasions - such as at the festival on Harthweg. Many silhouettes of well-known buildings in the city of Chemnitz have already been made from felt. These are placed on a textile "city map" by Mrs Hochmuth. (See attached photo) The carpet will be on display in the garage campus from 18 October 2025.
By the way - the art installation "Ersatzteillager" by artist Martin Maleschka can be seen at the Museum für sächsische Fahrzeuge Chemnitz, Zwickauer Straße 77, until 29 November 2025.