In the volunteer editorial team, Volunteers for Chemnitz 2025 publish reports on their experiences, assignments and adventures around the European Capital of Culture.
Bettina lives in Neukirchen in the Ore Mountains and works in the volunteer section. Bettina has been a volunteer since 2024 and contributes her valuable voluntary experience to the European Capital of Culture gGmbH. A former bank clerk, she previously worked as a hardware and software developer
On 9 August at 12 noon, I started volunteering at the opening ceremony for the Munch exhibition at the Chemnitz Opera House. I was really looking forward to it, because when do you get the opportunity to be so close to the action?
We met up with 5 other volunteers in the art collections and were briefed by Christiane. Our main task was to welcome all the guests, accompany them to their seats and ensure that everything ran smoothly.the first visitors arrived at 1 pm, but they still had to wait, as the doors to the auditorium did not open until 1.30 pm. The excitement was palpable, everyone wanted to get a good seat at this unique opening.
The guests of honour included Mrs and Mr Esche, descendants of the Chemnitz manufacturing family where Edvard Munch spent a few weeks, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway in Germany, Mrs Laila Strenseng, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer and many other sponsors and supporters
The opening ceremony began at 2 p.m. with various speeches, including those by the General Director of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Florence Thurmes, and the curator Diana Kopka. In their speeches, the themes of fear and loneliness were addressed again and again and a connection was made to the present day with our own fears such as war, illness or loss. The ceremony was accompanied by appropriate piano music.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Germany, Ms Laila Strenseng, Lord Mayor Sven Schulze and Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer praised the high-calibre exhibition as one of the highlights of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. After the ceremony, we accompanied the visitors to the exhibition in the art collections, where everyone was cordially invited to view the works of Munch and many other artists such as Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Georg Baselitz, Neo Rauch and Andy Warhol.
Edvard Munch was a pioneer of modernism and created important works of expressionism. The exhibition features 140 exhibits, 96 of which are by Munch, including the lithograph "The Scream" and the painting "Two People. The Lonely Ones". These works are being shown in Germany for the first time in almost 90 years. With the portrait "Herbert Esche" and the "View of the Chemnitz Valley", two paintings are also on display that were created in the Villa Esche in Chemnitz and are on loan.
For me, it was remarkable and surprising how many artists were and still are inspired by Edvard Munch - then as now.in keeping with the theme of the exhibition, the Pavilion of Fear was also located in front of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz and invited visitors to discuss the topic of fear and share their own experiences in various formats such as talks or readings.
I can't say what I liked best. As we all know, art is a matter of taste - so everyone should make up their own mind. There is still time to do so until 2 November 2025