On Monday, 23 June, the construction work for a special exhibition will begin at the secondary school on Hartmannplatz: a total of 250 Chemnitz peace banners will be on display in and around the building until 8 August. With a total area of 2,100 square metres, this will be the largest exhibition Chemnitz has ever seen. For 15 years, the citizens' initiative Aktion ©, led by Gerald Richter, has been organising workshops in schools, where children and young people put their messages of peace on the seven-metre-long banners, which will then be displayed on Chemnitz's Peace Day on 5 March, including on the town hall.
On Thursday 26 June, the Imagine Festival will take place at the Oberschule am Hartmannplatz as the highlight of the construction work, with around 200 pupils from ten secondary schools, special schools and grammar schools expected to attend. The schools involved in the banner project will have the opportunity to create a current message as graffiti on building fences in front of the school from 8.30 a.m. onwards. The graffiti of the day will break the mark of 3,500 metres in total length of all banners and posters and thus set a world record as the largest youth art project. The campaign will be organised by the UNITYart group.
From 11.30 a.m. to 12.15 p.m., a Hip Hop & Breaking workshop by the ROOM dance studio is planned on the forecourt of the school.
Note for media representatives: The graffiti and hip hop workshops are aimed at the participating students, but spectators are welcome. Gerald Richter will be available for questions and interviews on 26 June at 12.30 pm in front of the school.
Afterwards, from 1 p.m., the schools involved in the art project will celebrate the world record as the largest youth art project at an internal event in the neighbouring Hartmann-Fabrik. Mayor Knut Kunze will also be present. The programme is organised by the Chemnitz Municipal Music School with the Open Stage Project. There will be an overview of the highlights from 15 years of the art project, and key players in the project will have their say. Representatives of the media are also invited.
In 2025 alone, five workshops for banner design took place: at the "Georg Götz" centre for the hearing impaired in Chemnitz, the Europäisches Gymnasium Waldenburg, the J.H. Pestalozzi Chemnitz support centre and a joint workshop between the Untere Luisenschule and the Schule am Hartmannplatz. This resulted in the creation of 20 new banners so that new banners can once again be hung on the town hall for Chemnitz Peace Day 2026. 338 banners for peace now exist.
The banners will be on display and freely accessible during the summer holidays. From 23 June to 8 August 2025, Gerald Richter will be offering guided tours of the exhibition on Sundays at 2 pm and explaining the texts and designs (meet at the entrance to the school). 180 banners hang on the building, around 60 inside.
The Chemnitz peace banners are a trademark of the city for democracy and tolerance, for dialogue and diversity. Chemnitz presents itself as cosmopolitan and colourful. The messages are in favour of peace and justice, the protection of the environment and the preservation of biodiversity. As the school is freely accessible, they can be admired in full size until the end of the holidays. Texts explaining the banners in more detail can be found on the website www.chemnitzer-friedensbanner.de
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