Thursdays, 7 to 28 May, 3 p.m.
Event: Language café
Location: Art Collections on Theatre Square
Participation: free of charge
We are opening our doors for the Sprachencafé Chemnitz - an open, relaxed meeting format where people from different languages and backgrounds come together to talk, practise German and network.
As hosts, we are delighted to provide the space for this wonderful programme. The Language Café team is responsible for the organisation and content.
You can find all the background information on dates, aims and structure under the event link. Come along - open to everyone who wants to exchange ideas and meet new people!
Wednesday, 6 May, 6.30 pm
Opening: Traces of proximity
Location: Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Participation: free of charge
Link to the event
Welcome: Florence Thurmes, General Director of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Greeting: Sven Schulze, Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz
Introduction to the exhibition: Kerstin Drechsel, curator
Performance: Performing Kollwitz, Anna Makarova, performer, Hyejin Lee, electric guitar
The performance will take place at 7.30 pm and 8.30 pm in the auditorium.
Wednesday, 6 May, 7 pm
Concert: Klassik underground
Venue: Museum Gunzenhauser
Attendance: day rate
Link to the event
KLASSIK underground: 150 years of August Sander
Photography meets music by Paul Hindemith
Presented by the Roscher Foundation
KLASSIK underground celebrates the 150th birthday of August Sander (1876-1964) with an extraordinary evening that fuses photography and music in an intense, immediate way.
August Sander, an icon of New Objectivity, created an unsparingly honest picture of German society with his legendary portrait series "People of the 20th Century". His photographs are clear, direct and at the same time full of emotion. Created in the turbulent years between the world wars, they still have an impact today - raw, approachable and touching.
In this special KLASSIK underground concert, Remo Rink will show a video projection of Sander's portraits, focussing on the professions of his time: artists, circus performers, musicians, workers, industrialists, scientists - right through to the forgotten, the poor and the unemployed. Many of these professions no longer exist today. And as we head towards artificial intelligence, Sander's images become a powerful reminder that work, identity and society are constantly changing.
Musicians from the Gewandhaus Orchestra will play works by Paul Hindemith live. As a musical free spirit of New Objectivity, Hindemith focussed on clarity, energy and direct impact - far from pathos, close to the pulse. His chamber music is edgy, intense, sometimes rough, but always full of tension. As with Sander, the same applies here: Objectivity meets emotion - and that is precisely where the power lies.
This KLASSIK underground concert is not a museum evening. It is a sensual experience, a dialogue between image and sound, between past and present, between sobriety and emotion.
Musicians of the Gewandhaus Orchestra play
Paul Hindemith String Trio No. 2 (1933), Little Chamber Music, Op. 24 No. 2 (1922)
Video creator: Remo Rink
Conception: Tahlia Petrosian
Saturday, 16 May, 3 to 9 pm and
Sunday, 17 May, 1 to 6 p.m.
Opening: Open - 100 years of Alfred Gunzenhauser, a new floor, a celebration
Location: Museum Gunzenhauser
Participation: free of charge
Link to the event
Celebrate a very special event with us at Museum Gunzenhauser: 100 years of Alfred Gunzenhauser, the collector and namesake of the museum. At the same time, we are opening a new floor on the fourth floor for mediation, encounters and inspiring ideas. Our current special exhibition Feinkunsthalle and the fascinating Gunzenhauser Collection offer the ultimate in artistic enjoyment.
You can look forward to a varied programme for young and old with creative activities, culinary surprises, music and lively art moments. Come along, discover new things and experience the Gunzenhauser Museum as an open place for Chemnitz. A weekend that combines art, community and enjoyment.
With:
- Bee sting for all
- A look behind the scenes with the collection restorer
- Cocktail bar
- DJ set with Izzy
- Ceremonial opening of the new floor
- Photo box
- Bouncy castle
- Interactive gallery room
- Children's book reading
- Children's disco with Louis La Metta
- Culinary offers
- Artistic culinary performance
- Short guided tours through the exhibitions
- Q&A with Alfred Gunzenhauser
- Make-up station
- Song booth from the Paper Lantern collective
- A wide range of creative activities
- Raffle for the Feinkunsthalle exhibition
and many other surprises
Thursday, 21 May, 7 pm
In conversation: When the shopping trolley remains empty. Experts discuss poverty, nutrition and social responsibility
Venue: Museum Gunzenhauser
Participation: 6 euros, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/
Link to the event
What happens when participation in social life reaches its limits when it comes to everyday shopping? In the context of the Mahlzeit! exhibition series, science journalist Shoko Bethke and Anja Rahn, Managing Director of Tafel Chemnitz e. V., will discuss poverty, food justice and the question of social responsibility.
Between the rising cost of living, structural inequality and the need for political action, the evening opens up perspectives on a topic that often remains invisible and yet affects many. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for discussion with the audience.
With Shoko Bethke, Tagesspiegel Background Agriculture & Nutrition.
Anja Rahn, Tafel Chemnitz e. V.
Friday, 22 May, 4.45 pm
Yoga in the museum - workshop
Location: Museum Gunzenhauser
Participation: 12 euros, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/
Link to the event
Bring the day to a relaxing close in a special place: Every fourth Friday at 4.45 pm, you can experience yoga exercises in the exhibition rooms at Museum Gunzenhauser under professional guidance. If possible, please bring your own yoga mat - a limited number of mats are available.
Yoga instructor: Mileen Rudelt
Saturday, 23 May, 2 p.m.
Museum rally: Mikveh - Baptism - Wudu. Water in the world religions
Location: Schloßbergmuseum
Participation: regular museum admission plus 2 euros for adults, 0.50 euros for children
Children can also visit the museum rally without an accompanying person. To do so, the declaration of consent must be completed in advance and sent by e-mail to info.kunstsammlungen(at)stadt-chemnitz.de or brought along at the start of the event.
Meeting point is the ticket office in the Schloßbergmuseum, duration approx. 2 hours, max. 15 participants per group, from 6 years of age
Link to the event
Without water, life on earth would not be possible; water makes up more than half of our bodies. It is therefore not surprising that it plays a central role in all major world religions. Billions of people are convinced that water can not only cleanse the body, but also the soul.
On our museum rally, we learn about the importance of water in the world's major religions. In an entertaining tour, one clue leads us to the next. To find all our building blocks, we will be travelling through the Schloßbergmuseum, the Schloßkirche and the outside grounds. Those who find all the puzzle pieces will receive a surprise at the cash desk.
Wednesday, 27 May, 6.30 pm
The art of investigation. Insights into the work of German art investigators - lecture
Location: Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz
Attendance: 6 euros, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/
Link to the event
Käthe Kollwitz is one of the outstanding German artists of the 20th century with her independent and moving visual language. Even during her lifetime, she was a well-known and esteemed artist who depicted social and societal themes with great urgency.
with great urgency. People are at the centre of her work. Kollwitz, who lost her son and grandson in the two world wars, intensively explored existential conflicts, suffering and vulnerability.
Thursday, 28 May, 2 p.m.
Afternoon of Commitment - Workshop
Location: Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz
Admission: see website of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Link to the event
Thursday, 28 May, 6.15 pm
Opening: An unfinished story
Venue: Art Collections on Theatre Square
Participation: free of charge
Link to the event
The art collection of Lola and David Leder is largely lost. This gap cannot be filled by the exhibition in the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz; however, it takes up the search for traces of the Jewish collectors' network and shows works by artists such as Max Liebermann, Lucie Rochenberg, Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Schaffer, Otto Theodor Wolfgang Stein and others.
The portrait of David Leder, painted by Gustav Schaffer in Chemnitz in 1920, takes centre stage in the exhibition. The history of the work, the artist's oeuvre and the subsequent inventory of the painting in the Chemnitz Art Collections during the GDR era will be examined. In co-operation with the descendants of the Leder family, the question of provenance will be raised: Who does the painting belong to?
The exhibition is part of a cooperation with the presentation "Threads - Entanglements" at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, the Chemnitz Industrial Museum and the Museum of Saxon Vehicles Chemnitz and takes place as part of TACHELES 2026 | Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony.
Friday, 29 May, 4.30 pm
Artistic printing techniques by Käthe Kollwitz - public guided tour
Location: Art Collections on Theatre Square
Participation: regular admission price, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/, public guided tours are limited to a maximum of 24 people. Groups of 10 or more should book in advance.
Link to the event
Kollwitz' curiosity for the unknown was sparked by her switch to graphic art in the 1890s and drove her to continuous experimentation. Throughout her career, she expanded her repertoire of printing techniques - from drypoint, line and brush etching to soft ground etching, woodcut and colour lithography. This guided tour goes in search of traces in the exhibition Traces of Proximity. Käthe Kollwitz and contemporary photography and takes a special look at the accomplished graphic artist Kollwitz, showing that technical rules did not stop her. Time and again, the artist sought new ways, varied processes and pursued the goal of expressing her pictorial ideas as powerfully and clearly as possible.
TIP:
Take the opportunity to combine theory and practice at the weekend: On Friday, the themed tour of the exhibition focuses on the techniques used by Kollwitz that make her printmaking work so significant. On Saturday, the workshop in the DRUCKSTOCK workshop in Chemnitz Altendorf offers the opportunity to try out the techniques presented in the themed tour yourself under professional guidance.
The themed tour and the workshop can be booked separately, but are coordinated in such a way that theoretical and practical knowledge complement each other.
Saturday, 30 May, 1 p.m.
Practical introduction to lithography - workshop
Location: Erzbergerstraße 2
Participation: 28 euros for full payers, 8 euros reduced, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/, the workshop is limited to a maximum of 6 people
Link to the event
The workshop is part of the programme accompanying the exhibition Traces of Proximity. Käthe Kollwitz and contemporary photography. Kollwitz constantly experimented with printmaking in order to depict her pictorial ideas powerfully and clearly, initially primarily in lithography. In this three-hour workshop, you will learn the technique of lithography under professional guidance. Lithography (ancient Greek lithos - stone; ancient Greek graphein - to carve, write) is a printing technique in which a stone is used to
printing technique in which a stone can be used to print and reproduce both artistically and informatively.
The workshop is suitable for both beginners and advanced students.
Saturday, 30 May, 4 pm
Guided tour "Meal time!" - for people with blindness and visual impairment
Location: Museum Gunzenhauser
Participation: regular admission price, registration at https://kunstsammlungen-chemnitz.ticketfritz.de/, maximum 10 participants, a maximum of two accompanying persons per person may take part in the tour
Link to the event
On a joint tour, we will explore the Feinkunsthalle exhibition of the Mahlzeit! exhibition series with different senses. From cheese and cake pictures to giant chewing gums, everything here is reminiscent of a supermarket. We get talking about how art smells, tastes or sounds. Object descriptions and tactile objects are provided for a deeper understanding of individual works of art.