WE PARAPOM! - Parade of apple trees as the first major art project for the European Capital of Culture

On 6 November, WE PARAPOM! will launch one of the pioneering art projects on Chemnitz's path to becoming European Capital of Culture 2025. The European Parade of Apple Trees, curated by Austrian artist Barbara Holub, will run right through Chemnitz.

The parade will cross property boundaries, creating a breeding ground for people to come together and will be accompanied by artistic interventions that will be realised continuously until 2025. The parade and apple are symbols for a series of themes that are specifically addressed by artists: Standardisation and norms, migration, home and climate change as well as questions about the current state of democracy.

The art project will kick off with its first public appearance on 6 November at 11 a.m. in the car park of the Albert Einstein Primary School in the Morgenleite district with introductory words from Stefan Schmidtke, the designated Managing Director of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH. There, artist Folke Köbberling is painstakingly unsealing areas by hand with a hammer and chisel to enable trees to be planted later.

In doing so, she is highlighting the problem of land sealing, which has once again become a painful issue since the flood disaster last summer. It also emphasises how difficult it is to reverse such sealing processes. Everyone in Chemnitz is invited to take part in the unsealing process.

At 2 p.m., Mayor Sven Schulze and the Saxon State Minister for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture, Wolfram Günther, will plant the first apple trees on the Terra Nova Campus for the official launch with the artists.

The kick-off event will conclude at around 4 pm with a polyphonic performance by local residents and performers at the Albert Einstein Primary School. Here too, all Chemnitz residents are invited to take part in the performance chorus. The joint rehearsals start at 3 pm in the car park of the Albert Einstein Primary School.

The day is intended as a prelude to further planting of apple trees, which will take place soon and in many places in the city. Those involved will be available for interviews on site.

Background information:

The starting point for the idea of WE PARAPOM! was a public workshop as part of Chemnitz's bid to become European Capital of Culture 2025, to which the artist Barbara Holub was invited in spring 2020. In this workshop, the wish for 2000 apple trees for Chemnitz was formulated, from which Barbara Holub developed the concept of WE PARAPOM! The WE PARAPOM! concept provides for the following elements:

1. planting up to 4000 apple trees in the form of a parade through Chemnitz, which will be permanently cared for by tree patrons and thus form the basis for artistic interventions. WE PARAPOM! is thus a social process and, from a contemporary, topical perspective, is also reminiscent of Joseph Beuys' work "7,000 oaks - urban reforestation instead of urban administration", which he developed for the 1982 documenta in Kassel.

2 Why the term "parade"?
Parades have a long tradition as an expression of power and the display of government interests and ideologies. Here, the celebration often has the flavour of forced cheering, which can also make one shudder. In order to be able to celebrate political parades in a dignified manner, wide boulevards were therefore built - especially in feudal and communist systems, as was the case in Chemnitz. In the meantime, however, marginalised groups in society, such as the queer movement, have also adopted the parade model. They march proudly, loudly, fun and imaginatively, showing society what it often cannot or does not dare to do - to step outside the box and enjoy it.

3. diversity vs. standardisation
The apple is defined by EU standards, and this is visibly reducing the diversity of varieties, so that local apples or even old varieties are hardly (or no longer) available in supermarkets. If the apple fails the standard, a German supermarket chain in Austria now offers it cheaply as "Wunderling". What is the norm? What standards are necessary for our social coexistence? Where do we want to "fall out of the norm" and thus take a stand for what apparently "doesn't fit"? WE PARAPOM! provides space for these "Wunderlings" and the exploration of their visions and macro-utopias. provides space for them and for discussion.

4. art
National and international artists will realise artistic interventions from autumn 2021. Current social issues such as migration, working conditions, ecology, soil sealing or questioning the representation of power will take centre stage, as will questions about the current situation of democracy and the new commitment of civil society to active democratic participation. How can art activate new and lost qualities in our everyday lives, which are characterised by the pressure for efficiency, and thus become effective in social processes?

5. course
You can find the planned route at: https://weparapom.eu/Route-der-Parade
Further projects alongside the route are being planned with many co-operation partners.

6 Co-operations and sponsorships
WE PARAPOM! co-operates with the nature conservation association, BUND, the pomologists' association and the city association of allotment gardens. Chemnitz residents are invited to sponsor and care for the apple trees, support the project financially through donations or plant trees on their property.

Further information: https://weparapom.eu and https://www.barbaraholub.com

Contact details for queries about the project: Elke Falat, Producer WE PARAPOM!
Phone: +49 176 241 99231, e-mail: elke.falat(at)weparapom.eu

"Test Phase #4 - Unsealing in Chemnitz" Artistic-urban intervention by Folke Köbberling

Period: 6 November, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., location: Albert Einstein Primary School car park, Max Türpe Str. 58, 09122 Chemnitz

In Germany, 56 hectares of land are newly designated as settlement or transport areas every day. This corresponds to the area of Frankfurt am Main over the whole year. Over the past three years, the summer months have become warmer and warmer and the difference between rural and urban areas, between unsealed and sealed areas, has become increasingly clear. Densely built-up areas, concreted and paved city centres not only generate more heat, but also cause a loss of water permeability and soil fertility.

Folke Köbberling's artistic project "Test Phase #4 - Unsealing in Chemnitz" is dedicated to the unsealing of asphalted and paved surfaces in Chemnitz. She invites neighbours, passers-by and interested parties to experience unsealing along the "Parade of Apple Trees" on 6 November, to break asphalt into the smallest pieces in order to understand the feat of strength that a jackhammer performs under normal circumstances. The feat of unsealing makes it possible to experience the resistance of the material at first hand. Equipped with a hammer and chisel, visitors are given the opportunity to try their hand at reclaiming sealed surfaces in the form of a sculptural experience. Layer after layer is removed and a hole is dug. This lays the foundation for the planting of apple trees in a previously sealed area.

The newly planted apple trees are the start of WE PARAPOM! The sites of unsealing and planting not only address ecological problems in the 21st century, but also take visitors to places that negotiate nature and infrastructure, architecture and health, prefabricated buildings and green spaces. By unsealing these areas, a minimal space of possibility is created that asks for something more.

Further information about the artist can be found here: http://www.folkekoebberling.de/.

Programme on 6 November:

Albert-Einstein-Grundschule, car park, Max-Türpe-Str. 58, 09122 Chemnitz:

10 am to 5 pm: "Testphase #4" by Folke Köbberling: artistic intervention.
11 a.m.: Welcome: Stefan Schmidtke (designated Managing Director of European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 GmbH), Jana Kupfer-Zwingelberg (Headmistress of Albert Einstein Primary School), Barbara Holub (Artistic Director), Folke Köbberling (artist)
1 p.m.: Free shuttle from the Albert Einstein Primary School car park to the Terra Nova Campus


Terra Nova Campus, Heinrich-Schütz-Str. 61, 09130 Chemnitz:

14 to 14.30: Opening of WE PARAPOM!
Welcome: Sven Schulze (Lord Mayor of Chemnitz), Wolfram Günther (Minister of State for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture), Annett Goerlitz (Headmistress Terra Nova Campus), Barbara Holub (Artistic Director), Stefan Schmidtke (designated Managing Director European Capital of Culture
Chemnitz 2025 GmbH)
from 2.30 pm first tree planting of WE PARAPOM! by Lord Mayor Sven Schulze
3 p.m. Free shuttle from Terra Nova Campus to the Albert Einstein Primary School car park


Albert Einstein Primary School car park:

4 to 4.30 pm: collective performance WE PARAPOM! in the Albert Einstein car park with performers, residents and visitors
There will be a live video transmission of the actions between the two locations throughout the day. The Albert Einstein Primary School will provide visitors with homemade apple pie and invite children to make crafts and stamps.