Begehungen Art Festival 2025

"Everything is interaction. Nothing stands alone, a common bond entwines the whole of organic nature."

The great naturalist Alexander von Humboldt wrote these lines at the beginning of the 19th century under the impression of his first great journey to America from 1799 to 1804.

During his visit to Lake Valencia in Venezuela, Humboldt recognized that its continuous loss of water was the result of deforestation for plantations. He identified the lack of wood and water, as well as the danger of flooding due to dry soil, as a consequence of human intervention. Even then, Humboldt's insight into the interactions in nature could be applied far beyond the concept of nature.

The plantations established by the Spanish colonial rulers on Lake Valencia are an expression of the exploitation of nature, but they also point to systemic structures of exploitation, to poverty on the one hand and boundless wealth on the other. To this day, the exploitation of resources means destruction and prosperity, income and labor disputes, food and species extinction, curse and blessing.

Under the title EVERYTHING IS INTERACTION, the art festival Begehungen aims to make the complexity of the issues of resource consumption, species loss and the climate crisis visible. The festival is intended to be an inspiring place for new, forward-looking discourse - a space for encounters, exchange and creative impulses. It is part of the official program of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025.

The exhibition brings together 30 international artistic perspectives on the social, ecological and economic consequences of environmental destruction, questions of justice and power and the associated social crises. Dr. Claudia Tittel is the artistic director of the exhibition.

The exhibition is based on the works selected by the artistic director, an artist-in-residence program with European partner institutions of the exhibitions and project ideas from the worldwide Open Call.

The Open Call was reserved for artists under the age of 30, which means that almost a third of the exhibition is dominated by young perspectives.

The exhibition will include installations, photographs, drawings, sculptures as well as video and sound artworks. A good quarter of the artworks will be created specifically for the festival.

Artists:inside (as of 31.03.25):

Ana Alenso (VE)

Lara Almarcegui (NL/ES)

AWOL (Absent Without Leave) Giuliana Marmo / Belén Arellano Cañizares / Stefan Ralevic (VE/ES/SR)

Ursula Biemann & Paulo Tavares (CH/BR)

Böhler & Orendt (DE/RO)

Borek Brindák (SK)

Daniel Canogar (ES/US)

Abie Franklin & Daniel Hölzl (GB/AT)

Tim Gassauer (DE)

Elza Gubanova (UA)

Sarah Damai Hoogman (NL)

Clemens Hornemann (DE)

Anne Duk Hee Jordan (KR/DE)

Nadia Kaabi-Linke (DE/TN/UA)

Diana Lelonek (PL)

Tea Mäkipää (FI)

Gisle Nataas (NO)

Olaf Nicolai (DE)

Uriel Orlow (CH)

Johanna M. Reich (DE)

Amparo Sard (ES)

Katharina Sauermann (AT)

Günther & Loredana Selichar (AT/IT)

Hito Steyerl (DE)

Gregor Schneider (DE)

Daniel Otero Torres (CO)

Rikuo Ueda (JP)

Anna Weberberger (AT)

Valeria Zane & Victor Nebbiolo di Castri (IT/FR)

The exhibition will be complemented by a festival program with concerts, readings, lectures and performances. The works in the exhibition and site-specific circumstances will become starting points for more in-depth discussions.

The complete festival program will be published on 19 May 2025.

The CHP plant was built in 1957. The expansion of the HKW Nord to its current size began in the early 1980s. On January 18, 2024, the lignite-fired power plant was shut down by the operator eins energie in Sachsen GmbH & Co.

The chimney of the combined heat and power plant is known far beyond the city limits. At a good 300 meters, it is the tallest structure in Saxony. In 2013, the functional building was transformed into a widely visible work of art and one of Chemnitz's most popular landmarks. The corresponding concept was developed by French artist Daniel Buren under the title Seven Colors for a Chimney.

The Begehungen art festival uses an area of around one hectare, including the historically significant cooling tower 1 and various technical facilities such as the huge metal deionized tanks. An exhibition area of more than 2,000 square meters will be created in three large halls.

The company eins energie in sachsen GmbH und Co KG is the owner of the festival site and a cooperation partner of the Begehungen 2025 art festival

Participation and inclusion are core values of our social interaction. The Begehungen e.V. team is deeply convinced that everyone should be able to visit our art festival, regardless of their background, age, financial means or physical abilities. That is why we work in several languages, offer guided tours for children and do not charge a fixed admission price. In addition, the Begehungen art festival goes to great lengths to ensure that people with mobility, hearing or visual impairments have easy and natural access to the exhibition and all programme items.

For people with hearing impairments

• Guided tours and events with translations into German sign language

People with visual impairments

• Audio guide with audio description of selected works of art
• Tactile models of selected works of art
• tactile room plan of the buildings

People with limited mobility

• Barrier-free access to the exhibition, catering and all programme items
• Wheelchair-accessible WC
• Portable seating

Cultural accompaniment

• If you have a disability and need someone to accompany you to the Begehungen art festival, please contact www.kulturbegleitung-chemnitz.de. Andrea will be happy to help you. 
• Do you have specific questions regarding barrier-free offers or would you like to be offered a guided tour? Send us an email to inklusion@begehungen-festival.de

You can support the not inconsiderable costs for barrier-free measures with a donation.

The festival was founded in Chemnitz in 2003. It is one of the most renowned art events in Saxony and attracts thousands of visitors every year. It is also part of the official programme for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025.

For the first edition, twelve empty shops in Chemnitz's Sonnenberg district were the setting for a photography exhibition. In the following years, the festival moved to the Brühl, a largely deserted shopping boulevard at the time, for several years, grew continuously and opened up more and more to other art genres. Since 2010, the art festival has changed its venue every year.

Since then, a former prison, empty cultural centres and schools, abandoned allotment gardens, an old brewery, disused department stores, a drained swimming pool, an orphaned museum or an overgrown railway station have been locations for the festival.

The Begehungen art festival sees itself as an inclusive and accessible festival. Access to all programme items and the exhibition is free of charge. The festival is made possible by a lot of voluntary work by the members of Begehungen e. V. and many helpers.

The Begehungen art festival is largely organised on a voluntary basis by Begehungen e.V. and numerous helpers. We would be delighted if you could support this work with a DONATION. Thank you very much!

By bank transfer:

Account holder: Begehungen e. V.

IBAN: DE10 8705 0000 0710 0502 32

Institut: Sparkasse Chemnitz

Via Paypal:

Please use Paypal-Link

The Begehungen art festival is an official part of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 program.

Stefan Schmidtke, Managing Director Program of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH: "The Begehungen art festival incorporates everything that makes Chemnitz European Capital of Culture 2025 - and has done so for 20 years. "C the unseen", the motto for the program of the European Capital of Culture year, is also programmatic for the Begehungen. The festival takes place in unusual places and makes them visible.

It invites international artists and the local neighborhood to discover these places and enter into conversation with each other. The tours open up spaces and new perspectives. This is also what the Capital of Culture stands for: encouraging people to participate, creating access and breaking down barriers.

General: info @ begehungen-festival.de

Press: presse @ begehungen-festival.de

Booking / Festival programme: booking @ begehungen-festival.de

Questions for application: application @ begehungen-festival.de