William Kentridge, Wolfgang Tillmans, Edvard Munch and Bernhard Heisig - Saxony's major art museums are once again planning top-class exhibitions for this year. They are drawing on their own collections, supplemented by important loans from home and abroad, and looking both back and forward in art history. The Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz in the European Capital of Culture 2025 are particularly in focus.
Look at a special GDR art scene
An exhibition about artistic freedom in the former Karl-Marx-Stadt is dedicated to the artist group Clara Mosch (1977-1982) and the Galerie Oben - from February 20 at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Away from the official GDR cultural scene, a hotspot of the alternative art scene developed in the district town in the early 1970s.
With their unconventional programme, they attracted audiences from all over the country and were also platforms for art that was not recognized as such by the state. Postcards, posters, photos, letters and original documents trace this, and works of art from the years 1973 to 1990 are also on display - by Michael Morgner, Carlfriedrich Claus, Thomas Ranft, Lutz Dammbeck, Gerhard Altenbourg, Hans Brockhage and Dagmar Ranft-Schinke.
Reminiscence of architect Frei Otto
Exhibitions, workshops and events locate the architect Frei Otto (1925-2015) in his native city of Chemnitz. To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, they show that his pioneering spirit and works in lightweight construction were a source of inspiration for colleagues, engineers and artists worldwide. Otto, one of the most important architects of the 20th century, created the suspended roof at the Munich Olympic site in 1972 with Dresden-born Günter Behnisch, among others. From April 2, the exhibition "Beyond geometry. Frei Otto × Kengo Kuma" can be seen in the art collections from 2 April.
A project entitled "Angst" (Fear) sheds light on emotion in art from Edvard Munch (1863-1944) to the present day. The exhibition opens on August 10 at the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Based on the themes in Munch's oeuvre, the focus is on fear, loneliness and illness, Munch's stay in Chemnitz in 1905 and the ongoing confrontation with his childhood. Contemporary positions by Marina Abramović, Monika Bonvicini, Neo Rauch and Andy Warhol enter into a dialog with Munch's works.
The Sound Process Room by Carlfriedrich Claus
From the end of November, the "Sound Process Room" developed by Carlfriedrich Claus (1930-1998) in 1995, in which people can control sounds through their movements, can be used in Chemnitz for almost four months. The installation is being reconstructed at the Kunstsammlungen to mark its 30th anniversary and, alongside works on paper by the artist, offers the opportunity to immerse yourself in his cosmos of ideas.
Kentridge and Tillmans at the Kunstsammlungen in Dresden
The South African artist William Kentridge is making a guest appearance at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) throughout the year. To mark his 70th birthday, he is focusing on the famous Procession of Princes, a procession of Saxon rulers painted on porcelain tiles on the outer wall of the Stallhof, and developing a contemporary counterpart through the old town. Two exhibitions combine prints and large-scale works. Kentridge and his team are also designing the annual presentation of the puppet theater collection.
Wolfgang Tillmans is drawing inspiration from the universal character of the SKD collections for his first major solo exhibition in a museum in eastern Germany for many years. The museum association is also planning the first presentation on the history of the Meissen porcelain manufactory in the GDR and will provide a unique insight into the cosmos of Gerhard Richter. The occasion is the 20th anniversary of the founding of the archive, which collects everything about the life and work of its namesake and patron.
Rembrandt and Heisig in Leipzig
The Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig is showing the exhibition "Impuls.Rembrandt" about the artist, who trained numerous students in his important workshop over decades, until the end of January. Around 120 paintings, drawings and etchings by his hand, students and contemporaries are on display, including loans from London, Paris and New York.
The work and life of Bernhard Heisig (1925-2011), one of the GDR's best-known artists, will also be honored on the 100th anniversary of his birth. In addition to well-known historical paintings, the exhibition includes autobiographical portraits, landscapes and still lifes - as well as photographs showing the Leipzig School painter as Rector and Professor of the Academy of Visual Arts.
An entirely different presentation in Leipzig is dedicated to the art of tapestry, the production of tapestries, and thus one of the oldest cultural techniques of mankind. It ranges from works based on designs by renowned representatives of the 20th century avant-garde to important productions of post-war modernism and international contemporary positions - including those by Wassily Kandinsky, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois and Hans Hartung.
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