A major exhibition on the painter Edvard Munch, a contemporary opera premiere based on the novel "Rummelplatz" by Werner Bräunig, a show on industrial cities in Europe - 366 days before the opening of the Capital of Culture year in Chemnitz, those responsible have announced further details of the program. Around 100 projects and around 1000 events are planned, said program director Stefan Schmidtke on Thursday. The official kick-off will be on January 18, 2025 with a large street festival including artistic activities.
The Chemnitz art collections promise top-class art, including an exhibition on the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. It deals with current themes such as fear, loneliness, illness and war, said General Director Florence Thurmes. The exhibition organizers also want to bring his most famous work "Scream" to Chemnitz, of which there are several versions. "The loan requests have been made," said Thurmes. "We definitely want to show one of the screams. That's a must." To this end, she will soon be traveling to Oslo to intensify contacts with the Munch Museum.
Meanwhile, Theater Chemnitz is preparing a multi-part project including the world premiere of a contemporary opera in autumn 2025. Werner Bräunig's posthumously published novel "Rummelplatz", which will be adapted for the stage by Ludger Vollmer (composition) and Jenny Erpenbeck (libretto), provides the template. The story is set in a fictitious town in the Erzgebirge in the years of reconstruction after the Second World War. "The untold stories of the East Germans weigh heavily in the not really completed emotional reunification," said Schmidtke. This is where the Capital of Culture wants to make a contribution.
Other exhibition projects include the "Tales of Transformation" show at the Museum of Industry. It compares former industrial hotspots such as Manchester, Mulhouse, Chemnitz and Lodz. It is also about what they can learn from each other for the future. The European Peace Ride, a sports culture project, aims to connect Chemnitz with the second European Capital of Culture - Nova Gorica in Slovenia - by bike in September 2025. The Hat Festival for street art, which has been established for several years, is also set to experience a new edition in 2025 on a larger area in the city center and captivate visitors to the Capital of Culture.
The complete programme for the Capital of Culture year will be published on 25 October. Until then, the tourism experts are already planning to drum up a lot of publicity at a number of trade fairs. Saxony's Tourism Marketing Society (TMGS) also wants to target guests abroad, especially in Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK, but also in Asia and the USA, said spokeswoman Ines Nebelung. The European Capital of Culture year 2025 is expected to attract around 2 million visitors.
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