Die neue Stadt Chemnitz als Karl-Marx-Stadt
In the organizer's words:
The exhibition at the Schloßberg Museum traces the intense and momentous era of "Karl-Marx-Stadt", which lasted only a few decades, with a particular focus on developments in urban planning and architecture.
The end of the Second World War meant a new beginning for the heavily destroyed industrial city of Chemnitz in many respects: the GDR was founded in 1949, the federal states were dissolved in 1952 and twelve districts were created as a new administrative structure. Chemnitz was not only given the status of district capital, but was also renamed in 1953 by decision of the state party SED. With the name of the philosopher and communist mastermind Karl Marx, the city was - intentionally or not - assigned a role as a "model socialist city".
The specific nature of the political circumstances played a key role in this, but local events were also part of international "post-war modernism". Across the system, the destruction of the war was seen as an opportunity for a new start in terms of architecture and urban planning, as a chance to realize ideas and reform concepts that had existed for some time.
The openness to new ideas that was widespread internationally in the post-war decades found expression in a special attitude to life, in enthusiasm for technical visions, in design or in fashion. The exhibition brings the world of prefabricated buildings, elevated roads, cosmonauts and plastics back to life, but does not leave out contradictions and the reality of "real existing socialism".
In preparation for the 2025 exhibition, a conference on the topic will be held in November 2024. The conference topic in preparation for the exhibition, which has been developed in cooperation with Chemnitz University of Technology, focuses on the reconstruction of Chemnitz after 1945 both in an international context and with a look at the socialist "brother countries" and behind the "Iron Curtain". What differences and what similarities were there in building? Modern architecture in the decades before the war will serve as a point of reference. Renowned experts will discuss aspects of building in the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, the USA, various Eastern European countries and Chemnitz / Karl-Marx-Stadt.
This content has been machine translated.Location
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