Mir stets bis hier

The Performance “Mir stehts bis hier” was created at Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz at "Du kannst das tragen" exhibition in cooperation with M.F.A. Public Art and New Artistic Strategies of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Winter 2021/22.
It refers to solidarity in the context of natural catastrophy like a flood. A chain of buckets transports water from one place to another. But here the chain of buckets is reversed, the water is transported from the Chemnitz river to the Theaterplatz, a major square of the city. It arrives at Theaterplatz when the bells of St.Petrichurch ring.

The city bears the same name as the river: Chemnitz is sorbian and means stone brook. Chemnitz used to be an important site for industrial production until 1990. This changed radically in the context of the peaceful revolution and the transformation of into a capitalist society. As a city dominated by workers it was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953 for ideological reasons in socialist GDR but then changed back to Chemnitz in 1990 after a referendum. The city lost a large amount of its population in the last decades and has to rewrite its identity in the proces of radical deindustrialisation. Wastelands and empty industrial buildings, far-right movements but also new cultural initiatives are all active in a place that still seems in suspense.

Special Thanks to all those who participated: Fabienne Margue, Pati Sayuri, Mon Sisu Satrawaha, John Patterson, Laura Léal, Victor del Moral, Belén Arellano, Camillo Londono, Natalia Castillo Rincón, Hala Nasri, Heeyu Hwa, Rachel Thorleifson, Nadja Kracunovic, Leila Keivan, Carlos Santos, Rand Ibrahim, Lucia Gonzalez, Bernadita Bennett.

Realised under the supervision of Danica Dakic, Ina Weise and Lea Maria Wittich. 

Images copyright Konrad Behr 2022.