Gunst/Favor

Ungleichheit prägt unsere Gesellschaft, in der Nachbarschaft, in Europa, in der Welt. 

Sind Mangel und Überfluss nur eine Frage der Perspektive? Können Privilegien belasten? Geht Kunst ohne Gunst? Wem ist was vergönnt und was können wir uns angesichts der Klimakrise, global und gegenseitig gönnen? 

 

Die Dialogfelder wollen die Ambivalenzen von Privilegien als gesellschaftliche Last und individuellen Luxus untersuchen.

Mit den Erfahrungen und Blickwinkeln aus verschiedenen sozioökonomischen Hintergründen eingeladener Künstler:innen und beteiligten Partner:innen suchen wir Momente, die in Chemnitz Gemeinsinn stiften.

Dafür lädt der Klub Solitaer e.V. je zwei internationale Künstler:innen zeitgleich auf den Chemnitzer Sonnenberg ein. Ihre fünfwöchige Recherche mündet in künstlerischen Interventionen für den öffentlichen oder halböffentlichen Raum.

Chemnitzer Kreative begleiten die Dialogfelder in unterschiedlichen Rollen. Zum Einen bringen sie als Hosts von ausführlichen Welcome Weekends ihr lokales Expert:innenwissen ein und schaffen Anknüpfungspunkte zur Stadtgesellschaft und Akteur:innen vor Ort. Zum Anderen wird neben den Interventionen ein künstlerisches Spin-Off von jungen Chemnitzer Kreativen geschaffen.

Dialogue field 2

  • Marie Donike und Johannes Specks

    turning space into a place
    In their shared artistic approach, Marie Donike and Johannes Specks examine cultural-historical aspects of cuisine and places of conviviality. They analyse the aesthetics of everyday life and imitate individual elements in order to place them in new artificial contexts. In this way, collective and individual memories are both used and created. A multimedia structure becomes a site-specific work, a walk-in installation, intervention and/or an interweaving of this with action.

    Their approach is conceptual, interdisciplinary and process-oriented. In addition to conventional exhibition spaces, they also use spaces in problematic urban districts or the countryside for their consistently situation-specific works. In doing so, they imitate an everyday life that does not exist in reality, but is often transfigured and imagined. Marie Donike and Johannes Specks turn spaces into places where people come together. They use mimicry, everyday aesthetics and communal eating for their spatial installations to shed light on central human issues and offer a place for exchange. The inclusion of a diverse audience is achieved with a sensitive feeling and honest interest in the other person, sociability and humor. The focus is on the moment of reflection of the recipients, which is triggered by the specific situation. Her theoretical and practical approach also includes collecting and processing food, foraging, cooking, preserving and a multidisciplinary documentation and presentation of this.

    Marie Donike (*1992), artist, lives in Cologne. She studied art history at the TU Dresden and the University of Vienna. Johannes Specks (*1991), artist, lives in Cologne. He studied fine arts at the HfBK Dresden. Together they have had exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Chemnitz, Heidelberg, Dresden, Cologne, Berlin, Kassel, Norway and Japan.

  • MINI MINI STOP

    For Marie Donike & Johannes Specks, the residence on the Sonnenberg became an experimental space for social encounters and everyday escapes. Based on reflections on classism, social and individual economic pressure and questions of privilege and accessibility, they developed a temporary location: the MINI MINI STOP.

    At the old petrol station on Annenstraße, they created an installative excursion venue for tourists - and anyone who wanted to become one. The artists asked themselves the question: Who is actually a tourist? Where do the desire to discover and escape from everyday life begin? Can't you also be a tourist in your own city, in search of new impressions, encounters and a break from worries and routines?

    With a sense of humor, a love of detail and a penchant for culinary experiments, Marie Donike & Johannes Specks have created a place for spontaneous encounters and conversations. Between spruce lemonade, MINI Rostwürstchen, Stolleneisbechern and specially designed Chemnitz souvenirs, the MINI MINI STOP became a place for a short break.

    The working process was characterized by research into the history of the district, conversations with local residents, forays through junk stores and numerous hours in the improvised kitchen. Time and again, plans had to be spontaneously adapted and processes rethought. The fact that a lively, multi-layered place was created in the end, where people met and engaged in conversation, was the greatest success of their residency for both of them.

  • Marie Donike und Johannes Specks

    turning space into a place
    In their shared artistic approach, Marie Donike and Johannes Specks examine cultural-historical aspects of cuisine and places of conviviality. They analyse the aesthetics of everyday life and imitate individual elements in order to place them in new artificial contexts. In this way, collective and individual memories are both used and created. A multimedia structure becomes a site-specific work, a walk-in installation, intervention and/or an interweaving of this with action.

    Their approach is conceptual, interdisciplinary and process-oriented. In addition to conventional exhibition spaces, they also use spaces in problematic urban districts or the countryside for their consistently situation-specific works. In doing so, they imitate an everyday life that does not exist in reality, but is often transfigured and imagined. Marie Donike and Johannes Specks turn spaces into places where people come together. They use mimicry, everyday aesthetics and communal eating for their spatial installations to shed light on central human issues and offer a place for exchange. The inclusion of a diverse audience is achieved with a sensitive feeling and honest interest in the other person, sociability and humor. The focus is on the moment of reflection of the recipients, which is triggered by the specific situation. Her theoretical and practical approach also includes collecting and processing food, foraging, cooking, preserving and a multidisciplinary documentation and presentation of this.

    Marie Donike (*1992), artist, lives in Cologne. She studied art history at the TU Dresden and the University of Vienna. Johannes Specks (*1991), artist, lives in Cologne. He studied fine arts at the HfBK Dresden. Together they have had exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Chemnitz, Heidelberg, Dresden, Cologne, Berlin, Kassel, Norway and Japan.

  • MINI MINI STOP

    For Marie Donike & Johannes Specks, the residence on the Sonnenberg became an experimental space for social encounters and everyday escapes. Based on reflections on classism, social and individual economic pressure and questions of privilege and accessibility, they developed a temporary location: the MINI MINI STOP.

    At the old petrol station on Annenstraße, they created an installative excursion venue for tourists - and anyone who wanted to become one. The artists asked themselves the question: Who is actually a tourist? Where do the desire to discover and escape from everyday life begin? Can't you also be a tourist in your own city, in search of new impressions, encounters and a break from worries and routines?

    With a sense of humor, a love of detail and a penchant for culinary experiments, Marie Donike & Johannes Specks have created a place for spontaneous encounters and conversations. Between spruce lemonade, MINI Rostwürstchen, Stolleneisbechern and specially designed Chemnitz souvenirs, the MINI MINI STOP became a place for a short break.

    The working process was characterized by research into the history of the district, conversations with local residents, forays through junk stores and numerous hours in the improvised kitchen. Time and again, plans had to be spontaneously adapted and processes rethought. The fact that a lively, multi-layered place was created in the end, where people met and engaged in conversation, was the greatest success of their residency for both of them.

  • Katariin Mudist

    Katariin Mudist (b. 1994) is an estonian artist exploring the multifaceted nature of humanity and its manifestations our social world. Her practice combines humor and irony to examine societal norms, value systems, and materiality.

    She is currently studying in the Craft Studies MA program at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she is working on the intersection of visual and material-based art. She holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art (EKA, 2022) and a degree in Media and Advertising Design (Pallas University, 2018).

    She is a member of the Estonian Artists' Association, the Estonian Association of Young Contemporary Artists, and the Association of Estonian Printmakers. Her recent exhibitions include “Slugs Like Us” at the HOP Gallery (2024) and “Sisters have sisterhood” at ARS Project Space (2024) with Johanna Mudist). Her latest exhibition at Tartu Art House (2025) focused on recognition in the art world and society more broadly (“Unfortunately, You Were Not Selected This Time”, with Keithy Kuuspu).

  • Passby

    For Katariin Mudist, the residence on Sonnenberg became a quiet approach to the neighborhood and its people. She spent several weeks on Jakobstraße, observing the comings and goings of passers-by and capturing fleeting moments with her camera. From these observations, she created small clay figures inspired by the postures, movements and expressions of the people passing by.

    The resulting work, Passby, brings together these miniatures in a display case reminiscent of a setting box or a board game. Passers-by can rediscover themselves in them - or recognize a familiar face, a familiar gesture, a typical posture.

    While working on the figures, a quiet, almost casual familiarity with the district developed. Recurring faces, small changes in everyday life - a new companion, a different shirt - became narrative fragments. Over the weeks, a playful archive of the streets of Sonnenberg and their inhabitants was created.

    With Passby, Katariin Mudist invites us to reflect on the quiet rhythms of everyday life and the many small encounters that shape the face of a place. The work is a contribution to the question of how we see others, how we are seen and how we locate ourselves in a community.

  • Katariin Mudist

    Katariin Mudist (b. 1994) is an estonian artist exploring the multifaceted nature of humanity and its manifestations our social world. Her practice combines humor and irony to examine societal norms, value systems, and materiality.

    She is currently studying in the Craft Studies MA program at the Estonian Academy of Arts, where she is working on the intersection of visual and material-based art. She holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art (EKA, 2022) and a degree in Media and Advertising Design (Pallas University, 2018).

    She is a member of the Estonian Artists' Association, the Estonian Association of Young Contemporary Artists, and the Association of Estonian Printmakers. Her recent exhibitions include “Slugs Like Us” at the HOP Gallery (2024) and “Sisters have sisterhood” at ARS Project Space (2024) with Johanna Mudist). Her latest exhibition at Tartu Art House (2025) focused on recognition in the art world and society more broadly (“Unfortunately, You Were Not Selected This Time”, with Keithy Kuuspu).

  • Passby

    For Katariin Mudist, the residence on Sonnenberg became a quiet approach to the neighborhood and its people. She spent several weeks on Jakobstraße, observing the comings and goings of passers-by and capturing fleeting moments with her camera. From these observations, she created small clay figures inspired by the postures, movements and expressions of the people passing by.

    The resulting work, Passby, brings together these miniatures in a display case reminiscent of a setting box or a board game. Passers-by can rediscover themselves in them - or recognize a familiar face, a familiar gesture, a typical posture.

    While working on the figures, a quiet, almost casual familiarity with the district developed. Recurring faces, small changes in everyday life - a new companion, a different shirt - became narrative fragments. Over the weeks, a playful archive of the streets of Sonnenberg and their inhabitants was created.

    With Passby, Katariin Mudist invites us to reflect on the quiet rhythms of everyday life and the many small encounters that shape the face of a place. The work is a contribution to the question of how we see others, how we are seen and how we locate ourselves in a community.

  • 04.07.2025 Viet Phuong Nguyen
    Dialogue field 2

    For Viet Phưong Nguyen, the residency as part of the dialogue fields became a very personal journey to a place he knew well from his childhood and youth. The ceramist, who has many formative memories of the Sonnenberg, merged old impressions with new encounters and observations to develop his work vasesace.soleil.

    In his ceramic vases, he used surface impressions of places that have a special meaning for him. Facades, floors, fences and ornaments became negative imprints in clay, which are thus not only materially but also symbolically connected to the Sonnenberg. The selected locations are exemplary of developments in the neighbourhood – places of scarcity and inequality that have simultaneously opened up space for new possibilities and creative appropriation. The vases were presented at Galerie HINTEN, daringly installed in an expansive installation.

    During the process, Viet Phưong Nguyen was supported by his friends and encouraged in his actions and ideas. Between mental breakdowns, overly optimistic schedules and numerous transport journeys, not only did the installation grow, but also his connection to his own artistic practice.

    The dialogue field brought him closer to the Sonnenberg district, but also made him more confident in his practice as an artist. The dialogue with local people, joint conversations and the sharing of memories and perspectives made this time a significant period for him, which will continue to have an impact far beyond the exhibition.

  • 30.06.2025 Review dialogue box 2
    Dialogue field 2
    Passing by and lingering

    The second round of the Dialogue Fields residency programme came to a close with a multi-faceted programme. The Estonian artist Katariin Mudist and the artist duo Marie Donike & Johannes Specks from Cologne have been guests at Sonnenberg since 19 May – they lived and worked in the district for six weeks and explored the theme of “favour” in their very own way. As a local spin-off, the residency was accompanied this time by Chemnitz ceramist Viet Phuong Nguyen (TIEV).

    Viet Phuong Nguyen opened the intervention week from 21 to 28 June by showing his “vasesace.soleil” series at Galerie HINTEN – ceramic vases with the traces of the Sonnenberg inscribed in their surface structure. Imprints of floors, façades and fences tell of places of change, of personal connection and collective memory. The boldly installed ceramic vases were on display for the entire duration of the intervention week.

    From this first station, our walk together did not lead far to the second: Katariin Mudist installed her work “Passby” on the corner of Zietenstraße and Jakobstraße : a collection of small, finely crafted clay figures inspired by the people passing by in the neighbourhood. Over the past few weeks, she has been documenting people passing by from this installation site, who then found themselves as small figures in the display case. As long as the artistic work defies external adversity, it will continue to exist.

    The final stop on the walk was the old petrol station on Annenstraße. Here, visitors were able to discover the MINI MINI STOP by Marie Donike and Johannes Specks – a temporary meeting point between art, cuisine and tourism, which surprised visitors with humour, new regional specialities and Chemnitz souvenirs. A place for fleeting encounters, spontaneous conversations and short breaks, over lollipop sundaes, MINI grilled sausages, spruce lemonade and coffee.

    The week was characterised by curious visitors, open conversations and small, often unplanned encounters. We are looking forward to the next Dialogue Field and invite everyone to stay up to date and come along to the upcoming events.

  • 20.06.2025 Timetable
    Dialogue field 2
    Ein gemeinsamer Spaziergang durch den Stadtteil Sonnenberg.

    On 21 June, the intervention week will start together, during which the results of the five-week residency will be presented. To this end, a short tour will be organised together with the artists in residence to the respective intervention sites to visit the works and engage in conversation. The tour starts at 16:00 at Lokomov in Augustusburger Str. 102 and ends in a cosy atmosphere at Annenstraße 34.

    The interventions can also be visited as follows:
    21. June 2025 – 28 June 2025

    Katariin Mudist – Passby, 2025
    Zietenstraße corner Jakobstraße
    around the clock

    Marie Donike Johannes Specks – MINI MINI STOP 2025
    Annenstraße 34, 09111 Chemnitz

    activated by the artists:
    21.6. 17:00 – 22:00
    22.6. 12:00 – 18:00
    23.6. 12:00 – 18:00

    open (without activation):
    27.6. 15:00 – 19:00
    28.6. 15:00 – 19:00
    open to the public (from outside):
    21.6 – 28 June around the clock

    TIEV – vasesace.soleil, 2025
    Gallery Hinten, Augustusburger Str. 102, 09126 Chemnitz

    open:
    21.6th Sat 16:00 – 23:00
    22.6th Sun 15:00 – 22:00
    23.6th Mon 12:00 – 18:00
    24.6th Tue 12:00 – 17:00
    25.6th Wed 12:00 – 17:00
    26.6 Thu 12:00 – 17:00
    27.6 Fri 18:00 – 23:00
    28.6 Sat 18:00 – 23:00

  • 02.06.2025 Start dialogue field 2
    Dialogue field 2
    We welcome Johannes Specks, Marie Donike and Katariin Mudist

    It’s that time again – the second Dialogue Field has started!
    We are looking forward to entering the next round together with our new artists in residence and would like to take a brief look back at our Welcome Days.

    On the first evening of the residency programme, the artist duo Johannes Specks and Marie Donike (Cologne), Katariin Mudist (Tallinn) and Viet Phuong Nguyen (TIEV) met for dinner together as the local artistic position. In a relaxed atmosphere, there was the opportunity to get to know each other for the first time. Afterwards, they went to the Czech pub U Brambory, where they continued their dialogue over a drink. The evening was rounded off with a short tour of the city together – a first impression of Chemnitz city centre up to Sonnenberg.

    The second day started with a city tour of Kaßberg, organised by Start with a Friend. The initiative brings together people from different walks of life and is committed to diversity and solidarity. Afterwards, we were able to attend Start with a Friend ‘s open meeting on the Küchwaldwiese, where we played games together and enjoyed a relaxed get-together.

    The third day began with a visit to the Schlossbergmuseum Chemnitz, where the exhibition “The New City” is on display – an opportunity to take a look at the city’s development. Later in the afternoon, the volunteers from the Chemnitz Capital of Culture took over the city tour and showed the artists-in-residence places that they find important or where they like to spend time: the Weltecho, the Pioneer Pavilion, the Chemnitz vaults, the Dancing Stones fountain, the former Kaßberg Prison learning and memorial centre and the Aaltra. Personal stories, spontaneous conversations and new perspectives on Chemnitz awaited us everywhere.

    Over the next five weeks, Johannes Specks & Marie Donike, Katariin Mudist and Viet Phuong Nguyen will develop their impressions and encounters into artistic concepts that will be presented on 21 June. We are already looking forward to it!

  • 09.05.2025 Introducing – Viet Phưong Nguyen
    Dialogue field 2
    local spin-off

    Viet Phuong Nguyen (TIEV), on the one hand a journeyman with three years of training as a ceramist and on the other hand part of the self-taught art collective BIKINI KOMMANDO. These formative periods of his life, which emphasise his appearance as an artistic ceramist from both a craft and artistic perspective, could hardly be more contradictory in their combination.

    TIEV’s works contain a recognisable rigour of craftsmanship, which at the same time finds contradiction in his childlike defiance of the outdated image of ceramics. The process of his creations is always planned from spontaneity, experimenting and testing new and old techniques, such as baking.

  • Shubhangi Singh
    March 14, 2025
    Maja Simišić
    April 27, 2025
  • Marie Donike und Johannes Specks
    May 19, 2025
    Katariin Mudist
    June 29, 2025
  • Denise Lee
    July 11, 2025
    Philipp Kolychev
    August 24, 2025