Factories of Imanigation

What do clubs have to do with old walls? How can club culture become green and sustainable? Can an industrial ruin convey identity? What is the significance of sites of industrial work in the post-fossil age and how will they be used in the future? And what demands will cultural workers make of politics and urban society in 2020?

Factories of Imagination is a film about the relationship between the buildings of industrial culture and the people who occupy them. Protagonists of the cultural/art scene and activists who, out of conviction or by chance, dedicate themselves to the preservation and narration of the industrial cultural heritage, report on their projects at the places where they work. The film documents the very different reasons and motivations of the actors: From the documentation of slowly disappearing spaces, the foundation of old and new identities, the reprogramming of spaces as a stage for culture and music and the search for free spaces, to the urge for self-realization and the desire to protect a special heritage and make it possible to experience. In the difficult year 2020, the protagonists of the film allow an insight into their work, their workplace and their view of the future of their industrial culture.

The film features protagonists from seven projects or institutions: WERK 2 – Kulturfabrik Leipzig, Project Gleisdreieck of the Leipzig Club and Culture Foundation, MIB Coloured Fields with Wirkbau Chemnitz, ibug – Festival for Urban Art, Network Industry.Culture.East Zwickau, Zentralwerk Dresden and Institute for New Industrial Culture INIK Cottbus in the Energy Factory Knappenrode.

Tip for the film: Fri 11.06. 20:00 online | Talk: Using Spaces, Creating Spaces, Sharing Spaces – Participative Projects for the City | More Info

Das Team

Konrad Hartig is a musician and media artist. He plays for various ensembles and institutions such as ensemble reflektor and the Semperoper Dresden. In addition to his musical projects, he accompanies a wealth of audio and video productions. He has produced CD recordings, music videos, live recordings and documentaries for the Saxon Music Council, various bands and solo artists. Together with Johannes Wünsch he realizes various events and streams via the label klangeskort.

Jörg Kosinski is a geographer, research assistant in the field of knowledge transfer (Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW), urban development. He is an active volunteer on the board of the non-profit association LiveKommbinat Leipzig e.V., the association of Leipzig clubs and live music venues.

Anne Krämer is an urban planner and mediator. Currently working in the methods department of the Faculty of Architecture and Social Sciences/HTWK Leipzig and in independent projects. Focus on participation processes and professional events on topics of urban/town development and building culture as well as on concrete planning projects, vacancy management and neighborhood work. Collaboration on the research project “Kreative Produktionsstä(d)te” on the low-investment redevelopment of industrial buildings for the creative industries (rb architekten, 2014).

Constanze Müller is a curator, art mediator, co-founder and managing director of D21 Kunstraum e.V. She has been curating and organizing a wide variety of projects since 2010. Her thematic focus is on interdisciplinary and participatory projects on the developments of urban spaces, the influence of a place on artistic production, as well as turnaround and post-turnaround experiences. Constanze Müller is also active in cultural policy in various bodies such as the Initiative Leipzig+Kultur.

Juliane Richter is an art historian and is doing her doctorate at the Bauhaus University Weimar on a topic related to the international circulation of architecture and knowledge. She was a board member of D21 Kunstraum and organized with them an art-architecture festival in Leipzig’s prefabricated housing area Grünau (RASTER BETON, 2016). She also works as a journalist for the trade magazine of the Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA. Her interests include architectural history and theory since modernism, critical urban studies, contemporary history, and contemporary art and culture.

Johannes Wünsch is a geographer, musician and cultural service provider from Leipzig, together with Konrad Hartig under the label klangeskort he plans, consults and organizes various events/venues/streams. In addition, he plans and works on the development of Leipzig industrial buildings such as the GarageOst and works for the young orchestra ensemble reflektor as project manager and tour planner.