The transport sector is responsible for 22% of CO₂ emissions in Germany and therefore plays an important role in debates about the climate crisis. Back in 2006, the artist duo Haubitz + Zoche addressed this issue with their work Blind Date and exhibited a silver-blue BMW filled to the headrests with water in Munich’s city centre. Almost 20 years later, this work can be seen in front of the Freie Presse as part of the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II. Chemnitz was rebuilt as a car-friendly city after the war and remains so to this day. The automotive industry is firmly anchored in Germany’s economy and consciousness. While some are calling for the socio-ecological conversion of car production to trains, trams and buses to save jobs, new e-car factories, such as Tesla in Brandenburg right now, are supposed to rescue individual transport into the future.

Art historian Susanne Prinz, director of the Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin, will talk to artist Stefanie Zoche about her work in the context of the climate crisis.

The discussion will then continue on the topic of mobility and the climate crisis with input from Peer Ehmke, Martin Schmidt and Janine Korduan. Peer Ehmke is a research assistant at the Schlossbergmuseum Chemnitz and has been working on urban development visions in Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz for quite some time. Martin Schmidt is the city office manager of teilauto in Chemnitz. The car sharing service has been growing continuously since 1992. Janine Korduan is involved in the alliance Tesla den Hahn abdrehen and the citizens’ initiative Grünheide in the protests against the Tesla plant in Brandenburg.