the street is our gallery

In the Year of Industrial Heritage, the Industriebrachenumgestaltung – ibug – will hold its 15th edition in Zwickau. This year, the focus of the festival is making any kind of art created in casual urban space accessible, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The former royal hospital (“Königlicher Krankenstift”) located at Spiegelstraße street in the city centre of Zwickau, Saxony, which has been abandoned since the mid – 1990s, is a perfect ibug location. In August, it will serve as a canvas for selected artists from all over Germany.

In view of the current situation with restrictions for events, distance rules and travel restrictions, the venue of the ibug 2020 will be expanded by the urban space of the city which can be used and designed by 20 of the invited
artists in several stages. In addition, about 10 international artists will be involved by means of digital contributions.

The creative phase will be extended to four weeks in August this year, with five artists or art collectives being on the site at the same time. Gunther Schumann, Quintessenz, Die Freizeitgruppe Gestaltung, Eusephia Lehe, Gino Dambrowski, Uder&Schindel, Yves Paradis, Elias Lori, Guido Zimmermann, Flamat, Laquaffe, Peter Fahr, BRZN and Loomit have already confirmed to join the event.

There will also be online presentations by international artists from Austria, Slovenia and Italy as part of the RESCUE partner project. As a historical example of a large medical institution of national importance, the royal hospital illustrates the special relationship between industrial development and public welfare and responsibility in Saxony. In the context of the current as well as various past crises, the lost place is being revived and transformed into a complete artwork, reflecting the time.

For two weekends – from 28 to 30 August and from 4 to 6 September – interested people and art lovers will be allowed to visit the urban exhibition grounds and enjoy a mix of painting and illustration, movies and multimedia, design and performance. This year again, there will be a gallery exhibiting and selling works of the ibug artists as well as guided tours for interested people, which can be booked via the ibug homepage soon.

Since its first edition in 2006, the ibug has become a world – famous urban art festival. Traditionally, an abandoned industrial site in Saxony will be opened as a temporary exhibition on the last weekend of August. The artists focus on experimenting with genres, materials and techniques, considering the past and the architecture of the indu strial wasteland. The ibug team has received many awards for its commitment, including the “PlusPunkt Kultur” award of the German Federal Association for Cultural Children and Youth Education in 2010 and the “Simply Saxony” idea contest for tourism in Saxony in 2019.

In 2020, the ibug is sponsored by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony and the Kulturraum Vogtland
– Zwickau special purpose association.

You can find further information online at www.ibug-art.de and www.rescue-eu.com .

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