POCHEN

Since 2018, POCHEN has been dealing with contemporary issues and narratives about the past, present and future. Every two years, the symposium and the biennial use visual and audiovisual forms of expression of multimedia art to deal with contemporary historical topics that move and culturally shape people in the Chemnitz region and Germany. Painting, sound, words, installations, light, performance and scene critically confront the past, inviting the public to question, reflect and speculate.

As an international forum for art and society, the POCHEN Biennale & Symposium is an experimental and discursive space for multimedia art in Chemnitz (Germany). The exhibition focuses on international and regional artists working at the interface of art and technology. The artistic work is to be taken as the starting point for a public, substantive discussion of relevant contemporary and social issues. In doing so, POCHEN brings together the artists' voices with relevant thinkers from science and society.

With the fourth edition of the exhibition from September 26 to October 20, 2024, we are presenting national and international multimedia artists in collaboration with European project partners. Under the curation of the Ukrainian curator Serge Klymko (Kyiv Biennale), new as well as established positions of 20 artists will be on display, as well as a participatory youth exhibition in cooperation with the "Amt für Wunschentwicklung".

Facts about the POCHEN Biennale

POCHEN Biennale - Tage des Aufbruchs I 2018

• Exhibition about the mining company “Wismut” with more than 20 events
• 5 exhibition venues in the city of Chemnitz
• Over 50 artworks by more than 25 curated artists

Symposium 2019

• Meeting & exchange of 5 European art festivals
• over 20 nationwide network and cooperation partners
• over 15 public events, workshops & talks

POCHEN Biennale - Preis der Zukunft I 2020

• Exhibition on the Treuhandanstalt and its impact history in the context of "30 Years of German Reunification" with over 1500 visitors in 10 days (in times of the corona pandemic)
• 4 exhibition locations in the city of Chemnitz
• over 50 artworks by more than 25 curated artists

Symposium: Die (neue) Vermessung der Welt I 2021

• Meeting, exchange & presentation of more than 25 professional guests, artists and experts
• over 20 nationwide network and cooperation partners
• over 15 public events, workshops & talks

POCHEN Biennale - The (new) measurement of the world I 2022

• Exhibition on the topic of data / data literacy with over 1500 visitors over 10 days
• An exhibition consisting of art and citizens' exhibition, as well as Pochen Studio
• Over 20 works of art by more than 20 curated artists

Symposium: The smoke comes from the east I 2023

• Gathering, exchange & presentation of over 25 experts, artists and performers
• Over 20 European network and cooperation partners
• over 20 public events, workshops, discussions, lectures & talks

Project funders

• Kulturstiftung des Bundes
• Beisheim Foundation
• Saxon State Ministry of Justice and for Democracy, Europe and Equality
• Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony
• City of Chemnitz

Project partners

• Arthur e.V.
• Chemnitz City Library
• HELLERAU
• WRO Biennale
• Jam Factory Lviv
• EMAP - European Media Art Platform

Contact
POCHEN Biennale & Symposium
Project Director: Kim Brian Dudek