The three-aisled industrial hall transformed for this purpose by the H2 ARCHITEKTUR by hendrik heine office from Lichtenstein on behalf of the town of Oelsnitz/Erzgeb. formulates a completely new idea of monument preservation. The steel skeleton of the former 1,600 square metre hall was dismantled, restored and will be re-erected together with the crane runway. It forms the framework for an exhibition building clad in Corten steel, for which James Turrell has designed his light art work "Ganzfeld - Beyond Horizons 2025".

Turrell has been realising skyspaces and Ganzfelds around the world since the 1980s, and important works of his can be found on the Japanese art island of Naoshima. A work like the light artwork developed for Chemnitz 2025 has so far only been experienced in a similar form in Germany on a temporary basis in 2009/10 at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. It offers visitors a unique experience. They are immersed and become part of a shadowless installation of coloured light that seems to dissolve the sense of time and space.

James Turrell | Ganzfeld - Beyond Horizons 2025
Hall 18 of the former coal mine in Oelsnitz/Erzgeb.
Ceremonial opening on Friday, 28.11.2025
Open to visitors from Saturday, 29 November 2025

About James Turrell
The US-American land art artist James Turrell was born into a Quaker family in 1943. Quakers grow up in strictly religious circumstances, without cars as well as electricity in their homes. At the centre of their faith is the inner light, an idea that still feeds James Turrell's work today. Turrell studied psychology and mathematics and began his work on light spaces in 1966. in 1968, he received a scholarship from the National Endowment for the Arts, which he followed up with art studies at the Graduate School in Claremont, California, in 1973. At the age of 16, Turrell acquired a pilot's licence, and in the 1970s he flew by plane in search of a site for underground light installations. He discovered an extinct volcanic crater in the Arizona desert, where he has been creating his main artwork ever since: The "Roden Crater" is a system of underground rooms, tunnels and shafts that allows light to be experienced in a unique way.

PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail - further openings
The PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail curated by Alexander Ochs is one of the main projects of Chemnitz 2025. Since 2023, a permanent exhibition of contemporary art in public spaces has been created in the 38 municipalities of the Capital of Culture Region and Chemnitz with works by Alice Aycock, Tony Cragg, Leiko Ikemura, Olaf Holzapfel, Nevin Aladağ, Via Lewandowsky and Leunora Salihu, among others.

There are also temporary exhibitions, such as the photographs from the series "Das abgewandte Porträt" by Corina Gertz currently on display in Marienberg at the Pferdegöpel on the Rudolphschacht (until 2 November) or the installation "The Universe in a Pearl" by Rebecca Horn in the Hospitalkirche St. Georg in Lößnitz (until 30 November). On 20 September at 5 pm, the inauguration of the ERZ barn and the opening of the exhibition "Die Milchbauern/Der Stadeltransfer" with works by photographer Anastasia Khoroshilova will be celebrated at the Ziegs farm market in Jahnsdorf. From 30 October, the cinematic miniatures "Ode to Craftsmanship" by Donata Wenders can be seen at the Kulturbahnhof in Flöha.

In the coming months, works by Via Lewandowsky in Burgstädt (21 September), Axel Anklam in Augustusburg (probably at the end of September), Monika Sosnowska in Callenberg (17 October), Redfort Architectural Fabrics in Annaberg-Buchholz, Rotmilan in Oberlungwitz and Hoda Tawakol and Gabriela Oberkofler in Limbach-Oberfrohna will also be opened and permanently integrated into the PURPLE PATH art and sculpture trail. From 5 to 12 October, the Mittweida Sukkot will also take place in Mittweida as part of the PURPLE PATH programme.

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