Once a year, researchers from different Leipzig research institutions come together to get to know each other and a new part of Leipzig.

This year, we discovered a part of the industrial heritage of the city’s western districts. Leipzig has a rich industrial history, which you can still see today in the former industrial quarters of Plagwitz and Lindenau. One building still reflecting this past is the Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig. It is home to unique exhibitions about the city’s industrial past and impressive 360° projections. About 50 researchers, coordinators and network partners came together to visit the extraordinary exhibitions. The “Illusions” exhibition took us on a journey focusing on our own imagination and perception. In an interactive tour, the visitors were given the opportunity to question their own senses and marvel at the different installations.

Furthermore, the Kunstkraftwerk hosts two immersive art projections. An Italian artist collective designed them especially for the two factory buildings at the Kunstkraftwerk complex. The “Work in Progress” installation allows visitors to immerse themselves in the history of the industrial part of Leipzig, and in particular the Kunstkraftwerk as a former industrial site. The “Hundertwasser Experience” portrays the colourful, exciting, vivid world of the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Accompanied by the music of Luca Longobardi, the pictures convey an impression of the diverse inner feelings of Hundertwasser and his five skins theory.

After having seen this part of the Leipzig art scene, the researchers went on to “Mørtelwerk”, a restaurant which was formerly a mortar plant, located directly next to the Karl Heine Canal. The guests enjoyed a summer barbecue overlooking the canal and took the opportunity to get to know researchers from different Leipzig research institutions and exchange stories about their stay and work in Leipzig as well as their home countries.