ZWISCHENSTÄDTEN
Pauseland
Linus Grösel and Alan J Ward
From ‘Would Like to Meet’, Museum Gunzenhauser, Chemnitz Germany
25.11.25 – 25.01.26
‘Would Like to Meet’ is a strand of ‘The Questions’, part of the programme for Chemnitz 2025: European Capital of Culture by Quarantine, in conjunction with ASA-FF
We began our walk at HOME in Manchester, moving out of the city to look back at its expanding skyline. At the valley of the River Irk, we reached a threshold – an edge-land of green patches, wastelands, and disused factories where the urgency of the city meets the quiet of post-industrial decline. Here, a new perimeter of construction signals another cycle of redevelopment.
Above this shifting landscape, a 1960s concrete sculpture by William Mitchell watches from the brow of a hill. Depicting gears, machinery, and the workers who once powered them, it stands as a monument to an earlier industrial moment, observing renewal as it overtakes the remnants around it.
This site became a point of focus in our collaboration: a place where shared patterns of urban change, parallel material histories, and the overlooked spaces of Manchester and Chemnitz intersect.
See also zwischenstadten: pauseland