BAUMWOLLSPINNEREI

Until recently unknown in Leipzig, the Baumwollspinnerei ("cotton spinning"), more simply Spinnerei is THE emblematic figure of hypezig, this Leipzig hype that is gaining a reputation as a fashionable city and capital of German contemporary art throughout the world.

This industrial site in western Plagwitz, a product of Karl Heine's planned development of the district, was the largest cotton spinning mill in continental Europe in the 1880s. It boasts an industrial architecture of red brick from this period, perfectly preserved and in great harmony. That is its first interest.

Its second interest is that the site, closed in 1993 with the de-industrialisation of the former GDR, was invested from the end of the 1990s by artists, both collective and individual, mostly belonging to the famous New School of Leipzig, behind the artist Neo Rauch, so rated by American galleries. Interested in space and inspired by the appearance of the place, they gradually transformed it into a true city of artists, composed of hundreds of workshops, dozens of galleries and various art centres. A hundred artists work there and animate the place, including Rauch, but also important figures of contemporary art such as Matthias Weischer or Jim Whiting. A theatre for meetings, artistic events, exhibitions, art fairs, the Spinnerei has been able to promote itself internationally and is very popular, enjoying a prestigious reputation throughout Europe, the United States and even as far away as Japan. Artists from all over the world are welcome. They can stay in residence, rent workshops or do internships.

For the general public, the site is of equally obvious interest. As soon as you enter, an information centre presents all the cultural news of the site; it also offers a small exhibition space for works often related to the news of the Spinnerei, and which also retrace the memory of the factory. There is then a museum, Hall 14, which presents the works of contemporary artists from Leipzig, then a dozen private galleries, an open-air cinema, spaces for installations... Something to take the pulse of creative Leipzig!