The Questions

The Questions is a three-part project taking place in 2025 in Manchester and Chemnitz, twin cities since 1983.

Through performance, conversation and cultural exchange, Quarantine, in collaboration with ASA-FF (Chemnitz, Germany) will work together to create intergenerational encounters, both locally and internationally.

The project forms part of the programme for Chemnitz 2025: European Capital of Culture.

In Building of spines, hosted in libraries, a book is handmade over 7 days in response to conversations with library users, published and made available in the library’s collection.

Would Like To Meet brings together 5 artists from Chemnitz with 5 artists from Manchester, each with a generational age gap, asking what questions they might have for each other.

Telescope is a new performance work, co-created with teenagers on the cusp of adulthood and older people, entering the final chapter of their lives, which will be developed and presented in both cities. The central question will be: “What can you teach me?”

The Questions’ three parts look to forge connections, foster transparency and invite openness, seeking to find alternative ways to be together across generations.

Following these three parts, The Questions will culminate with Florian Malzacher’s The Art of Assembly, which brings together artists, activists and thinkers in a longitudinal research study into how and why it matters that we physically assemble, and what this enables – socially and politically – in a time when so much is uncertain. In Chemnitz, the focus will be the subject of intergenerational assembly.

We’ll be sharing more about The Questions in 2025 – stay tuned!

Image: Quarantine, Summer. Photo: Simon Banham