Leipzig’s Visual Artists as Actors of Urban Change

Abstract

This chapter looks at the role of visual artists in urban change in Leipzig through the study of artists’ livelihoods and their engagement with the city in form of urban pioneering and professional development. Visual artists are actors of urban change in Leipzig because they share a sense of place attachment and common identity with the city. This leads to the attraction and retention of artists who are expanding and diversifying the existing cultural economy. Visual artists along with their exhibition and house projects have visible impact on the re-urbanisation of the city and the gentrification of specific neighbourhoods. This dynamic is strongly linked with urban shrinkage that Leipzig experienced after German reunification, which provided the experimental space and opportunity for a diversity of artistic livelihoods to emerge. However, currently the city is experiencing population growth due to its affordability and mythicised urban identity. Leipzig is renowned for its active visual arts scene embodied in the New Leipzig School movement and the renowned Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, which is an incubator for artistic skill and talent. Previous research on the city’s attractiveness to cultural workers has identified strong personal networks, the diverse cultural offer and affordability of space as core factors for talent attraction and retention. Through qualitative methods, this research articulates causation, tensions and contradictions that describe the livelihoods of visual artists (including art students) within a complex urban setting that allows for positioning between artistic autonomy and commercial artistic practices.