Im Kopf von Schmidt-Rottluff for PC

The app Im Kopf by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff gives children, young people and the young at heart a new, playful approach to the life and art of this important painter from Chemnitz.

The expressionist artist Karl Schmidt-Rottluff is one of the most famous children in Chemnitz. He grew up in the Chemnitz suburb of Rottluff and went to school with Erich Heckel. In 1905, together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who also grew up in Chemnitz, they founded the Brücke artists' association in Dresden. Schmidt-Rottluff was always connected to his hometown of Chemnitz, designed the Modern Gallery with the director of the municipal art collection in the 1920s and also spent the years 1943 to 1946 in his parents' house in Rottluff, which will be expanded into a museum for the Capital of Culture 2025 . The Chemnitz Art Collections have an extensive collection with over 500 objects by the artist.


In order to convey the importance of the artist for international art history, but also to make the city more attractive for younger people, the art collections have developed an app together with the Berlin company Playing History. An interactive puzzle and learning tour takes the players through the life and work of the artist. In chronological order, they play their way through the different levels, which have titles such as That's Me, More Than Painting or A Dark Time.
A fictitious Karl Schmidt-Rottluff is at your side as a dialogue partner during the game and provides riddles or points out tasks. In this way, you can learn more about the eventful life of the artist and the historical circumstances under which his art was created. For example, it is explained that Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a founding member of the artist group Brücke or why the artist was banned from working during the National Socialist period. The players then come into contact with the term »degenerate art«. At the same time, they get to know various artistic techniques by trying them out virtually: How do I mix paint correctly, how is a woodcut or a poster made? What are characteristics of Expressionism? Intermediate goals of the game are to reveal individual artworks of the artist step by step by solving puzzles and then collect them in a gallery.

The app can be used in the museum, at home or at school. In 2025 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff will have his own facility in his former parents' house in Chemnitz. This authentic place of the artist in Chemnitz is a unique artistic place of remembrance in the city. The Karl Schmidt-Rottluff House is to be opened as part of the event year of the European Capital of Culture 2025. It will be one of the cornerstones and central contact points of a route of expressionism in Chemnitz.