HTWK Leipzig is taking part in the international museum trade fair and the leading trade fair for heritage conservation, with exhibitions and presentations
Around 650 exhibitors are expected in a few days’ time at the in-house trade fairs “MUTEC” and “denkmal”, which will take place concurrently at the Leipzig Exhibition Centre from 5 to 7 November 2026. HTWK Leipzig will also be taking part in both MUTEC, the international trade fair for museum and exhibition technology, and ‘denkmal’, Europe’s leading trade fair for heritage conservation, restoration and the refurbishment of historic buildings.
Culture comes first – Leipzig’s museology and museum education at ‘MUTEC’
One of the 159 exhibitors at ‘MUTEC’ is the Faculty of Computer Science and Media at HTWK Leipzig. In Hall 4, Stand C23, students from the Museology and Museum Education | Education and Outreach in Museums degree programmes have once again set up their own exhibition stand. Together with Prof. Dr Gisela Weiß, HTWK Professor of Museum Education, they will be providing information on current trends and challenges in the museum sector.
The museum studies programmes are also enriching the specialist programme at the MUTEC Forum (Hall 4, C26): on Thursday at 11 am, Prof. Dr Alina Gromova, HTWK Professor of Museum Theory and Strategy, will chair the opening panel ‘Museums in Transition – How Technologies and Social Challenges Are Changing Cultural Institutions’ at 11.00 am, whilst Prof. Weiß will chair the panel ‘Achieving More Together – Collaborative Museum Work’ at 4.30 pm. The potential of the DigiCULT museum documentation system for cataloguing, publishing and networking object collections will be presented, as will the ‘Collecting/De-collecting’ pilot project by the Saxony-Anhalt Museum Association. The museum studies programmes also contributed to the jury for the MUTEC Awards: on Friday at 1.00 pm, twelve forward-looking exhibition projects will be honoured.
Applied Timber Construction Research – The FLEX.institut at ‘denkmal’
‘denkmal’ will open for the first time with a panel discussion on the topic ‘How much heritage can we afford?’ (Hall 2, F51) on Thursday at 10 am, moderated by HTWK Professor Dr Alexander Stahr. He and his team from theFLEX.institut are also jointly responsible for another innovation showcase at the fair. Together with the construction firm Bennert, they developed the concept for the DENK(M)AreaL. Across almost 1,000 square metres of exhibition space (Hall 2, L15), 18 companies, research institutions and project initiatives will be showcasing their work, including researchers from FLEX at the joint stand with Bennert (Hall 2, L19).
The DENK(M)AreaL also features a stage with its own programme of talks. The backdrop for this is the 3.5-metre-high construction model of the planned Pfalzturm project, in which the FLEX.institut is acting as a project partner of the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau alongside the Laser Institute at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences. A total of 19 talks on creative solutions to current issues in the renovation of existing buildings and heritage conservation, viewed from both practical and scientific perspectives, await visitors. Speakers from FLEX include: Cristoph Dijoux on the project ‘ARsist: Augmented Reality-based assistance systems for heritage conservation’ (Thursday, 2.30 pm), Luisa Sander on the project ‘ReFoRe: Recycling for Reuse. Assessment and processing of waste timber for reintroduction into the cycle’ (Friday, 2.30 pm) and Benedikt Adrian on the project “PreloadTimber: Influence of pressure-induced preload and rheological deformation on the tensile strength of structural timber” (Saturday, 12 noon).
Further talks and workshops at ‘denkmal’
As part of the Saxony Heritage Network, Prof. Dr Ulrich Weferling, Professor of Surveying at HTWK, will give a talk on Thursday at 5 pm on his current student seminar project focusing on the last surviving building of the spinning mill complex in Wolkenburg, Limbach-Oberfrohna (Hall 2, G38). Based on a detailed architectural survey, the structural and design features of the early 19th-century building were analysed, thereby clarifying key aspects of its architectural history.
At theworkshop on ‘Artificial Intelligence and Heritage Conservation’ on Friday at 10.00 am (Multipurpose Area 3, Level 0), the use of AI in heritage monitoring, restoration practices and heritage communication will be presented. Prof. Dr Franziska Klemstein, Professor of Data Lifecycle Management in Cultural and Scientific Institutions, will take part in the concluding wrap-up discussion. Registration for the workshop is open until 2 November 2026.
University Day organised by the German Sustainable Building Council, including a visit to the trade fair
In parallel with both trade fairs, the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), in cooperation with HTWK Leipzig, is hosting its DGNB University Day in Leipzig for the first time. Around 30 DGNB experts, as well as lecturers and researchers from German and one Swiss university, will spend two days discussing the topic of ‘Sustainable Building in Education’. On Thursday, participants will meet for discussions at the Congress Centre Leipzig (CCL) at the Leipzig Trade Fair as part of the Heritage Fair. Keynote speeches will be given there by, amongst others, HTWK professors Björn Höhlig and Alexander Stahr. The second part of the DGNB event will take place on Friday at HTWK Leipzig.
