Institut fuer Zukunft

The IfZ opened in 2014 in the cellars beneath the Kohlrabizirkus, the domed old market hall south-east of the centre, and quickly became the reason people from Berlin started taking the train to Leipzig. It ran a Safer Clubbing policy built around harm reduction and education, kept a strict no-photo rule, and made a point of line-ups that supported underrepresented artists. It celebrated its tenth birthday in April 2024. In May of the same year it announced that it would close at the end of the year, citing rising costs and fewer visitors since the pandemic, and it did. The rooms are not empty, though. In February 2025 it was reported that a new venue, Axxon N., would open in the space that April, created by LiveKommbinat Leipzig, a coalition of local clubs and music venues, with workshops and experiments alongside music. Leipzig lost one institution and got a test of whether a city can replace one by committee.