We warmly invite you, your family and friends to the opening of the exhibition.
Welcome
Florence Thurmes (General Director of the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz)
Greetings
Dagmar Ruscheinsky (Mayor City of Chemnitz)
Michael Stötzer (Mayor City of Chemnitz)
Introduction to the exhibition
Florian Matzner and Anja Richter (Curators of the exhibition)
And the artists of the exhibition
The Chemnitz River was once freely meandering, stony and rich in species before it was straightened, hidden, polluted and used to drive industry. A performance is organised as a healing, cleansing ritual for the river.
Transformed umbrella frames flood the city center and become symbols for the fragility of our built environment.
The first climatic change of every human being is birth, when the environment changes dramatically from amniotic fluid to air. The performance refers to this moment, utilising echoes in the urban space.
Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett present the films “The Call of Fragility” (2022, 35 minutes) and “Tanah Tumpah Darah” (2024, 70 minutes). In the form of journeys, storytelling and performances in the Indonesian archipelago, the films capture crises and fragility, which are also the subject of the performance Never Take Life Seriously, Nobody Gets Out Alive Anyway in the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES. There will also be food.
The first climatic change of every human being is birth, when the environment changes dramatically from amniotic fluid to air. The performance refers to this moment, utilising echoes in the urban space.
Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett present the films “The Call of Fragility” (2022, 35 minutes) and “Tanah Tumpah Darah” (2024, 70 minutes). In the form of journeys, storytelling and performances in the Indonesian archipelago, the films capture crises and fragility, which are also the subject of the performance Never Take Life Seriously, Nobody Gets Out Alive Anyway in the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES. There will also be food.
“Brotest” (breadtest) as a protest against the overproduction and unfair distribution of food. Using a fence, angle and saw, as well as other tools the old bread is cut, crumbled, scooped and thus transformed into new forms. These form the starting material for a playful and explorative approach to old bread, taking a critical look at food waste, but also creating new perspectives on further use and recycling.An interactive installation that is performed by performers and passers-by. Photo by Knut Klaßen
“Brotest” (breadtest) as a protest against the overproduction and unfair distribution of food. Using a fence, angle and saw, as well as other tools the old bread is cut, crumbled, scooped and thus transformed into new forms. These form the starting material for a playful and explorative approach to old bread, taking a critical look at food waste, but also creating new perspectives on further use and recycling.An interactive installation that is performed by performers and passers-by. Photo by Knut Klaßen
The first climatic change of every human being is birth, when the environment changes dramatically from amniotic fluid to air. The performance refers to this moment, utilising echoes in the urban space.
Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett present the films “The Call of Fragility” (2022, 35 minutes) and “Tanah Tumpah Darah” (2024, 70 minutes). In the form of journeys, storytelling and performances in the Indonesian archipelago, the films capture crises and fragility, which are also the subject of the performance Never Take Life Seriously, Nobody Gets Out Alive Anyway in the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES. There will also be food.
Attention: Unfortunately, today’s guided tour has to be cancelled.
As part of her performance series “The Dinner Series”, Klara Meinhardt invites you to a one-time event at Lokomov. The performance allows the audience to actively participate in the creation of a cyanotype, an artistic photographic technique known for its distinctive blue tint.
At the heart of the event is a communal meal accompanied by poetic texts on the ao called color “Berliner Blau”. These contributions shed light on the wild history and the many facets of this historic color and create an atmospheric ambiance that deepens the artistic experience.
Language: German
Please register at info@klubsolitaer.de (until 05.07.)
In summer, the heavy heat from heat islands is particularly noticeable. These are areas in the city that heat up particularly quickly and cool down only slowly, mainly due to the sealing of surfaces and little shade. The artist Anna Lorenzana takes up the topic of “heat islands” in the context of the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II and developed a graphic work on an advertising pillar to draw attention to these places in the city. For this, she used map material from the company ThINK GmbH, which was generated in July 2023 as part of a project with the Environmental Agency and the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology using satellite data. Citizens are cordially invited to take part in an open discussion with the artist and representatives of the Environmental Agency and ThiNK GmbH to shed light on the topic from different perspectives and answer questions.
Speakers:
Anna Lorenzana – Artist
Sarah Arnold – Environmental Agency City of Chemnitz
Jakob Maercker, Dennis Kehl – THINK GmbH
Duration: 6 – 7:30 pm
Language: German
Photo: Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz/graukarte.info
Attention: The workshop is unfortunately cancelled due to health reasons
What does life in the ground sound like? What sounds does a tree make? In the workshop, we will visit small urban biotopes in the area around the Lokomov in Chemnitz and listen to the diverse activities of their numerous non-human inhabitants using special microphones. We will then use the recordings to create digital sound pieces to round off the evening in the Lokomov. No previous technical knowledge is required. Sound equipment will be available – if possible, please bring a smartphone with headphones.
Duration: 10 am – 6 pm (incl. lunch break, without catering)
Language: German
Kids only with a supervisor
Please register at info@klubsolitaer.de (until 06.07.)
Who owns the land we live on? The performance to vacant lot takes a playful look at privatization, displacement and the social consequences of competition with land as an object of speculation.
Over the duration of the performance, a continuous division and transformation of the plot of land takes place. The changing spatial situation opens up a new playful setting for the performers and the audience. A grid structure of 100 individual square meters is created and then deconstructed again. Various phases of development are traced – from commons to enclosure, speculation, competition and expropriation, to the unclear space that emerges afterwards when all the structures have dissolved again.
You are invited to bring your used clothes and learn together how to transform them with different ideas. Fulfill your dream with sewing works such as: Bags, dolls, denim purses, pouch backpacks and so on. Old, young, vintage fan or style fan are all welcome!
Child friendly
Between 2 – 8 pm
The Chemnitz, Kamenica, was once freely meandering, stony and biodiverse, then straightened, hidden, polluted, it became the driving force behind the industrialization of the city. In reaction to that Margrethe Pettersen, Maia Birkeland, Dana Tomečková and Christina Disington perform a healing, cleansing ritual in the river
The video documentation of the performance will be shown in loop from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The quiet spot at Kappelbach invites you to linger and relax.
Sorry, this entry is only available in DE.
Sorry, this entry is only available in DE.
Sorry, this entry is only available in DE.
The Chemnitz, Kamenica, was once freely meandering, stony and rich in species, then straightened, hidden and polluted, it became the driving force behind the industrialisation of the city. In response, Margrethe Pettersen, Maia Birkeland, Dana Tomečková and Christina Disington perform a healing, cleansing ritual in the Chemnitz River. The video documentation of the performance will be shown repeatedly from 3 – 7 pm. The quiet spot by the Kappelbach invites you to linger and relax.
Photo: Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz/graukarte.info
The transport sector is responsible for 22% of CO₂ emissions in Germany and therefore plays an important role in debates about the climate crisis. Back in 2006, the artist duo Haubitz + Zoche addressed this issue with their work Blind Date and exhibited a silver-blue BMW filled to the headrests with water in Munich’s city centre. Almost 20 years later, this work can be seen in front of the Freie Presse as part of the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II. Chemnitz was rebuilt as a car-friendly city after the war and remains so to this day. The automotive industry is firmly anchored in Germany’s economy and consciousness. While some are calling for the socio-ecological conversion of car production to trains, trams and buses to save jobs, new e-car factories, such as Tesla in Brandenburg right now, are supposed to rescue individual transport into the future.
Art historian Susanne Prinz, director of the Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin, will talk to artist Stefanie Zoche about her work in the context of the climate crisis.
The discussion will then continue on the topic of mobility and the climate crisis with input from Peer Ehmke, Martin Schmidt and Janine Korduan. Peer Ehmke is a research assistant at the Schlossbergmuseum Chemnitz and has been working on urban development visions in Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz for quite some time. Martin Schmidt is the city office manager of teilauto in Chemnitz. The car sharing service has been growing continuously since 1992. Janine Korduan is involved in the alliance Tesla den Hahn abdrehen and the citizens’ initiative Grünheide in the protests against the Tesla plant in Brandenburg.
Opening of the mixed media installation. A water pool, a floating loudspeaker, waves, words and sky. Searching for reflection and resonance in the exhibition space.
The installation “In-Fluence” sends the amplified sound of words into a pool of water that casts shadows on the wall. The work addresses the human impact on nature and, in this context, our precious resource water, the basis of all life on this earth, but also our dependence on it.
Photo: Hannah Doepke
“Fit into the space” is a mobile bed of Korean perilla plants with which the artist will be wandering through Chemnitz on selected days. The plant from the mint family is used in Korean cuisine to make salads and kimchi. Despite its emotional and culinary significance, it is difficult to obtain in the diaspora, which is why it is cultivated in many places on a self-organized basis.
In this workshop we will prepare perilla kimchi together.
Duration: 3pm – 4:30pm
Please register at taemenjung@gmail.com
What is the delegate from the stars doing in the Thuringian Forest? – shaken awake by the construction of new roads, cutting swathes between concrete births or calibrating. The film shows an approach to the conditions of the earth’s surface. We are taken on a short journey along the Rennsteig, the 170 km long ridgeway on the historical border of Thuringia and Bavaria.
In a performative lecture, a mixture of film screening and artist talk, the artist Christoph Blankenburg will show excerpts from the award-winning Rennsteig Flimmern 2 and the as yet unpublished Rennsteig Flimmern 3 and enter into an exchange with the audience. Video still: Christoph Blankenburg Rennsteig Flimmern 3, Performance Laura Wiemers
Language: German
Wild clay is the name for regional clay that is taken directly from the ground. It is not mechanically cleaned and homogenized, but remains as it is – sometimes somewhat unpredictable, wild. We capture wild clay directly in front of the gallery and tame it together as part of the exhibition ERDARBEITEN III.
We make pottery with the earth that has been made accessible by the construction work in Jakobstraße. The focus is on getting to know the material in a playful way.
Duration: 12-17 h
Language: German, English translation possible
Please register at info@klubsolitaer.de
Photo: Priska Engelhardt
You are invited to bring your used clothes and learn together how to transform them with different ideas. Fulfill your dream with sewing works such as: Bags, dolls, denim purses, pouch backpacks and so on. Old, young, vintage fan or style fan are all welcome!
Child friendly
Between 2 – 8 pm
Japanese knotweed proliferates on the banks of the Chemnitz, in allotments and along railway tracks. What consequences does a self-evolving nature have for our understanding of ‘native’ and ‘foreign’? What do we mean by nature and culture when agricultural land is farmed monoculturally and animals retreat to urban centres?
The artist Tue Greenfort has been dealing with our environment for years. In the form of sculptures, interventions and archival exhibition strategies, he has explored cultivated grains, polluted lakes and the relationship between humans and animals. Instead of saving our idea of a healed and untouched nature, he shows which ideologies are hidden in our view of nature and where humans intervene in supposedly unaffected nature. In Chemnitz, he has created a sculpture that refers to the ambivalent plant Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica). He will be presenting his artistic approach on the 14th of September.
Cord Riechelmann is a biologist, lecturer, publicist and author and has written several books on nature and the human relationship to it. In ‘Krähen. Ein Portrait’ (Matthes & Seitz, 2023), he focuses on the myth-laden, clever bird species. ‘Wald’ (Merve, 2019) asks why, in the Roman Empire, philosophy and political underground groups, the forest was often understood as something radically different, but rarely actually visited. In ‘Wilde Tiere in der Großstadt’ (Nicolai, 2004), he traces new animal habitats. In Chemnitz, he will talk about the problem of invasive or so-called ‘’foreign‘’ species and their current ideological utilisation.
Language: German
Landscape and its vegetation only appears to be natural, while in fact it’s impacted by power and violence. The Land of Hornkranz in present day Namibia, formerly a German colony, suffered damage after the attack of the Schutztruppe in 1893. But also the colonial entanglements of Chemnitz, its citizens and industrialists are rendered invisible whilst traces of it continue in the city. This workshop invites participants to think together about the effects of colonialism and environmental degradation, emphasizing the importance of decolonial ecological thinking in inspiring new forms of environmental awareness. Participants will be guided through an analysis of how German colonial systems of extraction, land control, and cultural domination started in the late 1800s contributed to biodiversity loss and ecological disturbances in Namibia today while also reflecting the parallel colonial history of Chemnitz. During the workshop theory and technological tools will be presented that have aided in the reconstruction of Forensic Architecture’s investigation of Hornkranz, which is currently on show as an exhibition in Chemnitz. By visiting its sites and traces during a walk through the city we will bring the participation and complicity of Chemnitz in the colonialism of the German Reich.
Mushiva is a Berlin-based Namibian multidisciplinary technologist and artist whose work recasts technology as a new toolfor radical black thought. Mushiva currently works as computational researcher at the investigative agency Forensis / Forensic Architecture where he investigates the impact of colonialism on ecological factors using remote sensing tools.
Stephan Schurig is a research assistant at the Chair of Human Geography with a focus on European Migration Studies at Chemnitz University of Technology. His PhD deals with the (in)visibilities of colonial entanglements of the city of Chemnitz. He is a member of the network ‘Sachsen postkolonial’ and has previously worked with student groups and experimental spatial mapping methods on the subject.
The workshop and walk will be in English. A German translation can be provided if necessary.
In the past, water was dammed for mills at the Neumühlenwehr. In 1990, a protest was held there to draw attention to the devastating situation of the Chemnitz River. “The Chemnitz River should live again” was written by activists on a banner that they stretched along the dam. At the same time, they fished in the biologically dead river with gas masks on their heads. As part of the art exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II, Begehungen e. V. has recreated this action 34 years later and thus questions the current and past state of climate activism.
The environmental groups in the GDR, often organized around churches, published self-organized texts and campaigned for endangered species such as hedgehogs, dying forests such as in the Ore Mountains, unprotected open garbage dumps or air polluted by industry such as in Karl-Marx-Stadt. They were observed and repressed by the state security services. In the 1990s and noughties, environmental and nature conservation groups such as Greenpeace, NABU and BUND became part of the social consensus. A new generation such as the Fridays for Future movement was initially met with a similarly open response. As action against the climate crisis became more urgent and the protests consequently more pressing, the mood changed and groups such as the Last Generation were attacked as “Klimakleber”. With the so-called farmers’ protests, another ecologically extremely relevant group, farmers, spoke out. However, their protests were quickly appropriated by the radical right.
On the occasion of the artwork “Der Chemnitzfluss soll wieder leben – 1990 re-enacted” by Begehungen e. V., we would like to talk about the transformation of environmental protests and climate activism in (East) Germany and ask what it took then and now to make change possible. To this end, representatives of different groups and generations will come together.
With Manfred Hastedt, Doro Sterz, representatives of the Last Generation Chemnitz and Lars Neuenfeld
Manfred Hastedt was active in the GDR in the context of the church environmental and peace movement and was particularly concerned with species extinction, air pollution and forest dieback. From 1990-2021, he ran the Chemnitz Environmental Center, the only one of its kind in Saxony, in the former headquarters of the State Security in Henriettestrasse. He currently organizes and documents the role of the environmental movement in the GDR and is active in Local Agenda 21
Dorothee Sterz, 27, a trained farmer, works in dairy farming on a mixed farm in central Saxony. She is involved in the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (Working Group for Rural Agriculture) and is committed to pasture farming and a structurally rich landscape.
Hans Hiersemann is active in the Last Generation Chemnitz.
Matthias Döhler is a freelance architect in Chemnitz and chairman of the Begehungen e.V. association. The art festival of the same name takes place annually in special and neglected locations in Chemnitz.
The event takes place on the terrace of Restaurant Malula at Georgstraße 21. In case of bad weather, we move it to the Hot Super project space at Brühl 71
The Language is German
With Markus Bader (raumlabor berlin), Christof Oberreuter (Operations Engineer Drinking Water Supply eins Energie), Luise Butzer (Communia e.V.)
Water is life. But where our drinking water comes from and where our wastewater flows to is largely invisible. As part of the art exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II, the “Collection Point” sculpture by raumlabor berlin channels rainwater from the historical Red Tower into a light well in the underground car park, making water visible for a brief moment. How important is water to us as a common good? What infrastructure is needed for it? How can water be protected from the climate crisis, privatization and large-scale construction projects?
A guided tour of the eins energie drinking water reservoir will give us an insight into the municipal water supply of the city of Chemnitz.
Afterwards, Markus Bader from raumlabor berlin will present his artistic and urban work, which has repeatedly dealt with water in a playful and yet deeply socially relevant way. Luise Butzer is a sociologist and climate activist. In the VerNetzT project of the Thuringian Water Innovation Cluster, she explored the network of social relationships along the water supply and disposal chain. At Communia e.V., Luise Butzer works on the socialization of energy. In Chemnitz, she will be contributing an input on debates about public water infrastructure.
Participants are invited to take part in discussions about municipal infrastructure and water use.
Registration is required for the guided tour of the drinking water reservoir: Please write to hallo@gegenwarten.info
Language: German
Schedule:
17:00 Guided tour of the water reservoir, Leipziger Str. 104
18:30 Presentation & discussion, Sammelstelle, Roter Turm
291 million years ago, Chemnitz was located near the equator. Under the increasingly warm and dry climate of the Permian, a subtropical primeval forest grew in a humid oasis, which was buried by the eruption of the Zeisigwald volcano. As a result, the Chemnitz Petrified Forest, which is now being excavated in the middle of the city, captured the life of a distant past in a snapshot.
At present, living conditions on earth are changing again. A species extinction is underway, caused by the rapid warming of the planet as well as other factors significantly influenced by humans. Will the plant world be able to adapt to climate change? And what can we learn from the Earth’s past for its future?
As part of the exhibition NEW ECOLOGIES Gegenwarten II, Ooze (Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg) and Marjetica Potrč have dug an artificial crack in the construction hole in front of the Tietz, where petrified trees and their descendants, which still thrive today as living fossils, meet. Do we see in these plants of the hot past the plants of the hot future? What do climatic changes mean for our current plant world, for us humans and our relationship with nature?
Together with Sten Gillner, head of the Chemnitz Botanical Garden, and project partners Ronny Rößler and Ilja Kogan from the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz, we want to discuss these questions and immerse ourselves in the plant world of prehistoric times and the future. With a greeting from Ooze, we will visit the artwork A Crack in Deep Time | Urzeit-Riss in the Bauloch in front of the Tietz.
Prof. Dr. Ronny Rößler is director of the Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz and has been researching the biology of fossil plants and forests, especially from the Permian period, for decades. In a short lecture, he will introduce the ecosystem of the Permian period.
Dr. Sten Gillner is the director of the Chemnitz Botanical Garden. With his doctorate on urban trees in climate change, as scientific director of the project “Urban trees as climate ambassadors” at the TU Dresden and as a technical advisor to local authorities, he has many years of experience with trees and other plants in climate change. He will report on the challenges they will face in the future.
The evening is free of charge.
Language: German
A burial ceremony for insects on the Chemnitz.
accompanied by Chemnitz Musica e.V. Choir
Dedicated to the microcosm.
We are not the guardians of this garden. We are only granted a glimpse from time to time.
We make forays through diverse worlds, walk through relationships of which we are not aware. A treasure chest has been opened under leaves and roots: so much beauty, so much regret. Crystal eyes and armor like jade – jewels inherited from early mutations. Each ommatidium casts a different light.
Broken limbs, dusty wings; calmed by the stream, cleansed by the current.
´Kleine Herzen unser, Garten bittersüß´ is a gentle happening and a symbolic gesture of care. The burial ritual invites us to commemorate the everyday trauma in our immediate environment, while poetically organizing our unresolved feelings as interconnected beings embodied in the landscape.
Text in cooperation with Hou Ching
Patrick Will takes an indepth look at the stinging nettle. He confronts the stigma of the weed with earnestness and botanical attention to detail, creating convincing multi-dimensional references to the plant in industry, the food culture, medicine, music and art history.
Using artistic means, he succeeds in creating a seriousness and attention for the apparent weed without artificially elevating it.
By means of walks, workshops and lectures, he makes the manifold connections between human beings and nettles visible. Most recently, he resorted to nettles in the Chemnitz region.
For the earthworks, the Weed Information Centre, which he initiated and runs, conducts investigative research to uncover the means by which states and municipalities implement a image of gardening that stands against botanical diversity and for the exclusion of some plant species.
Reinhard Krehl is an artist and walk researcher. In his practice, he explores how order and disorder shape our perception. His works question scientific systems and everyday experiences. He uses Strollology to capture the poetic and anarchic freedom of nature, challenging traditional botanical classifications. For Reinhard Krehl, nature acts as an ambassador in each of its forms. The artist himself becomes an ambassador, a mediator between nature and man, who sharpens our view of nature and shows us what we can learn from it.
For the earthworks, Reinhard Krehl explores the migration history of various plants discovered on the Sonnenberg and their social attributions.
In the artistic undertakings on stinging nettle (Urtica D.) and other unpleasant plants, the “Unkräuter-Informationszentrum” receives not only positive but also occasionally massive dissenting voices. These are particularly surprising when they come from employees of botanical gardens or green space authorities. The “Unkräuter-Informationszentrum” and its human representative Patrick Will regularly gather the background and extent of this backlash in habitats with the best (ruderal) site conditions or botanical-political scandals. The city of Chemnitz has so far fulfilled both of these requirements excellently, which is why the weed field of Europe 2025 has also been created here with its 30 fiber nettles. The “Unkräuter-Informationszentrum” therefore invites you to a botanical tour with open discussions about lists of prohibited plant species, failed apple-tree parades and the positive effects of green space-saving measures for weeds in public spaces.
Duration: 2-5 p.m.
Language: German
Image rights: Nikolaev, Starostina & Will, Still from The Soil is my Patient
Transformed umbrella frames flood the city center and become symbols for the fragility of our built environment.
It is widely known that smoking industrial plants, masses of cars, nuclear power plants and mountains of plastic are harmful to the climate. But what about digitalization, this supposedly invisible and immaterial hope-bearing technology?
The artworks by Simon Weckert and Ulrich Formann at NEW ECOLOGIES use data-based media art strategies to draw attention to overlooked climate impacts. Weckert’s artwork “Emission of the Cloud”, for example, emits smoke that symbolizes the amount of CO₂ that can be traced back to the hourly internet usage of all Chemnitz residents. Ulrich Formann’s sculpture “Slotmachine” calculates the empty flights in real time, which only serve to hold usage rights at airports, and displays them on a large display board. With his film “Brute Force”, artist Felix Lenz explores the effects of our data-based, digital age on ecology and landscape, while also demonstrating sustainable alternatives with his self-hosted and solar-powered website.
Ulrich Formann, Simon Weckert and Felix Lenz will present their work on the last evening of the exhibition and discuss the challenges and strategies of artistic engagement with the less visible effects of current digitalization and possible alternatives. The event will be moderated by Amelie Buchinger, who works as a research assistant at the Research Centre for Techno-aesthetics at the AdBK Munich and is doing her doctorate at Leuphana University Lüneburg with a thesis on the media cultural history of digital decarbonization
Between the contributions, there will be space and time to talk about the repressed effects of our current digitalization, but also about possible alternatives.
Reinhard Krehl invites you to a vegetarian 4-course menu dedicated to the theme of ash. The food combines the visual arts, the location and the vegetation in a special way. Pineapple chamomile, French cabbage, charred leek and goat’s cheese in hay ash are (among other things) the protagonists of this artistic menu. Reinhard Krehl will report on the different parts of the menu and turn the whole thing into a lecture performance.
Only with prior notice to info@klubsolitaer.de
Language: German
Film: Sun under ground (DE 2022, 39 Minutens)
SUN UNDER GROUND is an essayistic film about uranium mining in Saxony and Thuringia during the GDR era. […]Based on conversations with environmentally committed activists, local residents and former miners, our film takes an ecological-political inventory that traces the element of uranium in local mining museums, in archive materials, underground and in today’s restored landscapes. In our film, uranium is thematized as a substance that repeatedly returns to the place and circumstances of its extraction. As cancer in the lungs of the workers, in the form of the cloud that blows over from Chernobyl in April 1986 or under the top layer of the grass-covered slag heaps. This gives uranium a ghostly quality that returns cyclically and points to a temporality that goes far beyond the human scale and and refers to the incompleteness of the atomic age. (Mareike Bernien and Alex Gerbaulet)
Reading: Der Kletterpilz am Ende der Welt. Kindheiten in der Folgelandschaft.
Elisabeth Heyne and Alexander Wagner read from their text “Der Kletterpilz am Ende der Welt. Kindheiten in der Folgelandschaft.” In it, they describe their upbringing after reunification as both a personal and a collective experience. They are able to capture the developments of a country, families, nature and landscape and show that these cannot be separated from one another. Radiant mushrooms shoot out of the ground next to mushroom-shaped climbing frames. New Philips televisions are installed in VEB-fabricated cupboard walls. First coal and ore are mined, then jobs are cut. Landscapes are excavated, abandoned, flooded naturally or artificially. Plants and animals find a habitat in the new landscapes.
The text was published in summer 2024 as part of the anthology “Ostflimmern. Wir Wende-Millenials” published by Mitteldeutscher Verlag. Previously, Deutschlandfunk broadcasted the joint audio essay “Hühner, Kohle, Kernkraftwerke. Gibt es ein ostdeutsches Anthropozän?” about the traces that industry, energy politics and environmental damage of the GDR have left behind in East German soils.
Elisabeth Heyne was born in Görlitz in 1988 and is a literary scholar who runs the project “Changing Natures. Collecting the Anthropocene together” at the Natural History Museum in Berlin. The collection of everyday objects that give an account of human influence on nature can be completed by everyone. In her academic work, she deals with science communication and the history of knowledge as well as concepts of collections, nature and culture in the Anthropocene, including in East Germany.
Alexander Wagner was born in Hoyerswerda in 1987 and wrote his doctoral thesis on the continuities of German colonialism under National Socialism. At the University of Wuppertal, he researches and teaches on topics including East German concepts of the body and energy culture. He works with artists and academics as a freelance curator, for example on the Ostschule project, which also made a stop in Chemnitz in 2023 after Freiberg and Bielefeld.
Sonne Unter Tage (Filmstill), ©Pong Film – Mareike Bernien und Alex Gerbaulet