„Der Chemnitzfluss soll wieder leben“ 1990 re-enacted
In April 1990, a group of environmental activists organised a protest to draw attention to the devastating state of the Chemnitz River: After decades of industrial pollution, it was biologically dead. The Begehungen e.V. association, which has been organising the art festival of the same name at various locations since 2003, is reenacting this action in the NEW ECOLOGIES exhibition. They write: “Today, 35 years after 1989, the prominent role played by environmental groups in the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR has largely been forgotten. Those who were committed to environmental protection risked a lot, because criticising the catastrophic conditions in many places also meant criticising the state. No one could deny the dramatic nature of the situation when faced with dead rivers such as the Chemnitz, the dead forests on the Erzgebirge ridge or the carbonblackened pavements in Espenhain.” The environmental movements in Germany were largely accepted by society from the 1990s onwards. Today, the Chemnitz River has been largely cleared and renaturalised in places. Even today, it is becoming increasingly urgent to take action in the man-made climate crisis. Between the new banner and the panels with historical footage, questions come up: what is the point? What is being repeated? Which demands are still valid? What is coming back? And what can we learn from?