Summer Set Ablaze in Climate-Conscious Berlin
KREUZBERG, Berlin — At the Berlinische Galerie on Alte Jakobstraße, I rounded the corner to an exhibition room and was taken aback by a large, ape-like creature sprawled across the concrete floor in an installation that I can only term narrative art.
The ape was coated in black, stringy fur that small worker figures were stripping from her back, leaving her torso a bloody mess. Her mouth hung wide open as wooden structures leaned up against her face with other small human figures trying to extract resources from her teeth. Some laborers had even gone to loot her private parts, loading her treasures into overflowing trucks. They were stripping her bare, capitalizing on her death, and destroying her corpse to feed their greed.
On display until Aug. 21, the art installation “The Sweet Certainty of Deliverance from the Darkness that Surrounds Us” portrays the imminent threat the planet faces, with rising temperatures and natural disasters caused by greenhouse gas emissions and unsustainable ways of life and production.
Witnessing this artistic raid on the creature’s body, a feeling of violation crept up in me, confronting me with the reality animals have faced in the race toward industrialization. My feet quickly moved to the next room.
In the middle of that hall, a flower bud-shaped paper-mâché spaceship draws the eyes, luring people to enter. Within it, the faces of animals stared back at me. Surrounding the vessel are large brown leaves, each holding a painting depicting the story of human evolution and collectivism that was set ablaze by mankind.
Apes fall from trees transforming into humans. Together, the apes burn down the forests and trees from where they came. In a last effort to preserve what remains of the land, the animals work together to build the vessel featured in the center of the room, which sends humans into space as animals watch them leave the world they have destroyed.
Leaving the exhibit, I was overcome by guilt and shame.
German and Romanian artists Matthias Boehler and Christian Orendt present their shocking view of the future of civilization, attempting to explain why humans waste resources, burn acres of forests that provide the Earth with oxygen, and produce more gas emissions than ever recorded. The two have worked together since 2008, creating art installations that provoke their viewers into questioning their responsibility and prompting them to change their ways of life by experiencing impactful and ironic mixed media exhibits.
While the storyline is a work of fiction, the work portrays a reality that is eerily familiar. Thoughts of billionaires flying into space and power plant fumes drifting up through the Earth’s atmosphere entered my mind. The exhibit conjured the smell of fires burning and ashy-covered streets in California — now also happening near my home in Queens, New York, where glass shards and Styrofoam litter concrete roads that used to host freshly cut fields of luscious poppies.
Now, walking around the streets of Berlin, I am reminded of how we globally share the challenge of survival. Advertisements for sustainable products surround me. It is easy to be a more eco-conscious guest on Earth in Berlin, where the importance of conservation is posted along the walls of train stations and covers the beams of streetlights.
This is not the case in the United States, where recycling is an afterthought and rarely enforced. It is difficult to find a can to throw out trash along the streets of Manhattan. Walking is not an option in Los Angeles, when there are no sidewalks, forcing me to get behind the wheel.
In Berlin, I am rewarded with a Euro coin every time I return a glass bottle or cup, urging me to reflect on my plastic consumption. When riding the U-Bahn, I am given four options on how to dispose of my trash, prompting me to discover what materials my waste is made of. To beat the summer heat, I can find solace on a former runway at a reimagined Tempelhof airport, surrounded by lush gardens and commuting cyclists. In this city, greenery stretches across historic streets crowded with people enjoying the sunshine, filling me with hope.
Berlin seems to understand the pleasures of living on the Earth and the need to take action now. After walking out of the Berlinische Gallery, I am beginning to as well.
Rebecca Fairweather is a political science student at UC Santa Barbara who works for UCSB TV and The Indy podcast at the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper. She is reporting from Berlin this summer as part of ieMedia’s “Berlin Beyond Borders” editorial team.
