TRUTH TRUST TREES
Bowie warned in 1972: we have five years.
The climate clock is ticking,
counting down to anthropocene.
At the Verwalterhaus, by the entrance of the St. Marien-St. Nikolai cemetery, a story takes shape between past and prologue. We see majestic trees and resting graves, while across from us are shopping malls and big box stores—a tidal wave of identical details encroaching from Alexanderplatz. Yet, the ghosts resist and push back. Five years was so many years ago. We’re on borrowed time. Mankind can no longer act with impunity. TreesTrustTruth is an exhibition of ten artists from around the world linking the relentless destruction of the climate, nature and women’s bodies to the ticking clock of unsustainability.
In the most recent Volkswahl, Berliners agreed to turn down the dependence on gas for heat, but not give up cars. In NYC, public spaces are sacrificed to development greed. In the Ukraine concrete and metal pile up around destroyed lives. All over domestic violence claims a shocking multitude of women’s lives with little legal and historical consequence. Germany is losing thousands of hectares of forest due to climate change. From Gruenheide to East River Park to the Amazon, the war on trees is raging, despite a world wide battle for sustainable cities, to stop rising tides, protect nature and house displaced peoples. Yet, cars continue to pollute, people produce unmeasurable amounts of waste, and the WAR MACHINE remains the biggest polluter. 80 years after WW2 the same mountains of debris that lie buried under all major German cities, pile up in the Ukraine. Female bodies continue to be violated as collateral damage and landmines continue to maim for generations, as radioactive pollutants contaminate the land, air, and water. Once more, paralyzed masses become dangerously polarized. Truth is in question, but without established „truths“ how do we move forward? While simultaneously dystopian interventions of Artificial Intelligence subvert authenticity, and we wonder: who can we trust?
WE FACE A CHOICE: consume more, add more cars and fossil fuels, shop ourselves to death, hate those we are tasked to love and watch tides rise. OR become sustainable, open green spaces, see others as ourselves, use non-polluting transportation, treasure all people and end wars. When does it change? When we demand it. This is the decisive task.
Come celebrate the trees. Gardens are the future of cities! Decarbonize! Unplug! Destroy cars! Make art! We can do a lot. Celebrate life under the drone of climate doom! Gaia is calling.
Participating artists:
Alena Grom
Laura Lukitsch
Verena Issel
Sonya Schönberger
Nina E. Schönefeld
Benjamin Heim Shepard
Caroline Shepard
Andreas Templin
Philip Topolovac
Magaly Vega
Opening: Thursday, July 27th, 17:00 - 22:00 pm
With a Live-Set by
TEMPLIN
Aurorhytmica Hymns
Extended Piano (Drone/ Doom)
Alter Friedhof (Old Cemetary) Prenzlauer Allee 1, Berlin
