21.11.2024
Kulturforum
At Berlin’s Kulturforum on 30 November, starting at 2 pm, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe and the Kunstbibliothek are hosting an extensive programme under the motto #BÖLLERCIAO, including lectures by diverse specialists, guided tours through the special exhibition Cracked Up and Burnt Down: Fireworks Across Five Centuries and numerous theme day stations intended for all visitors. The Special Focus Day event includes free admission to the exhibition and gratis participation for all programme items.
Imagine a New Year’s Eve without a thousand injuries, animal suffering by the millions, mountains of garbage and hazardous air pollution – that is the wish not only of the majority of the people in Germany, but also a broad social alliance around the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH ‒ Environmental Action Germany), the Bundesärztekammer (the Federal Medical Association), the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP; Trade Union of the Police) and numerous animal protection organisations. In cooperation with the Kunstbibliothek (Art Library) ‒ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, on Saturday, 30 November 2024, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe is dedicating a public special focus day to the consequences of using private fireworks and offers future-oriented alternatives.
A panel discussion with Jürgen Resch, DUH federal executive director, historian Victoria Müller and Stephan Weh, the chairman of the GdP Trade Union of the Police in Berlin, will examine the political necessity and feasibility of a nationwide ban on fireworks. An evening drone show in front of the Kulturforum, augmented by warm drinks, provides a visual highlight on the special focus day.
Fireworks are a short-lived, emphemeral art form, of which nothing remains but a beautiful memory and a lot of debris. For centuries, it has also been the most materially and cost-intensive art form. We now know that the wastefulness and ecological folly behind such beautiful moments are unsustainable. But what do we know about the development of the art of fireworks, their strongholds, media and political significance? And, what does the future of this art form look like? In the exhibition, the Kunstbibliothek jointly searches for answers, with the help of its collection objects, contemporary artists, the public and protagonists from the sciences and environmental protection.