Licht Luft Scheiße

»Licht Luft Scheiße [Light Air Shit]. Perspectives on Ecology and Modernity« proposes a diverse series of twentieth-century concepts and practices that resonate with our current ideas of sustainability. They are both historical references and points of departure for novel or updated reflections on alternative ways of living in the globalised world. In light of the on-going destruction of Planet Earth we must fundamentally rethink our relationship to the biosphere and all non-human beings.

The ecological question is nothing new. In response to industrial growth and sprawling urbanisation under capitalism, numerous ›reform movements‹ were launched over a hundred years ago: from cooperative housing associations to anarcho-syndicalist settlements, from self-sufficient urban gardening to ecological agriculture, to concepts for recycling waste. These innovations were based in part on pre-modern knowledge and their significance came more clearly to the fore during the economic and social crises that followed on the First World War. They mirror not only a systematic appreciation of the interplay of human beings and the environment, of nature and technology, but also people’s growing awareness at the time, of the fact that the modern age carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. Too, the Bauhaus, although its architectural programme was far removed from ecological concerns, remained intently preoccupied with the relation of bio-philosophy to functionalism, pursuing a design practice informed by natural structures and processes.

The project’s two-year research phase culminates now in two exhibitions combining contemporary art production and archive material, and a parallel independent programme of education and outreach. These three aspects of the project, along with a number of complementary events and publications, address the past and present of the ecology movement, socio-ecological urban development, garden culture and plant and soil research.
The publication is available here.

23 June – 18 September 2019
Events, Cinema program, Workshops, Installations, Publication
Nachbarschaftsakademie [Neighbourhood Academy] at the Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
The global ecological crisis and its social repercussions raise questions also about new forms of education. Which kind of future are we learning for – a future in which we share the responsibility for life on this planet or a future of accelerated destruction? In 2015 the ›Nachbarschaftsakademie‹ began experimenting with self-organised forms of learning, between activism and art. In summer 2019, under the title »Growing From the Ruins of Modernity«, a curriculum for a permanent place of life-long learning will be developed – for the next 99 years – at the community garden in Kreuzberg. Learning, in our book, means contributing collectively and joyfully to forms of co-existence in which human beings and the biosphere are not exploited.

16 August – 27 October 2019
Exhibition, Publication
Botanical Museum Berlin
Installations by contemporary artists who examine scientific methods and aesthetics in light of resources, biodiversity and waste products are on show at the Botanical Museum Berlin. Some of the works were produced specifically for this project.
Under the title »Plant Workshop of Modernity«, one section of the exhibition takes up the early- twentieth-century diversification of botanical research by likewise venturing into physiology, genetics and soil science. This raises the question of whether, or to what extent, Modernism’s functionalist, reformist and utopian currents influenced such discourses, and vice versa.

17 August – 27 October 2019
Exhibition, Events, Publication
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst
The selection of archive material, historical sources and artefacts on display at the nGbK dates mainly from the first half of the twentieth century and bears witness to conceptual and practical forerunners of current ecological models and solutions. Highlights, inter alia, are the experiment in self-sufficiency launched by Leberecht Migge and Elisabeth Elsaesser in 1933 on their »Sun Island« in Lake Seddin, near Berlin; and Raoul Francé and Annie Francé-Harrars’ research into, and illustration of, soil organisms.

Events:

4 October 2018, 19:00 (EN)
nGbK
Lecture »The Peninsula Europe« by Newton Harrison of The Harrison Studio

12 May 2019, 12:00-16:00 (DE/EN)
Meeting Point: Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Workshop »Fertile Bodies! Fertile Stories! On knowledge and narrative of human manure« by the Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg Humanure Lab / Åsa Sonjasdotter (visual artist) and Sabine Meyer (graphic designer)

23 June 2019, 10:00-16:00 (DE)
Hofkollektiv Bienenwerder, Bienenwerder 2b, 15374 Müncheberg (Mark)
Workshop »Wildnispädagogik trifft auf Landwirtschaft« with Julia Bar-Tal

25 June 2019, 18:00-20:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Presentation »Protecting Land« by Brett Bloom and Bonnie Fortune

26 June 2019, 20:00 (ESP with German translation)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film and Talk: Daniel Bejarano »Ojo al Sancocho (an audiovisual, communal and participative project in Bogotá)«

2 – 4 August 2019 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
(Fr 10:00-16:00, Sa+So 12:00-16:00)
Workshop »Circular time, End times and the Good News« with Marc Herbst

6 August 2019, 18:00-20:00
13 August 2019, 18:00-20:00
20 August 2019, 18:00-20:00
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg (EN)
Workshop »Reading Grounds – histories and presents of extractive agri-cultural politics and how to resist« with Naomi Hennig, Nicole Wolf

7 – 8 August 2019, each time 18:00-20:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Workshop »House of Welcome: A fablab, a public garden and a school of the commons in Dakar, Senegal« mit Marion Louisgrand Sylla, Kerstin Meyer

7 August 2019, 21:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »Wild Relatives« (Jumana Manna, DE/LB/NO 2018, 64 min) followed by a talk with Julia Bar-Tal, Jumana Manna

9 – 11 August 2019 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
(Fr 17:00-20:00, Sa 10:00 – 18:00, Sun 11:00-16:00)
Workshop »Agri-cultural practice. An experimental workshop for climate justice« with Mojisola Adebayo, Nicole Wolf

14 August 2019, 18:00-20:30 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Workshop »Peasantry in Europe, Global Connections and the Struggle of La Via Campesina« with Paula Gioia

14 August 2019, 21:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »Die Enteignung« (Jörg Gfrörer, Wolfgang Jung, Walter Krieg, BRD 1975, 52 min), followed by a talk with Paula Gioia

17 August 2019, 11:00-18:00 (EN)
24 August 2019, 11:00-14:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Workshop »Reimagining urban futures in Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg« with Elizabeth Calderón Lüning, Hagit Keysar, Shalev Moran

18 August 2019, 11:00-18:00 (DE/EN)
Urban eco-biographical actions »Kartoffeln, Jam und Löwenzahn« with the study group of the Institute for Art in Context of the Berlin University of the Arts
With Marisa Benjamim, Wen-Ling Chung, Marcos García Pérez & Moritz Gramming, Daniela Zambrano Almidon

11:00
Meeting point Hiroshimastr. 25, 10785 Berlin
»Terreno«
Performative edible installation with Marisa Benjamim
CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN / NEW DATE: 26 October 2019

14:00
Meeting point: Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
»Tee aus der Region«
Walk and tea experiment with Wen-Ling Chung

15:00
Meeting point: Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
»Rezeptwagen«
Action with Marcos García Pérez and Moritz Gramming

17:00
Meeting point: Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
»Koloniale Kartoffelgeschichte(n)«
Action with Daniela Zambrano Almidon

21 August 2019, 21:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »Wer keinen Mut zum Träumen hat, hat keine Kraft zum Kämpfen« (Bernd Friedmann, Wolfgang Krajewski, Rainer Lutter, Klaus G. Otto, Hans Rombach, Bernd Uhde, BRD 1979, 80 min), followed by a talk with Klaus G. Otto, Hans Rombach

22 August 2019, from 17:00 (DE/EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Collective mapping »Creuzberg Commons« with the Initiative Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
As part of the festival of Participation »99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg als Gemeingut« (22-25 August 2019)

22 August 2019, 18:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Talk »Zwischen Stadtautobahn und Ökotopia. Ökologischer Stadtumbau in den 1980er Jahren und seine Relevanz für heute« with Ekhart Hahn, Werner Wiartalla, Marco Clausen
As part of the festival of Participation »99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg als Gemeingut« (22-25 August 2019)

24 August 2019, 15:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Walk »Trouble in Paradise: On History, the Present and Possible Futures of Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg« with Marco Clausen
As part of the festival of Participation »99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg als Gemeingut« (22-25 August 2019)

24 August 2019, 16:00-19:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Participative program »Wunschproduktion 99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten als Gemeingut« with Initiative Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg and Commons-Abendschule
As part of the festival of Participation »99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg als Gemeingut« (22-25 August 2019)

25 August 2019, 13:00-18:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Workshop »Die Stadt in der ökologischen Krise: Warum wir einen Dauergarten nicht nur am Moritzplatz brauchen« and presentation of »TRUSTING LAND: Deep Maps, Deep Myths, Deep Time« by Brett Bloom & Bonnie Fortune with the Initiative Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
As part of the festival of Participation »99 Jahre Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg als Gemeingut« (22-25 August 2019)

27 August 2019, 19:00 (DE)
nGbK
Lecture »Für eine Öko-Logik der Sorge und des Werdens« by Yvonne Volkart

28 August 2019, 20:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »Wild Plants« (Nicolas Humbert, DE/CH 2016, 108 min, OV with German subtitles) followed by a talk with Nicolas Humbert

30 August 2019, 18:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Walk »Trouble in Paradise: On History, the Present and Possible Futures of Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg« with Marco Clausen

4 September 2019, 18:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Talk »Narratives of socio-environmental justice in Brazil: on the right to territories and imaginaries« with Silvia Baptista, Camila Nobrega und Barbara Marcel
In cooperation with Situated knowledge / Global ecologies: a collaborative Walkshop Ramble

4 September 2019, 20:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »Chão« (Camila Freitas, BR 2019, 112 min, OV with English subtitles), followed by a talk with MST representatives, Laureci Coradace Leal (Paraná) and Luana Carvalho Aguiar (Rio do Janeiro). Moderated by Barbara Marcel and Camila Nóbrega. In cooperation with Situated knowledge / Global ecologies: a collaborative Walkshop Ramble and supported by Forschungs- und Dokumentationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika (FDCL) and Freundinnen und Freunde der MST, Deutschland

5 September 2019, 18:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Talk »Selbstversorgung in der Stadt: unrealisierbare Spinnerei oder konkrete Utopie?« with Elisa T. Bertuzzo
Postponement: 11 September, 18:00

6 September 2019, 18:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Performance »Appelkopp. Umwölkte Utopie« by bankleer

6 September 2019, 19:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Talk »GEMEINWOHL, GEMEINSINN, GEMEINSEIN« with bankleer

8 September 2019, 15:00 (DE/EN)
Botanisches Museum Berlin
Guided exhibition tour with Kathrin Grotz, Florian Wüst (Curators), Susanne Kriemann, Kim Nekarda (Artists)

10 September 2019, 18:00 (DE)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Lecture and discussion »Bodenfrage und wirkliche Demokratie. Was können wir von Gustav Landauer lernen?« by Jan Rolletschek

11 September 2019, 20:00 (DE/EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »DIE ROTE LINIE – Widerstand im Hambacher Forst« ((The Red Line – Resistance in Hambach Forest, Karin de Miguel Wessendorf, DE 2019, 115 min, OV with English subtitles)

18 September 2019, 20:00 (EN)
Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg
Film »The Whale and the Raven« (Mirjam Leuze, DE/CA 2019, 101 min, OV with German subtitles), followed by a talk with Stephan Bernardes (assistant director)

22 September 2019, 15:00 (DE/EN)
nGbK
Guided exhibition tour with Florian Wüst (Curator)

24 September 2019, 19:00 (DE)
nGbK
Talk »Wirtschaften in Haus, Küche und Garten. Über die Aufarbeitung der städtebaulichen Reformbewegungen der 1920er Jahre« with Irene Below, Heidrun Hubenthal

1 Oktober 2019, 19:00 (DE)
nGbK
Lecture »Müll-Wege in Karail Basti. Zwischen Stadtmanagement und selbstorganisiertem Recycling« by Elisa T. Bertuzzo

6 Oktober 2019, 15:00 (DE/EN)
nGbK
Guided exhibition tour with Silvan Linden (Curator)

20 Oktober 2019, 15:00 (DE/EN)
nGbK
Guided exhibition tour with Sandra Bartoli (Curator)

22 Oktober 2019, 19:00 (DE)
nGbK
Lecture »›Wie ein Hochmögender Gebieter in Adams Kostüm‹: Leberecht Migge und die Anfänge der ›Sonneninsel‹« by Thomas Elsaesser

26 October 2019, 16:00
Meeting point Hiroshimastr. 25, 10785 Berlin
Journey to Prinzessinnengarten Kreuzberg by bike or by bus M29
»Terreno«
Performative edible installation with Marisa Benjamim
CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN / NEW DATE: 26 October 2019
As part of the urban eco-biographical actions »Kartoffeln, Jam und Löwenzahn« with the study group of the Institute for Art in Context of the Berlin University of the Arts

27 Oktober 2019, 15:00, (DE/EN)
Botanisches Museum Berlin
Guided exhibition tour with Sandra Bartoli, Kathrin Grotz (Curators), Böhler & Orendt, Gitte Villesen (Artists)