Together with the Summer Festival of Kulturinsel, the finissage of the exhibition Urban History of Living Beings by Club Real will take place in the Gatekeeper’s House as part of the series Ecosystems of Care.
Ernst Thälmann Park has always been a site of public attention and debate. But what role have the non-human residents played—past and present? After more than 100 years as a gasworks site, billions of bacteria have been working continuously since 2004 to make the groundwater, once contaminated with phenol and other toxic legacies, drinkable again. In the apartments, houseplants contribute to human well-being, while in the urban plant garden, wasps have settled, scraping oak benches to build their paper nests.
In the audiowalk, you can listen to stories told from the perspectives of a Monstera deliciosa houseplant, a German wasp, and the bacterium Hydrogen-Eating Aromatic Devourer.
At 6 pm, there will be a joint walk with Club Real, during which we will hear debates between different species at several stations in Ernst Thälmann Park. These debates address more-than-human conflicts and the history of the park from the perspective of the species living here. The meeting point is at 6 pm at the Gatekeeper’s House.