Climate Refugee Camps occupy Berlin

Berlin climate refugee camp in front of Brandenburg Gate, 26. Jan. 2009


Welcome, Painting on tarpaulin, 2007


camp Alexanderplatz, 27 Jan. 2009, Photo: just.ekosystem.org

Hermann Josef Hack pitched his WORLD CLIMATE REFUGEE CAMP in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate from 10.00 to 16.00 on Monday, 26 January 2009 and on Alexander Square from 10.00 to 16.00 on Tuesday, 27 January as a project within the framework of the transmediale 09 DEEP NORTH www.transmediale.de at the House of Cultures of the World.

The installation consisting of over 400 miniature tents made by Hack himself drew the public’s attention to the catastrophic situation of the millions of people who are already suffering from the consequences of global warning, which is aggravated by the behaviour of the world’s more prosperous regions. Tourists from all over the world as well as citizens of Berlin going about their everyday business in the government district watched fascinated as Hack set up the colourful tents.

Thousands of people saw the installation and took photos of each other with the mini-refugee tents. Reporting in the media ranged from spiegel-online http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-48469.html  to the New York street art Portal wooster-collective http://www.woostercollective.com/2009/01/hermann_josef_hacks_climate_refugee_camp.html, from the taz to the The New York Post http://www.nypost.com/photos/galleries/news/worldnews/pp_20090126_day_in_photos/photo17.htm Several video and photo reports, particularly blogs, spread Hack’s message throughout the world. The street art photographer Just documented Hack’s actions in front of the Brandenburg Gate and on Alexander Square and published them on his homepage http://just.ekosystem.org. The Climate Refugee Guide Berlin, the first travel guide for climate refugees, published by www.peperoni-books.de, was handed out to passers-by during the event. Hack provided information on his work in the afternoon of Wednesday, 28 January in a discussion with Michael Müller, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Environment, and Bernd Wiemann of Vodafone within the framework of the transmediale09 at the House of Cultures of the World. For more information see: http://www.transmediale.de/de/taxonomy/term/248.