Fossil Experience
April 7–May 19, 2022
Fossil Experience addresses a number of the widely divergent—and in part violent—realities generated by the use of fossil fuels. The wealth accrued by specific social groups, nation states, and corporations by means of fossil fuels is inseparable from the ecological disasters at the sites where they are extracted, processed, and transported. In regions with high levels of energy consumption, including post-industrial urban centres such as Berlin, fossil energy and petroleum-based products are ubiquitous. At the same time, the greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste, and environmental damage arising from the production, transport, and burning of fossil fuels continue to be overlooked, or are downplayed by powerful institutions.
The notion of fossil experience points, on the one hand, to the experience of acceleration made possible by the widespread availability of cheap energy, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. On the other hand, it refers to the traumas of extraction, exposure, and displacement, which threaten to further escalate as climate change progresses. Fossil experience also bleeds into the long-awaited energy transition as, in the guise of a supposedly green capitalism, this transition is instrumentalised by a number of corporations to continue maximising profits. But it is neither sufficient nor acceptable to greenwash energy technologies that simply repeat dubious extractivist logics. Climate change and environmental devastation can only be addressed by centring demands for social and ecological justice.
Located in a former water reservoir, Fossil Experience brings together artistic works and stories about geographies affected by the speculation and resource extraction involved in energy production. Resonating with the former function of the site, the exhibition constantly returns to the threat posed by large-scale industrial projects to bodies of water.
A project by Prater Galerie hosted by Grosser Wasserspeicher, Berlin. Curator: Lena Johanna Reisner / Curatorial advisor: Sonja Hornung.
Opening with a performance by Liz Rosenfeld & Dasniya Sommer and a poetry reading with Ayò Akínwándé: April 22, 2022, 6–10pm. Opening hours: April 23–May 8, 2022, 12–8pm daily, Thursdays 12–10pm.
Local Action for a Post-Fossil_City (panel): April 7, 7–9pm, Fossil Free Berlin, Klimaneustart Berlin, Philine Wedell, Maike Majewski (moderation). Schankhalle Pfefferberg, Schönhauser Allee 175, 10119 Berlin.
Performance evening: April 30, 6–8pm, with Elske Rosenfeld and Kat Austen. Kleiner Wasserspeicher, Diedenhofer Straße, 10405 Berlin.
Fossil Gas Is Not Clean (panel): May 12, 6–8pm, Christopher Basaldú, Rachel O‘Reilly, Esteban Servat, Sumugan Sivanesan (moderation), online event.
The exhibition is accompanied by an extended program of performances, poetry, and panel discussions as well as further contributions by Christopher Basaldú, Caroline Breidenbach (wasserstories), Róža Domašcyna, Ayasha Guerin, Fossil Free Berlin, Fossil Free Culture NL, Ibiwari Ikiriko, Rebecca Abena Kennedy-Asante (Black Earth Kollektiv), Klimaneustart Berlin, Anna Lena Kronsbein (Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries), Maike Majewski (Transition Town Pankow), Elske Rosenfeld, Liz Rosenfeld & Dasniya Sommer, Esteban Servat, Sumugan Sivanesan (Black Earth Kollektiv), The Driving Factor (Elisa Bertuzzo, Daniele Tognozzi, Neli Wagner), Wassertafel Berlin-Brandenburg, and Philine Wedell (Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises).
Fossil Experience is supported by Stiftung Kunstfonds, LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin, and the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, kindly supported by Schankhalle Pfefferberg. Prater Galerie is a municipal institution of the Department of Art and Culture, Office for Further Education and Culture of the Municipal Office of Pankow in Berlin. It is directed by Lena Prents.
Press and communication: Carola Uehlken, carolauehlken [at] gmail.com. For information on further events please visit Prater Galerie.
