RIBBONS Die Kunst des Erinnerns

In the organizer's words:

The big issues of war and peace often remain abstract. The strong media presence of crises and wars often makes many people even less willing to deal with these topics.

The artist Renee van Bavel knows how to use her artistic practice to appeal to people's feelings, to bring them back to thinking about war and peace emotionally and to focus on what unites them - the desire for peace.

For the past year, she has been collecting commemorative ribbons from all over the world and sewing them together to create a large, unifying and colorful work of art: "I sew and collect while President Volodymyr Selenskyj is in Berlin talking to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, just two kilometers away from me, about new arms deliveries to Ukraine. I sew while Donald Trump comes to power. While the AfD becomes the second largest party in Germany. I sew while the Middle East burns. I am sewing to show what unites us at a time when so much divides us."

May 8 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. At the same time, numerous armed conflicts and wars are taking place around the world. There are discussions about the reintroduction of compulsory military service and the danger of Russia attacking other countries.

At Späti, the artist talks to Prof. Dr. Axel Drecoll, Director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, about her time as Artist in Residence at the Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück memorials, making connections and her commitment to peace.

From 16:30, the artist will be in the foyer sewing the memorial ribbons.

Procedure

16:30-18:00: DJ

18:00-19:00: Talk, moderated by Jan Linders

Participants

Renee van Bavel is a Dutch artist living in Berlin. Her work deals with the themes of peace, freedom and humanity. From 2022 to 2024, she was artist in residence at the Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück memorials, where she used art to develop new forms of remembrance. For many years, she has also written songs for international commemorative events, including for the Berlin House of Representatives, the Berlin Wall Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Defense, and has performed several times for the Dutch King Willem Alexander, former Federal President Joachim Gauck and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, among others.

Prof. Dr. Axel Drecoll

Director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation

- free of charge

- Mechanical arena in the foyer

- Language: German

- Part of: SPÄTI