Story Info
Story Info
Federico Hewson/Hannah Alongi
Berlin - Hasenheide Park
2022
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
We chose this place as our wounded place because it is suffering from an extreme drought. It was the site of an Amusement Park that has run for 1 month every year since the 1960s. It had been a staple of this diverse and multi-cultural neighborhood of Berlin. There are theories as to why this was the last year of the Fair but the official statement from the municipality is that there is a serious drought which has caused many of the trees to die. We come to this place to see how the land has been affected, knowing it was the site of the Fair just one month ago but seeing no evidence of Fair, but noticing the yellow and dry grass everywhere.
We took the time to recognize that this land was the place of many memories for 2 or even 3 generations of the neighborhood, and that it will be long remembered for what it has given joyously to this community. And we recognize that the time of nature functions differently than the nature of time (for humans and society). The land will take the necessary time to recover. But we recognize that people living in this neighborhood, and city, are seeing fast societal shifts that are changing the cultural and economic make-up of the neighborhood.
We chose this place as our wounded place because it is suffering from an extreme drought. It was the site of an Amusement Park that has run for 1 month every year since the 1960s. It had been a staple of this diverse and multi-cultural neighborhood of Berlin. There are theories as to why this was the last year of the Fair but the official statement from the municipality is that there is a serious drought which has caused many of the trees to die. We come to this place to see how the land has been affected, knowing it was the site of the Fair just one month ago but seeing no evidence of Fair, but noticing the yellow and dry grass everywhere.
We took the time to recognize that this land was the place of many memories for 2 or even 3 generations of the neighborhood, and that it will be long remembered for what it has given joyously to this community. And we recognize that the time of nature functions differently than the nature of time (for humans and society). The land will take the necessary time to recover. But we recognize that people living in this neighborhood, and city, are seeing fast societal shifts that are changing the cultural and economic make-up of the neighborhood.
Why this Place?
Berlin - Hasenheide Park
The park is suffering from a new drought brought on by a changing landscape and years of a childrens fair at the location.
Act of Beauty
Say more about your actions and activity
Ceremony: Pouring water on the land as nourishment. We give the gift of water. Water as revitalization. Water as energy in a struggling place. We took water from a pond nearby and spread it as a circle around our bird. The pond is the basin, the resource that the land around it so desperately needs. How can we share Plenty with those who are in need of more? Perhaps a metaphor also for the gentrification of space – the act of bringing ‘more’ to a troubled area. The accessibility of water (we can drink straight from the tap here in Germany – accessibility to a life resource) with the knowledge/proof of what happens when there is a lack of this resource.
Radical Joy: Creation of art in space – resurrection of the bird. Bird as a symbol of renewal. Water as renewal.
Mini-Meditation: The act of sitting in space together as ceremony. Taking the time to share our time with the land and with each other. The powerful living space to transform the guests who join in intention.
We give back to this land that has given us so much for decades- honoring the fair that has taken place there with the recognition that with the end of the fair is the renewal of the land, the resurrection of the trees, the opportunity for the Lush to return as we replenish ourselves, our friendship and connection to each other and to the park in a ritual of nourishing water in the ever changing environmental and human landscape of Berlin.
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