Peanuts (detail), Brigitte Nolden, Rosengarten, 2024

Organized suppression of the climate crisis

One actor is, for example, the Springer press, whose publishing house is largely owned by fossil fuel investors, as well as AFD, so-called “lateral thinkers”. “It’s always been hot in summer”, “That’s a good thing!”, “Just the weather”, “Fear-mongering and scaremongering”, “He who believes will be saved”, “Belief in man-made climate change as a substitute for religion?” Cognitive scientists have developed a toolkit called PLURV to help identify disinformation and propaganda in relation to the climate crisis: Pseudo-experts, logical errors, unfulfillableexpectations, cherry-pickingand conspiracy mythsare all identifying features. In Germany, the CDU and FDP parties are conducting a textbook delaying discourse: they have no proposals. It’s really not about political ideologies, it’s about defending fossil business models. Displacement leads to aggression against, for example, meteorologists on TV who receive hate messages. You only believe what you want to believe. Researchers talk about dissonant information being devalued and consonant information being valorized. The fact that humanity is in the process of destroying the foundations of human life with its way of life generates unpleasant emotions: Feelings of guilt, fears, sadness about the squandered future, the inevitable suffering and death. Cognitive dissonance, that is. In this case, pseudo-information that suggests that everything is not so bad may have an exculpatory effect.

Participating artists: Tom Albrecht, Stephan Groß, Pia Höhfeld, Vera Leisibach, Christine Lengtat, Vera Menold, Brigitte Nolden, Riiko Sakkinen, Andrea Streit (Collective: Thinking of Yves), Violetta Vollrath, Lioba von den Driesch, Misha Waks

The book accompanying the exhibition:

Men who burn the world.
C. Stöcker, 4th ed.
2024, Ullstein Publ.

Program

Exhibition duration: 11.10. – 22.11.2024
The gallery is open during the exhibition period on Tuesdays and Fridays from 5 to 8 pm and by appointment.

Fr. 11.10.2024, 7 pm: Vernissage with introduction to the exhibition by art historian Katja Andrea Hock

25.10.2024, 7 pm: Artist talk Artists from the exhibition talk about their works on site and online with guests.
Moderation Katja Andrea Hock

08.11.2024, 7 pm: Lecture with discussion “Seeing through the brakes of transformation. Recognizing disinformation and propaganda about the climate crisis. Debunking: pseudo-experts, logical errors, unfulfillable expectations, cherry-picking, conspiracy myths.”, Scientists for Future (requested)

15.11.2024, 7 pm: Lecture with workshop “Der eigene ökologische Hand- und Fußabdruck. Limits and possibilities”, Tom Albrecht

22.11.2024, 7 pm: Finissage with fire performance by Pia Höhfeld