COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES
FOR THE PERMANENT APPROVAL OF THIS SCULPTURE AT THE ZION CHURCH IN BERLIN
Photo: ©Jörg Carstensen
In order for the responsible Berlin authorities to decide on a permanent stay for this temporarily approved sculpture, a public interest must be proven. That is why there is this collection of signatures:
During the Corona epidemic, the exhibition “Points of Resistance” (www.points-of-resistance.org) took place with the support of the Friends and parishioners of the Zion Church in Berlin. It opened on Easter Sunday and had about 3000 visitors, completely legally.
One sculpture was particularly popular with visitors to the exhibition: a small bear carrying a huge brick – the brick that was used to build not only Berlin but every industrial city in the world at the turn of the century before last – and is thus a symbol of urban life par excellence. And although the brick is actually much too heavy for this still very young bear – he carries it anyway!
The “little burden bear”, a sculpture by the Berlin-based sculptor Stefan Rinck (www.stefanrinck.de ), became a symbol for Berlin and many people during the deepest shutdowns in the 2021 corona epidemic to stick together and get through the difficult!
This video – a compilation of people’s reactions to the original sculpture – tells the story:
A few months later, on 9 November 2021, a large version of the Little Burden Bear was erected as a reminder of this shared experience, with astonishingly short notice from the relevant Berlin authorities.
In the meantime, not only residents and the church community love the “Big Burden Bear”:
https://www.kleinervonwiese.com/lastenbr-2007-why-i-bear-grosser-lastenbr-2021
However, the temporary permit for it expires this autumn, on 9 November 2023.
An application for a permanent permit has been made and liability issues have also been clarified. Nevertheless, a public interest in this work of art in the public space at Zion Church must be demonstrated.
Therefore, on the initiative of the sexton of the Zion Church, Jens Hegewald, there is a collection of signatures. It is also supported by the initiators of the exhibition series “Points of Resistance” in the Zion Church in Berlin (which has taken place there several times in the meantime):
MOMENTUM Berlin/ www.momentumworldwide.org and the gallery www.KLEINERVONWIESE.com .
But also local residents, children and young people from the area and also many wedding couples who have married in the church since 2021 want the sculpture to stay.
Stefan Rinck is now an internationally respected sculptor who is shown and seen all over the world – but so far there is only this one work of his to be seen in public space in Germany.
With the sculpture “Why I bear / Großer Lastenbär”, a monument-relevant addition has been created at the Zionskirche.
In terms of a philosophical understanding of the Zion Church in Berlin as a heterotopia, it would be logical to leave the “Great Burden Bear” as a testimony to a collective experience of crisis next to the monument to Dietrich Bonhoeffer as part of a sculpture ensemble at the Zion Church.
The lecture by the philosopher and architectural theorist, Christian Posthofen, “Heterotopias – The Church, the Resistance and the Bear” on the occasion of the inauguration of the sculpture, tells of this:
In order to prove a public interest in the “big burden bear” at the Zion Church, we are collecting signatures and would also appreciate your support!
Thank you very much!
