He Must Stay!

COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES
FOR THE PERMANENT APPROVAL OF THIS SCULPTURE AT THE ZION CHURCH IN BERLIN

Elbe sandstone, 175 x 185 x 120cm / 2021 – 2023, Zionskirche, Berlin-Mitte
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!

Foto: ©Andrea Garcia Lopez und Elena Baciu
Foto: ©Olliver Schnell

Sign the petition that the burden bear should stay at Zion Church!

List of all signees (476):

Adler-Brauer, Christina
Adlung , Danilo
Aghte, Heike
Aha, Lilian
Aha, Antonin
Aha, Astrid
Albarracin, Jorge Eduardo
Alghrar , Duha
Ammouri, Hannah
Ardizzon, Letizia
Arnold , Dietmar
Astor , Felix
B. , Uwe
Baeger, Sonja
Balcazar, Nicolas
Bargfeld, Andreas
Bargfeld, Maximilian
Bartl, ingrid
Bäumler, Quirin
Beer, Martin
Beinke, Thomas
Below , Heidrun
Berger , Torsten
Berna, Bénédict
Bierstedt, Ina
Blank, Andreas
Blazek, Karen
Bohn, Therese
Borchert, Thomas
Braunisch, Kurt
Breitbach, Michelle
Breitwieser, Silvia Klara
Bretz, Bernhard
Brie, Maria
Brinkkötter , Jan Hendrik
Brüning, Sebastian
Bühler, Doris
Cano, Sandra
Carbonell Valero, Carlota
Carl, Martina
Castro , Eduardo Francisco
Chatschatrjan , Gajané
Christensen, Bo
Damerius, William
Damm, Ulrike
Damske, Marlen
Dapfner, Sepp
de Laczkovich, Nicholas
Degner, Helge
Demidenko , Aglaia
Demm, Kerstin
Dette, Heinrich Samuel
di Lorenzo, Giovanni
Dietrich, Heidrun
Dietsch, Kristina
dornfeld, matthias
Dummer, Daniel
Dutkowska , Dorota
Dzewior, Ketdtin
Eboulle, Kerstin
Eboulle, Kerstin
Edler, Horst
Eichler, Ginga
Eiffert, Jackie
Eitel, Sebastian
Elliott , David
Eöjel, Esben
Fernández Grund , Laura
Finke, Hedda
Fischer , Kerstin
Fligge, Dagmar
Flückiger, Manuel
Förster , Monique
Frascati, Nicolas
Frey, Roland
Friebel, Julia
Fried, Alma
Fried, Claudia
Friese, Jantje
Galinskyte, Agne
Gamper-Engel, Liselotte
Geißelhardt , Lenz
Geldermann, Björn
Geraets, Frank
Giebel, Anja
Giersiefen, Julius
Glienke, Claudia
Glienke, Lutz
Gmelin, Karina
Göggelmann, Walter Hermann
Goncharenko, Volodymyr
Graf, Gero
Grindell, N.
Gross, Stan
Groß, Simone
Günst, Karl-Heinz
Haberecht, Kathrin
Hantke, Thomas
Hartmann, Sonja
Hedtfeld , Julia
Hedtfeld, Emma
Hegewald, Valeska
Hegewald, Jens
Heiber, Eckehard
Heidlindemann, Berthold
Heinz, Henning
Heling, Rajae
Hell, Julia
Helmers, Leon
Henze, Sarah
Herbold, Astrid
Herfeld , Juliane
herzberg , ruth
Hilbert, Nicole
Hillenbrand, Isabel
Hillert , Johanna
Hinsberg, Veronike
Hinze , Thomas
Hlubek , Ulrike
Hofer, Lukas
Hofmann, Margarete
Höhne, Sandra
Holtz, Juliette
Hotze, Regina
Huang, Huang Jia
Hübner, Paul
Hübschmann, Sabine
Hufgard, Henriette
Husmann, Dagmar
Ibanez Rubio, Maria
Jänichen , Heike
Janssen, Iris
Janssen, Finn
Jesse, Gabriele
Jolic, Diana
Jungjohann , Anne
Kalinowski , Katja
Kalkowsky , Sylvia
Karvela , Olga
Kehrwald, Hanne
Keller, Julian
Kelterborn, Ben
Kern, Albert
Kersting, Claire
Kirner, Karen
Kleiner, Bella
Kleiner, Benjamin
Kleiner, Friederike
Kleiner, Maximilian
Kleiner, Gabriele
Kleiner, Constanze
Klemenz, Martin
Klemperer, David
Klingbeil, Maren
Klopper, Sabine
Klopper, Wilfried
Kluge, Ina
Klukas, Martin
Koch, Christoph
Korb, Christina
KPNC, ___
Kraus , Harald
Krause-Hinzmann , Karin
Kreisel, Olf
Kremer, Wolfgang
Kröger, Karl
Kube, Bernhard
Kuen, Viktoria
Kuhlow, Claudia
Kühne , Jürgen
Kunert , Christina
Lange, Gotthard
Lemke, Olaf
Leymann, Nicolai
Lizarazo, Mauricio
Lopatynski , Katja
Mähne, Sabine
Mairoll, Eva
Maischberger, Sandra
Mann, Alina
Margold , Anja
Marinov, Antoanetta
Marquardt, Urs
Marth, Konstanze
Martins, Berta
Mastroberti, Remo
Maurer , Marion
Maurer, Thomas
Mcglotten, Olivia Sylvia
McLaughlin, Daniel
Meisel, Tilo
Menzel, Thomas C.
Meschede, Friedrich
Mey, Armin
Meyer , Anna
Michalski, Jürgen
Mierau, Thomas
Mierendorff , Konrad
Mittmann , Angela
Moeller , Doris
Mucchi, Gabrio
Müller, Alexander
Müller, Michelle
Münch, Torsten
Nagel , Max
Nahrendorf, Christiane
Nawroth, Andreas
Noritsch, Jana
Nülle, Andreas
Odar, Baran bo
Oehling, Gerhard
Oehlschlaeger, Lars
Oparin, Iryna
Otto, Steffi
Paquis , Nadia
Patzak, Daniel
Paulsen, Lukas
Pesic, Maïa
Pfeffer, Karolin
Plewe, Torge Alexander
Pollmann , Amira
Polzin , Alexander
Posthofen, Anja
Posthofen , Christian
Przybyla, Joanna
Pues, Christiane
Puntke, Rüdiger
Pusch, Michael
Quade, Björn
Rahn, Falk
Reichel , Victoria
Reichert , Alexander
Reichwein, David
Reinke, Michael
Riccioli , Rebecca
Rieck, Andrea
Rits-Volloch, Rachel
Ritter , Hubert
Rolshoven, Hannes
Roße, Stefanie
Rutner, Saskia
Sander, Karin
Schaefer , Juliane
Schäfer , Iris
Schaper, Jarius
Schauwecker, Mathias
Schewe, Catharina
Schiller , Matthias
Schindler, Sabine
schlipkoeter, sandra
Schmidt, Ute
Schmidt, Vera
Schmolt, Michael
Schoormann, Daje
Schorlemmer , Horacjusz
Schröder , Patrick
Schröder , Ap
Schroedter , Josefine
Schruff, Christian
Schuhmacher, Jörg
Schultz , Kevin
Schulz, Anja
Schulz, Andreas
Schulz, Helge
Schulze, Eckhard
Schwietzke , Felix
Seeger, Arne
Seifert, Benjamin
Sery, André
Serz, Kerstin
Sieger, Anja
Siegwart, Stephan
Singer, Samuel
Singer, Sylvia
Singer, Robert
Sizov, Fedor
Soni , Vraj
Spickhoff, Celia
Stanitzek , Joachim B.
Stegemann , Dirk
Stephan , Jan-Eric
Theisen , Oliver
Thomann-Müller, Lucas
Thomas, Jens
Thun, Julia
Tillmann, Esther
Titze, Renate
Tuzlali, Selma
Uhde, Dagmar
Utecht , Lenja
Utecht, Uwe
Van der Wal , Christiana
Velkov, Vlado
Victor, Stefan
Vogel , Maike
Voigt, Kerstin
von Heydebrand , Detlev
von Pannwitz, Wolfram
von Pannwitz, Christiane
von Wiese, Stephan
Voss, Martin
Wagner , Christina
Wagner , Klaus
Wagner, Anne
Wallisfurth , Philip
Wander, Maria
Wegerhoff, York
Weintraut, Sandra
Weis, Regina
Weis, Regina
Weis, Patrick
Weiss, Samuel
Weiss, Cornelia
Wienforth, Jörg
Willert, Rainer
Wilsch , M.
Wilsch , M.
Wimmers, Joachim
Wodtcke, Anne
Wojtiniak, Gabriele
Wolff, Thekla
Wotzka, Christiane
wrobel, berno
Yurovskyy , Alexander
Zacharopoulou , Anastasia
Zadeh, Merle
Zielke, Kathrin
Zielke, Rolf
Zilkens, Stephan
Zimmermann, Renate
Zimmermann , Reinhard