This weekend, from 30th August until 1st September, Art Base is happening. Street Art Berlin already blogged about that amazing and unique festival that takes place in an abandoned looney bin close to Neustrelitz in Brandenburg (https://www.streetartbln.com/artbase-2019/), where street artists, graffiti writers and many more created a colourful space. A lot of the art you can see there is playful, joyful and there to make you happy. One of the artworks you will stumble upon might uneasen your mind: It stands as a huge contrast to the multi-coloured murals and other jolly art you can see while spending some free time at the festival. – That is fully intended.
An unsettling piece of art
I am talking about a big pile of wood. It is built from differently sized wooden planks, some long and thin, some shorter and broader, all of them are standing with one side on the black ground and reach up, some are leaning against a wall, some diagonally against one another. All the planks reach uncannily into the air, towards the ceiling of the crumbling room. All the planks are painted black. They evoke the impression that someone or something burned them down, loosely spread, unsorted and forgotten pieces of wood noone seems to care about tidying up or using them at least to create something. The installation stands dramatically in the room, like sharp, wooden teeth, the sad, burned and savaged reminiscence and remains of something that might have been beautiful. Maybe it was standing somewhere before it got burned, tall and proud and impressive.
If you walk around the installation, and you should, to experience the full tragedy of that installation, you will discover a small wooden board that was placed horizontally on the floor and bears white, almost vanishing capital letters that form the word: „AMAZON“.
The artist and his intention
The artpiece comes from the hands of the Berlin-based urban artist The Krank who was born in 1988 in Greece. Usually, he creates typography and abstract expressionism.
He has a distinct and strong Berliner aesthetic portraying deep messages which take over space by creating a unique and dynamic art installation both indoors and outdoors. The Krank hides stories and messages in his works that speak about his worldview. “My stories are written in a very deep visual language that reflects the impact of contemporary life in human psychology and in the society.”
His ideology revolves around conscience and humanity. Through his projects, he tries to develop an ethical state within the complex structure of modern life, aiming at a deeper understanding of the substantive. It is his duty to capture the most sincere interpretation of the world by opening up a dialogue for alternative visions.
Thus, his work AMAZON shall raise the awareness towards current events in the world and at the festival Art Base, that message can reach a lot of people.
Amazon art installation as described by The Krank (source: https://www.facebook.com/thekrank/ last viewed 31st August 2019
„Dear people,
this is one of those moments that I am really sad to present you my new work. I couldn’t stay passive concerning the huge ecological disasters we are facing this year. Amazon rain-forests have been hammered down by thousands of fires during the last weeks. My art installation is an image of the present yet a silent representation of the future. My intention is not to make you withdraw from the issue and try to think something else that makes you feel better. Climate change is not a distant issue anymore. It is a very complicated and fundamental problem, which is invisible to us but affects everyone.
We live in a world in which the mode of our being can and often does have greater influence on what happens than what we as a collective intend to. Even if everyone on this earth agrees that the planet is in danger, if the idea persists that we can reverse the situation without changing anything about how we live and how we do politics, all the good intentions in the world will amount to nothing. We cannot live how we used to anymore and we cannot let the saving of our planet be a byproduct of the smooth running of a system that created the problem in the first place and now reaches it’s hand in repent. Don’t take it.
We are paradoxically at a time when we need to be panicking but simultaneously keeping our poise. We need personal responsibility but it is not enough to just do that. Our anger has to be channeled not only towards the choices we make inside the absurd ramifications of the system we are living in, but also towards the system itself. It is not enough to make the right choices inside the given options, it is time for new options.
Yours sincerely,
TheKrank“
Amazon installation is part of Artbase
Festival 2019
More Photos:
www.behance.net/gallery/84644375/Amazon
Background information: The current (devastating) state of the Amazone rainforest
There are two major reasons for the sad events in the Amazone, Earth’s green lung: First of all, forest fires are common during the dry season from July to October. Secondly and most severely: In January, Jair Bolsonaro came into power as Brazil’s new president. His policy encouraged tree-clearing activities which caused massive criticism by citizens and on an international scale. Thus, he banned the fire setting actions for 60 days – but that cannot be enough.
As the BBC reports: „The president has also accepted an offer of four planes to fight the fires from the Chilean government and has deployed 44,000 soldiers to seven states to combat the fires. However, he has refused a G7 offer of $22m (£18m) following a dispute with French President Emmanuel Macron.“
See for further information on current events in the Amazone (last viewed 31st August 2019):
