21. Juni 2022 GROUNDCHECK 2022
On June 01, 2022, the Planet Africa team traveled to Berlin to set up the presentation boxes for the international conference "GROUNDCHECK - Climate, Crisis, Archaeology" at the German Foreign Office together with the exhibition construction company Blank from Hilden. At 1:30 p.m. the team arrived in Berlin and first checked in at the hotel, from where they proceeded directly to the World Hall of the Federal Foreign Office. At 3:00 p.m. the setup started. Ewa joined us from the Museumsinsel and our media agency "notwendiges übel" from Düsseldorf also took the opportunity to be present at the premiere of the first stelae. We had a lot to do until the evening and the day ended nicely at the Hackescher Hof restaurant.
The next morning started early. The official admission to the conference started at 07:30, the program then at 09:00. The conference aimed to combine archaeological data with results of scientific disciplines in order to understand today's climate change with the help of the past. First traces of man-made climate change can be found archaeologically already with the Neolithic (the first farmers). At that time, people had enough time to adapt to environmental changes. A time that we no longer have today. In the concluding panel discussion, the scientists got into conversation with politicians. One thing was clear afterwards: Archaeology not only has the task of reconstructing human history, but also has the potential and responsibility to contribute to the understanding of current climate change.
In an adjoining room of the World Hall, a wide variety of project stands were set up: including the two stelae of the Planet Africa exhibition. Besides the boxes, the pilot film was presented, which is also available on the website. The interest in the boxes and especially the animated films was huge and the feedback very positive. An eye-catcher was also the helmet guinea fowl, which was enthroned above one of the stelae.
On Friday after the conference, Jörg and Miriam visited the Neues Museum in Berlin together with Ewa. In the upper exhibition rooms: the Red Hall and the Berlin Room, the traveling exhibition Planet Africa is to celebrate its premiere in 2024. With the two completed boxes in mind, we could easily imagine how the exhibition could be set up in the rooms and the whole exhibition project became even more real for everyone involved. To conclude our trip to Berlin, we took a look at the permanent exhibition and the special exhibition "Schliemann's Worlds. His Life. His Discoveries. His Myth." The special exhibition was particularly inspiring and initiated an intensive discussion on the implementation of our traveling exhibition. The Schliemann exhibition will be on display in Berlin until November 6, 2022 and is definitely worth a visit in addition to the permanent exhibition.
