Humboldt Eremitage   (de|en) 

Garden Hermit wanted for rebuilt Prussian Schloss (Humboldtforum)

Intervention / Performance

Peter Behrbohm

Humboldt Forum and throughout the city
Berlin, 2021-2022

A brand new palace has recently been erected in the centre of Berlin. Berliners are still unfamiliar with the building. Perhaps this is because such a residence is usually home to monarchs. This position is now being advertised in a public process and democratically determined via a participatory casting campaign.

In order not to endanger the political order, the concept of ornamental hermits is adopted. In 19th century British and German landscape gardens, it was popular to house hermits in specially constructed grottos and so-called "hermitages". These hermits were often persuaded to work for years with absurd job adverts that required them to wear special clothing and prohibited them from cutting their beard and hair, among other things.

The campaign is being run by the "Förderkreis Berliner Kaiser*in" (Berlin Emperor's Circle), which is calling for participation in the casting process through a poster campaign, in local newspapers and on a dedicated website on the internet (www.humboldt-eremitage.de). Throughout Berlin, a mobile casting vehicle advertises the campaign and searches locally for the right head for the eagle-crowned pickelhaube. The events take place at weekly markets to facilitate authorisation.

The casting mobile is based on El Lissitzki's Lenin Tribune, which the Russian constructivist designed as a platform for Vladimir Illich to remind us that it was not only Rosa-Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht who proclaimed the Soviet Republic from the balcony of the palace, but also Kaiser Wilhelm II, who provided Lenin with sufficient funding to carry out the Russian October Revolution and make possible the very socialism that ultimately blew up his palace.

High time for the Humboldt Hermitage! www.humboldt-eremitage.de

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