Blind Spot Intervention
An Exhibit
What do statues and scientists have in common? Not so much at first glance. Statues stand in the public space commemorating former influencers, while scientists are busy in their offices or labs… except that not all scientists just stay in their labs. Some are looking for new ways to raise awareness for what scientific knowledge has been confirming for decades: we are in the middle of an irreversible climate breakdown and a devastating biodiversity loss which will keep increasing injustices and decreasing freedom, health and general well-being.
When we blindfold or gag a statue, we express our anger in the face of the passivity of public powers in a time where deep, rapid and sustained political action is needed to save lives. In fact, the ecological crisis has been long signalled as an emergency, an imperative by the general scientific consensus.
“Listen to the science!” is the slogan of the first series of photographs showing statues of famous scientists being gagged. Although scientists have been communicating scientific knowledge about the crisis for decades, politics and lobbying make uncomfortable scientific results inaudible.
The “Please handle with care” photo series addresses the violence encountered by the climate movement in trying to make the reality of the crisis heard by all citizens. We blindfolded the Berlin buddy bears, representatives of peaceful coexistence, hinting at the lack of public outrage even in cases of obviously disproportionate police violence.
Gigadurst
It is perhaps not quite noticeable because we are surrounded by water bodies, but Berlin-Brandenburg receives the lowest rainfall in Germany.
The statues we gagged express fear, sadness, anger, and even despair, all of which people of Berlin-Brandenburg might feel when thinking about the impacts of Tesla Gigafactory on our water.
Let’s reclaim our water! Stop Tesla!
With the exhibit, we want to invite our visitors to reflect on their take on the polycrisis. What do the images evoke for you? How do you envision your public space and the role of scientists and of citizens at large? Everyone is welcome to write, or draw, about what the exhibit awakes in them, and leave the Open Tiny filled with new perspectives and ideas for action, and maybe also hope for the future.
This exhibit was displayed:
in February and July 2025 at the Open Tiny Kiezkiosk in Berlin-Neukölln,
at the Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften 2025 on the Campus Adlershof of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,
during the conference “Tough conversations in tough times” organised by the Potsdam Research Institute For Sustainability in December 2025.
We are always happy to display it in new spaces, please get in touch with us if you are interested.