In the organizer's words:

Since 1916, the Reichstag building, where the German parliament meets, has been emblazoned with the inscription "To the German people". On behalf of the Bundestag, the artist Hans Haacke developed a work that refers to this inscription and led to a unique debate in the Bundestag itself on March 5, 2000. The work provided for the installation of the inscription "Der Bevölkerung" in the atrium of the building. Haacke had been inspired by a quote from Brecht, who had written in 1935: "Whoever in our time says population instead of people does not support many lies."

Although the work had already been accepted by the Art Advisory Council, there was an extremely emotional debate on fundamental questions of our democracy and the self-image of the members of parliament that transcended all parliamentary groups. Are laws being made for the "German people" or for the "population"? Does this work threaten the constitution or does it raise the question of what kind of society we want to live in in the future? Can art, in matters of humanity, counter the media discourse and political debate?

The positions of this debate lead directly to the present. WEM GEHÖRT DAS VOLK? begins with a re-enactment of the debate in the Bundestag in order to delve deeper into the fundamental questions it poses to us today. Finally, it is expanded to include statements from Cologne schoolchildren: what view do young people have of our democracy, what do the terms "people" or "population" or "homeland" mean to them, how do they imagine our society in the future?

Price information:

incl. advance booking fees