Another Award

Concrete (Fabric Formwork), Installation accompanied by Dr. Jan Wilkens
Shown 2024 at “Portraits Of Climate”, University Museum Hamburg
Initiated by CLICCS (Climate, Climatic Change & Society), Hamburg

Carl Maria Kemper, artist, and Jan Wilkens, political scientist, exchange ideas about economic and political dependencies, global and regional extreme weather events and their causation, as well as issues of climate justice. Additionally, Carl held conversations with the researchers Beate Ratter, Leonard Borchert, and Elodie Duyck. The artistic work developed based on the discussions with Jan.

High CO₂ Emissions from Industry

Carl and Jan discussed, among other things, past climate conferences, most recently COP28 in Dubai, which Jan attended. Inspired by his impressions and by the fact that Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the CEO of one of the world’s largest oil companies, ADNOC, chaired COP28, Carl and Jan focused on the CO₂ emission-intensive industries that were well represented at COP28. These include representatives of oil and gas companies as well as the cement industry. A representative from the cement company Holcim received green awards in Dubai, despite the fact that the cement industry is responsible for eight percent of CO₂ emissions worldwide. Such contradictions became a starting point between Carl and Jan, also with regard to extreme weather events. These arise from a combination of natural climate variability and man-made climate change, and human intervention in natural processes leads to more severe events with serious consequences. Carl and Jan discussed the connections between emissions-intensive industries, climate change, and the question of responsibilities.

International Perspective: Indonesian Climate Lawsuit Against Holcim

The concept of the artistic work continues to evolve in the context of climate lawsuits and along the lines of the term climate justice. In 2022, four residents of the Indonesian island of Pari sued the cement giant Holcim. They argued that the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea level, floodings, and increasing storms, are threatening their livelihoods. They were inspired by the successful lawsuit by a Peruvian group against the energy company RWE. Since Holcim is one of the leading companies in the cement industry, the plaintiffs sought damages from Holcim. Carl’s focus in his artistic work is now specifically on the cement industry. He gained further insights into the Holcim group, its role regarding greenwashing, and the responsibility of the cement industry from a climate and environmental policy perspective from Josefina Massaglia from Deutsche Umwelthilfe (NGO).

Regional Perspective: Floodings in Germany in Winter 2023/24

Carl is also addressing current crises locally. He traveled to one of the areas in Lower Saxony that was most affected by flooding in winter 2023/24. The stories of those affected in the town of Einbeck were impressive. Carl returned not only with new impulses for his work but also with sandbags. These had served as protective measures during the flooding and are now stacked up, useless. The sandbag is repeatedly chosen as a means to control floods. At the same time, the object of the sandbag can be seen as a symbol of the continuity of failure and denial. It is the tried and tested patch. “What becomes visible is decades-long, systematic underprioritization of forecasts and warnings regarding prevention and resilience, that scientists and activists have continually addressed to politics and industry,” Carl notes. The sandbag represents the old established patch, whose volume materializes within the work. The textile structure is imprinted in the form to literally blend the connection between effect and cause and shows how the spheres of interest are interwoven.

Now useless and stacked sandbags after the winterflood 2023/24 in Einbeck (Lower Saxony, Germany)