Towards a new Earth Policy!

Dear visitors, 

Over billions of years, natural forces have created the face of the Earth (Eduard Suess, 1885), a symbiotic planet (Lynn Margulis, 1998), on whose surface many living beings - from bacteria to homo sapiens - cohabit. Together they have created living conditions such as the atmosphere, the biosphere and the lithosphere. Since the appearance of the hole in the ozone layer (1974), we have known that humans can endanger these living conditions through their way of life. This beginning age of man's negative influence on the environment, for example global warming, is called the Anthropocene. A new science and a new terrestrial policy are therefore needed to prevent the destruction of living conditions for humans by man.

The term »critical zone«, borrowed from the earth sciences, refers to the extremely fragile layer of the earth, the surface on which life is possible. It is the title of our exhibition »CRITICAL ZONES. Horizons of a New Earth Policy«. From 9 May 2020, the exhibition invites visitors to engage with the critical state of the Earth in a new way. Over a period of five months, the ZKM itself will become an observatory of critical zones, where visitors will be able to observe the changes in the Earth's skin by examining works of art and scientific experiments.

With an extensive supporting programme we would like to invite you to become active yourself and to shape a new earth policy together.

Your

Peter Weibel