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Klaus Esterluß | Ideas

Hol(l)y Wood in Berlin

sign stating "holywood" in the tiergarten in berlin

When the Berlinale, Germany's biggest film festival, takes place early every year even Hollywood is stopping by. For ten days lots of well known actors and directors are giving the capital the shiny flair of a movie metropolis. The eyes of the media are on Berlin.

Could you imagine a setting more fitting to highlight the importance of saving our climate?

That's why the festival is accompanied by a huge display of the iconic "HOLYWOOD" lettering from the Hollywood hills – in the "Tiergarten" park in Berlin's center. Artist Ralf Schmerberg has build up the installation to support the initiative "10,000 Trees for Berlin" and a book about the forest. The installation will be at the Tiergarten until the 20th of February 2011. You will hardly miss the sign between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburger Gate, because the letters are huge, 13 meters tall and all together about 53 meters wide.

So, what is the initiative meant to achieve? Well, 10,000 trees are currently missing on the streets of Berlin. The NGO's plan is to fill the empty spots in the city with new trees. Everyone can participate by sponsoring one or more of the missing trees. Trees are valuable and wood is holy, so to speak – hence the apparent misspelling in the sign.

For more information please visit the project's website.

Date

February 14, 2011

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