SNOWMAN PROTEST

In January 2010, the snowman protest against climate change was conceived as a public art and information event under the creative direction of Ralf Schmerberg and lead agency DDB, Berlin. The project was the first of a series of interventions in the public sphere conceived by Ralf Schmerberg in collaboration with the Mindpirates collective and enabled by Entega, distributor of sustainable energy.

Under the motto “Denkanstöße” (impulses for thought), members of the public were invited to build snowmen as unique, individual, diverse, and distinctive as themselves. Together they transformed 8,000 square meters into a creative snowfield.

The snowman protest was accompanied by a comprehensive program that included panel discussions, a music performance by Icelandic folk band Seabear, readings of snow and snowman stories by prominent German actress Anna Thalbach, and media presentations on key environmental topics with Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq, a Kalaallit elder and shaman of the Greenland Inuit, as keynote speaker.