Tour Berlin: The Money Tree

Taking as its point of departure the presence of US-American electric vehicle and energy company Tesla in Brandenburg, The Money Tree will investigate how contemporary climate and infrastructural crises relate to global financial markets and supply chains. In conversation with researchers on the electric grid, market data analysts, and citizen activists, the tour will offer insight into the convoluted economy of electricity and its socio-material aspects, problematizing dominant narratives relating to sustainability and corporate governance. The tour will depart from  Oberschöneweide, a locus of past and future speculative development set to host the “Behrensufer” innovation and technology hub, as well as historical site of the Kabelwerk Oberspree (KWO) and electric car producer NAG from the conglomerate AEG. It will end in Grünheide, Brandenburg, where Tesla's fourth Gigafactory recently began production in the face of environmental impact concerns and an extensive dispute relating to its water supply. Along the way, artistic interventions will constitute the stage for exchanges between tour participants moderated by experts and activists. These discussions will focus on the impact of financialization on natural and collective resources, shedding light on opaque financial dynamics, asking who profits from the energy transition.
 

With: Bürgerinitiative Grünheide, Aurora Castillo, Oscar Choque (Ayni, Verein für Ressourcengerechtigkeit e.V.), Perpeto Dyese Wabanza, Sonja Hornung, Esther Kasongo Muntwabene, Éric Mutombo, Susanne Reumschüssel (Industriesalon Schöneweide), Thomas Turnbull (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte), Jack Wolf

Limited seats, registration for the tour via anmeldung@ngbk.de up until two days before each tours.

Further information:

Tour begins: Saturday, June 11, 10 am, Industriesalon Schöneweide (S9, M 17/61 – ca. 30 min from Alexanderplatz) 

Tour ends: Saturday, June 11, ca. 8 pm at Bahnhof Fangschleuse (regio trains to Berlin leaving every 30 mins – ca. 30 min to Alexanderplatz)

Contributions in: English and German, translation provided

Transfers: S-Bahn and regio train; private bus for the commute Oberschöneweide–Grünheide

Meals: vegetarian (lunch and dinner) 

Please carry with you: Water bottle, walking shoes