Seltene Erden - 17 Bruchstücke
SCANDIUM, YTTRIA, LANTHANUM, CERIUM, PRASEODYM, PROMETHIUM, NEODYMIUM, SAMARIUM, EUROPIUM, GADOLINIUM, TERBIUM, DYSPROSIUM, HOLMIUM, ERBIUM, THULIUM, YTTERBIUM, LUTETIUM – 17 specialty metals, indispensable for digitalization, high technology, and the energy transition. At the same time, they are associated with significant ecological, health, and geopolitical conflicts. Their mining remains largely invisible, outsourced to other regions of the world and embedded in global power dynamics.
From May 5–11, 2026, daily from 2 to 6 p.m., artist Philine Rinnert will open a week-long excavation site on the grounds of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. In collaboration with the Netzwerk Naturwissen, a space of resonance for the 17 rare earth elements is being created: a place at the intersection of art, science, and social discourse.
The starting point is the narrative presented by the Baotou Rare Earth Museum in Baotou, northern China, which opened in 2022 in the world’s largest mining region. Officially, it tells the story of the global rare earth industry. But what is revealed there—and what remains hidden? “17 Fragments” brings this question to the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The intervention is not an exhibition of ready-made answers, but a tectonic landscape of sound, light, and material—and a place of questions. Visitors move through fragments and voids, becoming co-creators themselves and entering into a relationship with geological deep time, with the origins and future of rare earths.
Through photographs, sketches, models, light, sound, and scent, “17 Fragments” unfolds: sensory, performative, and participatory approaches to a highly complex subject area. An accompanying program will take place:
- Tuesday, May 5, 6:30 p.m.: Podiumsdiskussion und Eröffnung | Atlas Naturwissen
- Thursday, May 7, 6:00 p.m.: Filmwelten der Wissenschaften | Atlas Naturwissen
- Friday, May 8, 1:00–2:00 p.m.: Lesekreis | Atlas Naturwissen
- Monday, May 11, 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.: Szenarien-Workshop für Schulklassen | Atlas Naturwissen
Programm:
