Berlin – These days the Ratskeller gallery in the Lichtenberg town hall is a motley art depot. And that is completely free, dedicated to the “Children of Chernobyl”. Gallery manager Silvia Eschrich, her helpers from the Graphics Collegium, friends from the Evangelical Galilee Samaritan Church and the honorary auctioneer Helmut Müller have a lot to do. It is “delivery time” for the art auction on November 5th: Berlin artists with well-known names, collectors and art lovers donate what is dear to them and what will serve a good cause – their gift wants to bring joy. Children who are not doing well because of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster on April 26, 1986. At that time, their grandparents and relatives became victims. Mothers, fathers and their offspring suffer from radiation to this day, and children are born with disabilities.
Götz Drope
Lovebird pair by Götz Drope
All donated works of art must be registered, numbered, sorted and assessed. The estimated prices move from 20 euros upwards and of course they are all wide open at the top. The higher the yield, the better for the goal of giving as many children in need as possible a wonderful summer vacation. It has been known for years that you can also bid for original and valuable Christmas gifts for a small budget. Many bidders keep coming back, since the first auction in 1992. Because of the atmosphere and the joy of giving. After “love”, “help” is the most beautiful verb in the world, said Bertha Suttner, who was the first woman to be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. And for Marcel Proust, helping people were “lovable gardeners who make our souls bloom”.
Parable of a man-made tragedy
Paintings, graphics, photo works are framed along the gallery walls, graphic folders are piled up. Shapes can be seen under the foils: portraits, figures real and abstract, landscapes, natural motifs of plants and animals, everyday things. For example, the wonderfully surreal matchboxes by graphic artist Manfred Butzmann, a Faustian scene by Nuria Quevedo, a pair of lovebirds in front of the church window by Götz Drope. Or the Baltic Sea beach motifs by the painter couple Fretwurst-Colberg.
Immediately to do with the devastating and momentous reactor explosion is the exhausted “biorobot” by the photo artist Andreas Mühe, staged in a deep red armchair. Last year, the famous Berliner created a sensational theatrical series of the “Heroes of Chernobyl”, those countless men who sacrificed themselves without proper protective clothing and with unsuitable tools in order to extinguish the reactor fire and to clear the contaminated rubble of the reactor 4 block. In Chernobyl and the surrounding area, the earth is still contaminated today. The first responders, like those from Fukushima 2011, are no longer alive. Mühe’s photo cycle is the parable of a man-made tragedy. The motif he donated for the auction was the altarpiece in the St. Matthew Church at the Kulturforum in November 2020.
VG Bildkunst Bonn 2020 / Linde Kauert
Linde Kauert: “The Red Thread”, aquatint etching, 2020
The preview of the rk gallery begins next Monday. It is now the 24th auction. District Mayor Michael Grunst (Die Linke) is once again not only the landlord and host, but also the patron of the charity auction. At the last auction, which was possible before the corona pandemic, more than 7,000 euros came together and the total balance of this great initiative by the church and non-religious citizens in the east of Berlin is a remarkable 87,000 euros. This has done good for many children from radioactively contaminated regions around Chernobyl, regardless of which former state of the former Soviet Union they belong to today. For the summer of 2022, children from Gomel, a city in Belarus that has been severely affected by the disaster and the long-term consequences, close to the border with Ukraine, will be invited.
rk gallery in the Lichtenberg town hall, Möllendorffstr. 6, preview November 1st to 3rd, 10am to 6pm. Auction Friday, November 5th, 7pm, after-sale on November 17th, 10am – 6pm in the gallery, Tel .: (030) 90 29 63 712
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