United Buddy Bears
The Buddy Bear (English buddy " buddy ", " friend ") is a custom-painted life-size bear sculpture made of weather-resistant fiberglass reinforced plastic. The Buddy Bear adapted an idea that has been successful since the late 1990s, already in other large cities (see Animal Parade ), originally initiated by the Zurich Cow Culture 1998.
- 3.1 2002-2005
- 3.2 From 2006
- 3.3 The exhibitions of the United Buddy Bears at a glance
- 3.4 United Buddy Bears - The Minis
Genesis
The Buddy Bear was designed by Eva and Klaus Herlitz in close cooperation with the Austrian artist and sculptor Roman Strobl 2001. Four different bear models are designed: one standing on all fours ( " friend " ), a substance on the legs ( " dancer "), a headstand -making ( " Acrobat ") and a seated bear.
In 2001, about 350 bears were painted and installed distributed throughout the city in Berlin. The action was extended by the Senate for one year. In the meantime, you can find the bears not only in Berlin. Altogether, there are about 1,400 bears, of which there are over 1100 outside of Berlin and Brandenburg. One of them on the TEC Berlin, a supply ship of the German Navy, which symbolically represents the federal capital in the world.
The up to two meters high and about 50 kilogram bears are mounted on a concrete base in the open. In front of numerous German embassies and consulates ( as in Washington, Brasilia, Tokyo, Dhaka, St. Petersburg, Taipei, Paris, New Delhi ) advertise Buddy Bears for a tolerant, free and democratic Germany.
Special Events
Many Buddy Bears found a new home at City Events: 18 Bears traveled 2004 Long Night of Museums in Buenos Aires, in conjunction with the exhibition Urban Sculptures 23 Buddy Bears were designed by Chinese artists in the same year and since then are in Shanghai. 2005 and 2006 stamped 75 Buddy Bears were designed by artists from the region, the streets and alleys image of St. Gallen and were later auctioned for the benefit of a children's facility in Switzerland. The road bears around the world with their arms raised standing of the Buddy Bears were focused on the dissemination of kindness and optimism.
A special event was the Buddy Bear kicker. 2006 Berlin was in the World Cup soccer fever - the world's biggest kicker was at the Kranzler Eck ( Kurfürstendamm) in Berlin. Two years later, enjoyed this Buddy Bear kicker - the European Championships - the football fans in Vienna.
A United Buddy Bear traveled to Paris in December 2009. This designed by French artist Bruno di Martino Bear was 4 days in the foyer of the Salon de la Société des Beaux 2009 -Art in the Louvre, an exhibition under the patronage of the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2010, the Buddy Bear Quadriga, solemnly unveiled in the presence of the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and the actress and ambassador for this Quadriga, Rebecca Lina in the Kranzler Eck.
At the Expo 2010 in Shanghai was balancity in the German Pavilion - a city in balance, the capital Berlin by a large Buddy Bears represented against the backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate. The bear was designed on behalf of Berlin Partner GmbH from Fuenfwerken Design AG for the Expo. 2012 Buddy Bear was unveiled as a symbol of the special connection between the two study sites on the occasion of the opening of the TU Berlin campus in El Gouna.
United Buddy Bears
The origin of the project United Buddy Bears was laid in 2002. After successfully by the Senate of Berlin so designated Buddy Bear Berlin Show 2001 and the road bears this was a further idea.
Berlin is a multicultural city; the bear should be called the people from around the globe. The popularity of the bears should - be used to give people from all over the world something to think about a better understanding between each other - after the idea of the initiators. Understanding of the different living conditions in other countries and exposure to different cultures as a basis for peaceful co-and juxtaposition. From this basic idea, the idea of United Buddy Bears under the motto was "We have to get to know us better, then we can better understand, trust each other more and live together! " Developed.
Charitable purpose
The aim of the Buddy Bear activities is according to the initiators to support through auctions and other activities around the Buddy Bears, Children's Charities. The project has been supported from the outset by companies, sports clubs and celebrities, as well as the Berlin city cleaning companies and transport companies.
Through Buddy Bear activities partially aids for needy children were enabled. Through donations and auctions of Buddy Bears over 2.0 million euros for UNICEF and various local children's charities both at home and abroad have been met. To be able to quickly and efficiently targeted help in some cases children, 2004 by Eva Herlitz, along with several international artists the club Buddy Bear Help eV was founded.
United Buddy Bears - world tour
2002-2005
The initiators Eva and Klaus Herlitz intended to advertise through the image of the peaceful coexistence of bears for tolerance and understanding and at the same time through auctions and other charitable activities, donations for worldwide children's charities (UNICEF, SOS Children's Village ), but also for local, smaller organizations, such as the child and youth work to generate " The Ark ". The circle of United Buddy Bears now consists of up to 152 bears, each of which represents one accepted by the United Nations country and each was designed by an artist in the country. The event is called by the organizers also The Art of Tolerance ( The Art of Tolerance). Admission is generally free and allows you to visit the exhibition by all classes. So far, the world saw over 30 million visitors these exhibitions.
The county project was first presented in summer 2002 at the Pariser Platz in Berlin. The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, in June opened the exhibition. During the first exhibition of numerous prominent guests such as the then Federal President Johannes Rau and UNICEF World Ambassador Sir Peter Ustinov came. In 2003 the project was again shown in Berlin, which was now opened by Peter Ustinov. Ustinov had used in advance that Iraq must also be represented in the United Buddy Bears circle.
Since then, the Bears advertise on their world tour for the peaceful coexistence of peoples, religions and cultures. They were issued in 2004 in Kitzbühel ( Austria ), Hong Kong ( under the auspices of Jackie Chan) and Istanbul. In 2005 Tokyo was followed ( the opening of the exhibition was made by the Federal President Horst Köhler and the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to Ambassador Henrik Schmiegelow visited about three million people, the exhibition in Roppongi Hills ) - and in the fall of Seoul. There, in the Olympic Park, stood for the first time bears from South and North Korea, designed by artists from the respective parts of the country, paw paw at, peaceful side by side.
From 2006
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer attested to the United Buddy Bears in 2003, they were " in impressive work of art and at the same time a symbol of the cultural wealth of our world, which can be much more by peaceful coexistence than the sum of its parts". The Goethe-Institut characterized the United Buddy Bears as a "unifying project". Foreign Minister Frank -Walter Steinmeier described it in a greeting as "ambassadors for Berlin and a cosmopolitan Germany".
In the summer of 2006, the United Buddy Bears were seen again in Berlin. They stood at Bebelplatz in Berlin -Mitte. Due to the historic site it came in the spring of 2006, a controversial discussion in Berlin. The Berlin Culture Senator Thomas Flierl outermost his displeasure at the bear, as the Bebelplatz is a memorial to the book burnings of 1933. This list was welcomed by the Jewish Community of Berlin as " an appreciation of Bebelplatz ". Likewise, gave the neighboring Catholic community of St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the Israeli artist and sculptor Micha Ullman, the Foreign Office, the Berlin Senate and the Mitte district of Berlin positive statements on the list at the Bebelpltz. The official opening of the circle on 15 June 2006 was held by the Federal Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek -Zeul, the District Mayor Karin Schubert and of around 60 ambassadors attended. The exhibition visit by UN Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow should do on World Refugee Day on the refugees in the Darfur region (Sudan ) carefully.
After the exhibition in Berlin of the circle once again went on a world tour and was first on the Karlsplatz in Vienna, under the auspices of Christiane Hörbiger presented in the fall of 2006. In the spring of 2007, the United Buddy Bears exhibition on the banks of the Nile in Cairo of Egypt's First Lady, Suzanne Mubarak, was opened on the island of Zamalek. Patron on the German side was Hans -Dietrich Genscher. In the summer, was under the patronage of Iris Berben, the long-planned exhibition in Jerusalem in Safra Square, reality. 132 countries were peacefully hand -in- hand, including Israel between Iran and Iraq. And Palestine is represented first time since 2007 in this unifying exhibition. The Palestine - Bear was created by Ibrahim Hazimeh, President of the Palestinian National Committee for the Visual Arts at the AIAP / UNESCO. The exhibition of the United Buddy Bears certified Ban Ki- moon, Secretary General of the United Nations in October 2007 that it would " show high creativity of artists from many different countries," the and thus " also carry a message of harmony and peace in the world ".
Berlin, Bebelplatz (2006)
Vienna, Karlsplatz ( 2006)
Jerusalem, Safra Square (2007)
In May / June 2008, the exhibition came to Warsaw. On the Plac Zamkowy ( German: Palace Square ) was - in tradition and as a reminder to the Weimar Triangle - the opening jointly by the three mayors of the cities of Warsaw ( Hanna Gronkiewicz -Waltz ), Berlin ( Klaus Wowereit ) and Paris ( Deputy Mayor Anne Hidalgo ) made. In the summer of 2008, the United Buddy Bears in Stuttgart guest appearances on the Schlossplatz around the anniversary column. The exhibition opening was made by Mayor Wolfgang Schuster.
The German Embassy in North Korea took the bears in the fall of 2008 in the center of Pyongyang. They stood at the foot of Moran Hill, close to the Kim Il-sung statue. It was the first art exhibition that came from abroad and also the first one that was freely available to everyone in North Korea. The Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations wrote this on 20 October 2008 ( ifa cultural exchange ): "The exhibition in Pyongyang not changed sure the world, but it changed the world in North Korea very strong. " FAZ was surprised that succeeded the United Buddy Bears, as "the first public art exhibition from abroad, which is accessible to everyone " to get into the insular Pyongyang.
In the spring of 2009, the grand opening of the first exhibition in the Americas are celebrated, it played the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires at the Plaza San Martin of Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires. The opening in front of 500 invited guests was made by the Mayor Mauricio Macri. Under the direction of the Minister of Culture, Hernan Lombardi, the city could look back at 7 weeks exhibition time with many events and hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 17th exhibition was opened in Montevideo in the presence of the President of Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez, of the Mayor of Montevideo, Ricardo Ehrlich and the German Ambassador to Uruguay, Bernhard Graf von Waldersee, in May.
Warsaw, Castle Square (2008)
Stuttgart, Schlossplatz (2008)
Buenos Aires, Plaza San Martin ( 2009)
The United Buddy Bears ' hibernated ' for the first time in Berlin and were from late November 2009 to mid- April 2010 at the Berlin Central Station (U 55) exhibited in the so-called Dudlerpassage. The exhibition - under the patronage of Federal Minister Ursula von der Leyen - was opened by the actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Buddy Bears, Dennenesch Zoudé, as well as the Ambassador of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Onschanow, who announced that the next exhibition in the summer of 2010 in the heart of the Kazakh capital, Astana will be presented.
As early as mid May 2010 until the summer of Akim ( Mayor ') Imanghali Tasmaghambetow of Astana was opened in the aforementioned Buddy Bear exhibition solemnly in front of around two thousand invited guests and with many artistic and folkloric contributions of the ethnic groups of Kazakhstan. The 2 1/2 month long exhibition was located at the foot of Bajterek Tower.
Astana ( Kazakhstan), Bajterek Tower (2010)
Helsinki, Senate Square (2010)
Sofia, Place St. Nedelya (2011)
The 20th exhibition of the world tour, which was opened by the Mayor Jussi Pajunen on the Senate Square in Helsinki, was in northern Europe in September and October 2010 as a guest. Responsible for this exhibition were the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute in Finland, with support from the City of Helsinki and DB Schenker.
Under the motto diversity in Germany, the German Embassy Sofia hosted the Germany weeks in Bulgaria. With the art exhibition of the United Buddy Bears in early April 2011 were officially opened the Germany weeks. The exhibition is a symbol of international understanding and tolerance. The patronage took the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and the mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova. The 22nd exhibition was opened in the hometown of Buddy Bears at the anniversary celebrations on the Kurfürstendamm on 26 June 2011 and was there for 3 months present. The next trip was the Buddy Bears again to Asia, first to Southeast Asia, in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Under the patronage of the Sultan of Selangor Opened in December 2011, the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail bin, and the Minister of Tourism, Datuk Victor Wee, the exhibition around the fountain in front of the Pavilion KL, on the Boulevard Bukit Bintang, in a solemn, pre-Christmas frame before it was terminated after almost 3 months and officially registered 2.5 million visitors with a ceremony in favor of children's aid activities.
As part of the Year of Germany Germany and India 2011-2012 were the United Buddy Bears from March to May 2012 in New Delhi as a guest. The exhibition opened Sheila Dikshit ( Chief Minister of Delhi ), Klaus Wowereit ( Mayor of Berlin ) and Eva and Klaus Herlitz ( initiators of the United Buddy Bears) in Central Park in Connaught Place, in the heart of New Delhi. The total of 147 bears were then thanks the support of the Hamburg Süd shipping and logistics company DB Schenker transported in eight 40-foot containers to St. Petersburg, where the end of June 2012, the exhibition near the Winter Palace ( Hermitage ) by the German Ambassador in Moscow, Ulrich Brandenburg, was opened as part of the Year of Germany in Russia.
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (2011/2012)
St. Petersburg Alexander Park (2012 )
Paris, Eiffel Tower Champ de Mars ( 2012)
In the fall of 2012, the exhibition was opened in Paris: The United Buddy Bears are ambassadors of Berlin and Germany and in France remember the fact that the foundation stone of the German - French friendship 50 years ago laid with the signing of the Elysee Treaty on 22 January 1963. " Only on the firm foundation of the German - French friendships can succeed in successfully shaping the world today ", said Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle - fitting to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU - with.
Many other cities are in the pipeline, including Athens, Beijing, Singapore and Prague.
The exhibitions of the United Buddy Bears at a glance
United Buddy Bears - The Minis
Many of the international artists have also designed a small United Buddy Bear of a meter size for their country. This The Minis -called circular was issued at various locations in Germany, as in the Sony Center in Berlin, Frankfurt Airport, the Babelsberg Film Park, in Wasserburg am Bodensee and in the zoo of Osnabrueck. The first exhibitions Ausserhalbs Germany found 2012 in Bratislava (Slovakia Slovakia) and Borås (Sweden Sweden) instead.
For ten years traveling the " Buddy Bears " as an ambassador of peace, tolerance and international understanding to the world. The ex- Foreign Minister Frank -Walter Steinmeier said " In 2013, there is no better place for them to insert a stop, as here in Germany, Gladbeck, where we celebrate the Year of Tolerance as part of the Luther Decade! The Ruhr Martin Luther Forum brings together Luther and Buddy Bears. A clear signal that we need tolerance and understanding especially in dealing with foreign religions and cultures, with different or non- believers. The 'm not with foreclosure, but only through a genuine dialogue - true to the motto of the Buddy Bears initiators: We must get to know us better, then we can better understand, trust each other more and live together more peacefully ".
The small variation of the United Bears were to conclude the Year of Germany in Russia in Yekaterinburg (Russia Russia) present. The opening was performed by the Mayor Alexander Edmundowitsch Jacob, the German Consul General Andrew Klassen and the part of the initiators, Klaus Herlitz. At the end of 2013, the 1 m large bear in Calais ( France ) have been issued.
Criticism
After the exhibition in early 2006 in Sydney and before re- presentation in Berlin, the Berlin TAZ commented that it was an " embarrassing " plagiarism, " kitsch", and the bear was a " buddy for Dork ".
The Skulptur.Projekte 2007 Andreas Siekmann was referring to his contribution trickle down. Public Space in the Age of Privatization critical look at this form of urban art in the urban space is occupied by private companies. For his artwork Siekmann smashed claims to 13 characters using a crusher and placed a formed from the remnants ball - along with the press - before Erbdrostenhof in Münster.