Brother Fire

A project by Benno Plassmann with pupils in the 9th grade of the Eckener Oberschule secondary school, presented by Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, sponsored by Denk mal an Berlin e.V., for the Open Monument Day 2008.

Saturday, September 13, 2009, 8.30pm in the ruined monastery, Klosterstraße 73 a

The burnt out ruin of the Franciscan monastery destroyed in World War II in Berlin Mitte stands as a memento in the middle of the city. It bears witness to the inhumanity of war and to the philanthropic founder of the Franciscan order, St. Francis, renowned for his strict vow of poverty as well as his devoutness which was very much linked to the natural world: he saw the beauty of God’s creation as a hymn to its Creator. This is clearly conveyed in St. Francis’ Canticle of the Sun:

 “(…) Be praised, my Lord,

Through Brother Fire,

Through whom you brighten the night.

 He is beautiful and cheerful,

And powerful and strong. (…)”

Fire – and how we react to it – plays a fundamental role in the history of human civilisation. This is further reflected in the fact that fire is a recurring element and symbol in all of humanity’s religions.

The piece „Brother Fire“ centres on the tension between fire’s destructive and civilising powers and this theme is developed by Benno Plassmann and the students. Building on their own associations with the theme of fire and after an overview of the structure and history of the monastery, the students will conduct interviews with religious ministers to explore the role of fire in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

After a collection evaluation of each step of the process, symbols, iconography and texts will be selected for „fire calligraphy“ and set up in the ruin on the evening of the Open Monument Day. As the fire symbols burn, texts on the theme of fire will be recited. The ephemerality of the fire symbols in the monastery form a conscious opposition to the longevity of stone and of the monument itself. Out of this discrepancy a “time shock” may occur, which Berliners themselves must have felt upon seeing this age-old building destroyed all of a sudden.