FIRE

Artists: Hala Alnaji, Billy Bultheel, Saodat Ismailova, Nikita Kadan, Hamedine Kane, Annette Kelm, Lene Markusen, Mark Morris, Neda Saeedi, Mikołaj Sobczak, Cecilia Vicuña & Coco Bergholm

Curated by Joanna Warsza, City Curator Hamburg. Exhibition architecture: José Délano 

FIRE is the second exhibition in the City Curator series From the Cosmos to the Commons: Five Years—Five Elements. The series focuses on the elemental forces of Cosmos (2025), Fire (2026), Air (2027), Earth (2028), and Water (2029), dedicating one year to each. Together, they invite us to look toward the horizon of a planetary public sphere, guided by a sense of the not-yet—a felt awareness of what might emerge.

FIRE engages with the origins of the term “apocalypse,” derived from the Greek Apokalypsis (ἀποκάλυψις), meaning “revealing” or “uncovering”. In this sense, the apocalypse is not a distant event but an ongoing condition. Beyond Western frameworks, Indigenous communities and other historically marginalized peoples have long used apocalyptic narratives to describe experiences of world-ending trauma, including colonization, displacement, and ecological devastation. 

FIRE presents a series of public art commissions by artists based in Hamburg and internationally, offering its political, ecological, and spiritual readings at a time of profound urgency. Our ancestors at some point learned to domesticate the over present fire. Today, we simultaneously contain and unleash it: mastering combustion while continuing to burn fossil fuels day and night, exhausting the planet’s resources and climate. FIRE addresses the pervasive feeling of impending catastrophe while asking how poison might become medicine, confusion a strength, and loss a source of renewal and resilience.

The project takes place at the St. Nikolai Memorial, a former church in the heart of Hamburg that was twice destroyed by fire during its history. Never rebuilt after World War II, it is now a site of remembrance and encounter, offering space to learn about the causes and consequences of war. It links the memory of destruction and irreparable loss with hope and a collective will to repair. In this context, the contemporary artworks function as “unrehearsed encounters,” reflecting on how to break the cycle of destruction and renewal and move toward forms of planetary coexistence grounded in care, justice, and nonviolence.

Opening weekend and key dates
FIRE. From the Cosmos to the Commons at the St. Nikolai Memorial
Opening weekend:  Saturday, June 20, 5–9pm; Sunday, June 21, 1–7pm
Walkthrough with Joanna Warsza, José Délano, artists and guests
Exhibition duration: June 21–September 21, 2026

Satellite projects:

Sunflower Fields by Agnes Denes, environmental public art installation,
Hammaburg-Platz
Opening June 21, 4:30–6pm
Exhibition duration: June 21–September 21, 2026

Nobody ran by Andrey Klassen, exhibition by Kunsthaus Hamburg, 
project space Admiralitätstraße 75
Curated by Anna Nowak
Opening June 6, 2026, 12pm
Exhibition duration: June 7–September 20, 2026

The element of COSMOS
Aby Warburg, Gertrud Bing and Fritz Saxl’s forgotten Image Collection on the History of Astrology and Astronomy is still on view on appointment at the Planetarium Hamburg.

Presented in collaboration with: St. Nikolai Memorial, International Summer Festival Kampnagel, HFBK Hamburg, Tanztriennale, Triennial of Photographie Hamburg, M.Bassy, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 11. Hamburger Architektursommer.

With friendly support from Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, Claussen Simon Stiftung, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Polnisches Institut Berlin, Kleist Museum, IASPIS—International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts, Ukrainisches Institut, Königliche Dänische Botschaft Berlin.

Media Partner: PRAZZLE

Sunflower Fields by Agnes Denes is being developed in close collaboration / partnership with: Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Wohnen (BSW), Behörde für Umwelt, Klima, Energie und Agrarwirtschaft (BUKEA), Generalkonsulat der Republik Kosovo in Hamburg, Autostrada Biennale, BürgerStiftung Hamburg, Hauptkirche St. Petri. 

The project City Curator Hamburg is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Media Hamburg and is hosted by the Kunsthaus Hamburg.