Poison & Play | Don't Wait - Detoxicate!

On lot nine, there's a lady hanging in a tree. It's Katja Echterbacker, an acrobat trying to climb the so-called “Elephant tree”. There's a ladder leaning on it which Katja Echterbacker uses to reach the first branch, where someone has already laid down a pillow. She straddles the branch and rests her upper body on it while leaving her arms and feet dangling in the air. “It's like you're sitting on an elephant branch”, explains Echterbacker, who offers a number of workshops that include active tree climbing. Participants are meant to re-experience their bodies.

They're also part of a project brought to life by the artist Pia Lindman - “Poison and Play” is suppposed to offer a playful approach to detoxication. “In order to detoxicate properly, it's not enough to work on your body. You also have to enjoy life and stay positive.” Besides keeping a relaxed attitute, detoxers can also “phytoremediate” - cleanse their bodies using plants, turf and chalk – at the Oxid Bungalow, whose walls and ceiling exhert a healing effect. Pia Lindman has built the Oxid Bungalow using beer crates filled with turf and chalk. She's put seeds in the turf - so far, she's got a couple of peas going - but if all goes well and the project should move into the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in July, Lindmann plans on cultivating oyster mushrooms in her crates because they are said to be especially effective at absorbing impurities.

The Elephant Tree and Oxid Bungalow will be open to the public through Sunday, May 29.

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