Twice as many people than in 2018 visited the Science & Media Festival in Halle (Saale) and took part in creating an unique atmosphere. The audiences favorite piece was the Museum of the Moon, an installation by British artist Luke Jerram, at Ziegelwiese.
In 2019 the SILBERSALZ Festival once again combined film screenings, Live-Performances, talks and VR-installations from a broad range of scientific disciplines and current topics in its overall 65 events. They took place all over the City of Halle (Saale).
Some of this years highlights have been the live shows of Japanese band ELECTRONICOS FANTASTICOS!, the talk of Prof. Dr. Harald Lesch and the film program with its two world premiers and five german premiers. Many visitors stayed for talks that acommpanyed the films and offered a platform to get into discussion with international scientists and filmmakers on the topics of the movie productions they had just seen.
The festival's initiator Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH and Documentary Campus e.V. are delighted by this reception and the positive reactions of the festival's visitors.
Donata von Perfall, Director Documentary Campus e.V. draws a very positive conclusion: “With this festival, we achieved our goal to create a platform where science gets accessible and we can have tomorrow’s discourse today, together, and keep an awake and curious gaze on this world. The moon transfers this fascination and a symbolic power, that could build bridges towards the topics of our time.
Lord Mayor of the City of Halle, Dr. Bernd Wiegand: The SILBERSALZ-Festival was an enrichment for the City of Halle during its four festival days. Let alone the fascinating moon-installation on Ziegelwiese was seen by thousands of visitors. With the help of the diy-offerings of Maker Faire Halle, Silbersalz created an interest of young people for science. The first modul of a “Fliegendes Klassnezimmer” (flying classrom) on Campus Kastanienallee was a built bridge between the Weinberg-Campus to the district of Halle-Neustadt. I am looking forward to the third edition next year”.
Dr. Katrin Rehak-Nitsche, Head of Science & Research, Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH: We are glad that the moon installation, the films, and talks were an invitation for many citizens and especially young school students to get into discussions with scientists. By that, the festival enables the active participation of citizens. Those built bridges between science and society are valuable for the social cohesion in this country.
The date of the festival's third edition is set: SILBERSALZ Festival will take place from 25th to 28th of June 2020 in Halle (Saale).
The Museum of the Moon, a wandering art installation by British artist Luke Jerram, hovered above the Ziegelwiese (Peißnitz) from 19th to 23rd of June. The true-to-scale 7 meters large glowing moon was installed between trees in a height of 11 meters and a must-see for the citizens of Halle and visitors. They used the hashtags #silbersalzfestival and #silbersalzfestival19 to share their impressions on social media.
A program of moderated star gazing, a photo spot, scientific lectures, VR-installations and films completed this festivals strand named “The Moon & Beyond”.
The decision to bring the moon to Halle was based on the 50th year of the moon landing of Apollo 11. The Moon uses photographs of the NASA and therefore build true to the original: Every centimetre of the artwork shows five kilometers of the real moon.