Der Bevölkerung

The work consists of a trough measuring 21 x 7 meters, bounded by wooden beams, from the center of which the words "DER BEVÖLKERUNG" ("To the Population") radiate toward the sky in white neon letters.

A key source of inspiration for the project was a statement by Bertolt Brecht: In our times, anyone who says 'population' instead of 'people' [...] is by that simple act refusing to support a great many lies.

According to Lammert, it was a “bizarre federal garden show” and a “silliness”, adding that if Bundestag members were to be involved in practical matters, they should also be allowed to discuss them.

[5] Gert Weisskirchen (SPD) championed the work: Here, the dedications "to the German people" and "to the population" are not diametrically opposed; both concepts are placed in relation to each other in order to engage in dialogue on the question: What kind of a society do we want to live in, in the future?

[7] Haacke's work raises questions of a highly political nature, according to Wolfgang Thierse, then president of the German Bundestag and one of the project's main supporters: They aim at the ethos of the parliamentarian, asking what norms he is committed to and what responsibility he feels he has toward people living in our country.

[9] In a commentary, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung accused Haacke of wanting to "take away" the Bundestag from the German people, and that the work was unconstitutional – a judgement that was also reached by a legal opinion commissioned by the CDU.