The film Cinzac da Floresta (The Ashes of the Forest) follows the artist Mundano as he travels throughout Brazil collecting ashes from forest fires. He transforms these ashes into large murals, which he uses in cities to draw attention to the fires and the vital role played by volunteer firefighters in fighting them. Through this project, he aims to promote art as a form of activism and raise awareness of forest conservation and firefighting.
Ash from the Amazon region, which was passed on to City Curator Hamburg by Mundano’s collective Cinzas da Floresta in São Paulo, was used to create the mural Tara’s Tears by Cecilia Vicuña and Coco Bergholm, which is on display at the St. Nikolai Memorial as part of the FIRE exhibition.
The film will be screened outdoors on the square where the former church nave once stood. Introduction by exhibition architect José Délano, City Curator Hamburg Joanna Warsza.
FIRE. From the Cosmos to the Commons at the St. Nikolai Memorial
Curated by Joanna Warsza, City Curator Hamburg
Exhibition: 21.6. – 21.9.2026
FIRE is the second exhibition in the City Curator series From the Cosmos to the Commons: Five Years – Five 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. 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, linking 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.
