Gespräch: Zwischen Himmel und Erde
26. July 2025, 14:00
Overbeck Pavilion

As part of the soft opening of the Overbeck Society’s exhibition VOM HIMMEL GEFALLEN (Fallen from Sky), director Paula Kommoss welcomed Berlin-based ornithologist and author Cord Riechelmann to a public talk. In his presentation, Riechelmann gave a vivid introduction to the world of birds, explaining their behavior, habitats, and special role in the interplay between nature and culture.
The focus was on the question of how communication between humans and animals can be conceived—as an exchange that transcends language but can be experienced through attention, rhythm, and resonance. Riechelmann made it clear that birds act as mediators between heaven and earth: they connect the seemingly incompatible, translating movements, sounds, and atmospheres into forms that are both biologically and poetically legible.
The conversation thus opened up a space in which listening itself—a central motif of the accompanying program “O”—became visible as an act of rapprochement and understanding. Just as the “O” program encourages conscious listening and reflection, Riechelmann’s lecture invited the audience to expand their perception and rethink the sound of the world—not only as a human experience, but as a shared experience of different life forms.
“Between Heaven and Earth” made it clear that communication does not happen through words alone, but arises from listening to one another – in that space between where humans and animals, art and science, listening and speaking interact.