Der Weltuntergang

With species extinction, climate change, and migration, Franz Hohler's ballad is timelessly relevant: In the southern Pacific, a tiny beetle disappears. Shortly thereafter, a bird species that relied on this beetle for food goes extinct, and the absence of a shrill bird call is noticed. When a delicate type of fish that depended on the droppings of this bird can no longer be found in the fishermen's nets, the loss weighs even heavier. In the end, people along the coasts must seek refuge inland from the rising sea waters.

The scenario of the seemingly harmless beetle that vanished at the beginning escalates into a threatening situation by the end of the ballad; the ecological balance has long been disrupted.

The masterful text design by Rahel Arnold, along with the real and abstract visual elements by the artist Dieter Leuenberger, amplifies the urgency of the situation.