republica GmbH
Media installation at re:publica 2015
Making German polemic figues cry: Our special project at the digital conference
How does one excite 6,000 re:publica visitors and specialist media? By making polemical figures in the culture of outrage cry. We bring tears to the eyes of the editor-in-chief of one of Germany’s biggest newspapers Kai Diekmann, well-known feminist Alice Schwarzer and author Sascha Lobo with busts created from a 3D printer, fuel pumps and a Twitter feed. The internet of things – technology meets a good idea.
Whenever buzzwords on subjects raised by the three of them appeared on Twitter or re:publica visitors entered them: Schwarzer’s bust cried at #bushido (Bushido is a German rap star), Diekmann’s at #grexit and Lobo’s at #netneutrality. The three terms that our three heroes usually react to „allergically“ in real life as well. Tears flowed in a sustainable way to produce apple tea as a drink.
„Let the Heroes Cry“ was mentioned more than 100 times in online and social media in May 2015 and reached almost 500,000 communication influencers – just by earned media. The German journalist Kai Diekmann visited the installation right on opening day. The result was a seven-minute periscope with our employee Christan Clawien livestreamed to Diekmann’s 9,000 Twitter followers at that time.
