Anne Diestelkamp
cultural programmer, artistic researcher/ editor and translator
Lecture
Marina Otero Verzier
City Hall Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany
2024
In 2024, the first lithium refinery in Europe opened in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Lithium occupies a paradoxical position — it is both a key resource in the so-called green energy transition and a chemical used as a mood stabilizer. It powers the batteries in our phones, computers, and electric vehicles, while also being prescribed to treat exhaustion, mania, and depression. Yet lithium extraction leaves deep wounds in the landscape, as in Covas do Barroso, a village in northern Portugal. The people of Covas have resisted the establishment of lithium mines, aware of their lasting effects on air, water, and soil quality. Their struggle echoes similar movements in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, the Czech Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Spain, and beyond. This resistance transforms violence into a force of survival and a desire for life, momentarily interrupting the compulsive drives of capitalism. In her lecture, architect Marina Otero Verzier examined the social, psychological, and ecological dimensions of lithium mining through the example of the community in northern Portugal.
📷 Falk Wenzel