slate tiles on the one hand and an artistic reflection (using any other material) on the other hand, for an exceptional project exhibition (DIE BEGINEN e.V. 2019) (Figure 7). Conclusion
Figure 7: Josef A. Kutschera: Landzunge (Promontory), 2018, from the art project ‘GREYZONE – a roof becomes art’ (Photo: Christof Ellger).
marketed all over the country. As a result, about 25 lectures will take place in towns of very different size throughout Germany during this slate year. Using slate as the key to open up the discussion, the basics of petrographical classification, questions of geological age and stratigraphy, tectonics and the changing configurations of continents and oceans are featured in the lectures. Other topics covered include slate mining then and now and the economy of the slate industry, and there are themes ‘beyond geology’, like wine-growing on slate
(along the rivers Rhine and Mosel) and the use of slate in works of art. With respect to the latter aspect, there are a number of artists in Germany who work with slate. A fine present-day example of a slate art project is “Grauzone” (grey zone): the artist Bernard Misgajski, who lives and works on the Isle of Rügen, found and rescued disused slate tiles (originally from Wales!) from the roof of a railway shed in the Danish harbour of Gedser and distributed them to colleagues of his. As a result, 37 artists from five countries produced twin works, with the Gedser
Thirteen years after its start in 2007 the German geology and geoheritage initiative “rock of the year” has become well-established in the geoscience community and well covered by various media. 2019, the year of slate, appears as a special highlight, with a fascinating multifaceted stone. The challenge for the future will be to select rocks that are sufficiently attractive for the media and the public. This encompasses both the attractiveness for the general audience to get them closer to geological issues and the potential for associations and companies to communicate their interests. The initiative itself may improve itself substantially by a range of measures, e.g. with a specific website for the rock of the year and with improved networking between the rocks associations and all the other institutions involved.
References DIE BEGINEN e.V. 2019. GRAUZONE. Ein Dach wird Kunst. (GREYZONE. A Roof Becomes Art). Rostock: Der Rostocker Frauenkulturverein DIE BEGINEN e.V. Friis, C. 2018. Der Moselschiefer in der Osteifel: seine Entstehung, sein Abbau und seine Fossilien (Mosel slate in the Eastern Eifel: its origin, its mining and its fossils). Kottenheim: Selbstverlag Claus Friis Schubert, R., Schubert, J. 2015. Unser "afrikanischer" Schiefer: Die Geologie der unterkarbonischen Dachschiefer- Lagerstätten im Thüringisch-Fränkisch-Vogtländischen Schiefergebirge (Our “African” slate: The geology of the Lower Carboniferous roofing slate deposits in the Slate Mountains of Thuringia, Franconia and Vogtland). Leutenberg: Naturpark Thüringer Schiefergebirge/ Obere Saale Stahr, M. 2018. Schiefer. Ein natürlicher Baustoff an Dach und Fassade (Slate: A natural construction material for roof and wall). Bausubstanz: Zeitschrift für nachhaltiges Bauen, Bauwerkserhaltung und Denkmalpflege, 9/3. 45-53. Wagner, H.W. 2018. Dach- und Wandschiefer – ein traditioneller Baustoff in Mitteleuopa: mit einer Karte der traditionellen Schiefer-Dachlandschaften als Beitrag zur Orts- und Dachgestaltung (Roofing and walling slate – a traditional construction material in Central Europa; with a map of traditional slate roof landscapes as a contribution to village and roof design). Veröffentlichungen des Netzwerkes „Steine in der Stadt“, 1/2018. Hanover: Netzwerk “STEINE IN DER STADT” Wichert, J. 2017. Roofing slate – origin, deposits, properties, standards and mining. Ph.D. thesis, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
14