The artwork DER BEVÖLKERUNG by Hans Haacke was as commissioned and installed in 2000. It was erected in the north courtyard of the German Reichstag building in the year 2000 by resolution of the German Bundestag. The work consists of a trough measuring 21 x 7 meters, bounded by wooden beams, from the center of which the words "DER BEVÖLKERUNG" ("To the Population") radiate toward the sky in white neon letters. The words can be seen from all levels of the building: from the assembly hall, the floor reserved for the political parties and the press, as well as by visitors on the roof. The public funds allocated to the project were the equivalent of approx. 200,000 euros. The artwork was realized within the framework of the Reichstag's art in architecture program. Title The title refers to the historic inscription "DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE" ("To the German People") affixed to the Reichstag building in 1916. This reference is underscored by the use of the same lettering designed by Peter Behrens at the time. Hans Haacke emphasizes the difference in meaning between "Volk" (people) and "Bevölkerung" (population): the latter includes all people who live in a country. A key source of inspiration for the project was a statement by Bertolt Brecht: Members of the German Bundestag are invited to bring soil from their constituency and deposit it in the spaces around the lettering. The plants grow from seeds that have landed by chance on the work or which are contained in the soil contributions. The biotope, which has come into being over time, is to remain untouched. In another work, titled We (all) are the people, and conceived for Documenta 14 in 2017, Hans Haacke takes up the terminology and the associated debates. Since then, the work has been shown internationally several times in the form of flags and banners, and adapted to each site accordingly. Controversies Members of the German Bundestag before the vote The political nature of the artwork sparked a political controversy. Volker Kauder, was the only member of the art committee of the German Bundestag to oppose the work: In the Bundestag, members of the CDU in particular, such as Norbert Lammert, but also Antje Vollmer of the Green Party, who was then Vice President of the Bundestag, initially opposed the artwork's acquisition. According to Lammert, it was a “bizarre federal garden show” and a “silliness”, adding that