RHYZOMFieldtrip

Three Eco Villages: local productions and rural cooperative traditions

Organised by public works and Ispara

The trip is visiting three "eco-villages" and one Berlin based cooperative which represent very different aspects and scales of ecological living and production. All initiatives started during the 90ies in areas of the former GDR and have developed their own specific forms of economical and social structures.

Brodowin

Large scale organic farming and nature conservation.

Brodowin is a privately owned commercial enterprise which was founded in 1991 by bringing together two former GDR cooperatives. The business employs 60 local staff, many who have been members of the former GDR cooperative. The Demeter Farm produces organic food (veg, dairy, meet) for local and regional distribution - mainly Berlin. It is involved in creating sustainable local and regional employment, organic food production and nature conservation. A current research project looks into the development of economically viable concepts for integrating conservation objectives into modern organic farming, and to test them in practice ("Conservation Farm").

Gut Stolzenhagen

The former estate was also used as a LPG cooperative during the GDR, but became abandoned and started to decay after 1989. Since 1994 different groups and initiatives have tried to inhabit and develop the estate for communcal living and activities. In 1999 it became the association Gut Stolzenhagen/Oder e.V and in 2004 it was transformed into a coop which also introduced consensus as the governing rule (instead of decisions by majority). The coop is organised in neighbourhoods which are self-organised and are involved in numerous forms of production. One of renowned cultural initiatives is the annual "Tanzland Festivals" organised by ponderosa dance.

Siebenlinden

Siebenlinden started in 1989 as a collective initiative to create a self-efficient ecological village. Since 1997 it has settled "on the green fields" outside the village of Poppau and is in a continiuos process of constructing a village with its various social and physical aspects (sustainable building, permaculture, culture)

It's structured in three organisational strands, a settler's cooperative whch owns the land (82 members), Friends of Siebelinden who run the cultural and educational activities and a Housing cooperative (78 members), and is organised in five neighbourghoods.

Siebenlinden is going to be Germany's Centre of "straw bale constructions" (in German "Deutsches Strohballenzentrum") and the founder of its national professional association, plus already showcasing numerous constructions in the village.

Posted April 16, 2010 11:01 by Kathrin Böhm

The second phase of the COLCHESTER INN project has started and we are beginning to collaborate with three new groups: a group of 3D students from Colchester Institute, the Colchester Timebank group and a group with individuals who for their own very different reasons want to get involved.

The last group will be meeting this Friday, 9th April at 18.30 at firstsite in Colchester. Please feel free to join, and just bring along something you might use at home to host others. A cake, a nice table cloth, a special dish, a table...?

Posted April 6, 2010 21:33 by Kathrin Böhm

Yes, Easter. Off for a break.

Happy Easter Time!

Posted March 29, 2010 21:03 by Kathrin Böhm

This weekend we'll be brainstorming and sketching a new product for and from Abbey Gardens, Stratford.

Friday 26th and Saturday 27th March 2010

RHYZOM PRODUCTION WORKSHOP for

What Will the Harvest Be? at Abbey Gardens

Abbey Gardens is the site of "What will the Harvest Be?" an ambitious artist's commission initiated by the Friends of Abbey Gardens (FOAG) to revive a neglected piece of land in Newham, East London. The artists - Karen Guthrie & Nina Pope - led the development of a 'harvest garden' that will run for a minimum of 3 seasons at the site. The 80m x 20m garden was launched in spring 2009 as a social and horticultural experiment: its 30 large-scale raised beds are freely accessible for anyone who wants to grow flowers, fruit and vegetables. In 2009 it attracted over 30 regular users as well as many more occasional volunteers and groups of all ages. Members of the public also visit the garden, which is ordinarily open daily, and there are regular events and activities. The 2010 planting scheme has been designed by the artists, and plans for the coming season include the planting of an experimental trained fruit wall, the instigation of an 'honesty stall' to offer produce to the public and wider public engagement in the community.

What Will Happen at the Workshop?

The idea for the workshop is to brainstorm and develop new objects/items/goods that derive from the context of Abbey Gardens a collective urban food growing site. The brief is open and will be developed collectively and in reference to specific aspects of Abbey Gardens, such as collective gardening and harvesting, urban food production, social and historical aspects of the site, etc.

The aim for the two day workshop is to develop a brief for one or a number of new products, and if possible, to assemble first prototypes. The new items can be anything: from food or tools to plants or processes and of a real or digital nature.

The products may later be used at Abbey Gardens and distributed locally through the Abbey Gardens' new honesty box and mobile stall. The honesty box is part of a wider network of cultural trading activities called the International Village Shop, where the new products for Abbey Gardens can become part of a growing collection of locally informed and produced goods.

public works and Somewhere are involved in a long term project called the International Village Shop, a platform for the production and distribution of locally informed goods across a network of urban and rural communities. As part of the International Village Shop we are generating new products which directly refer to specific situations and are developed collaboratively with local hosts.

Workshop Programme:

Fri 26th March

10.00 Meeting at Abbey Gardens

Introduction of all participants and their different interests in being involved. Mapping session of local resources/narratives/skills/appreciations/conflicts within Abbey Gardens and its proximity which could inform the new products.

13.00 Lunch at Abbey Gardens

14.00 - 17.00 Further mapping and group session brainstorming and sketching first ideas for a new products.

19.00 Friday Session_39 at public works studio

Sat 27th March

10.00 Production workshop at Abbey Gardens, aiming towards a brief and first prototypes for new products.

12.30 Informal lunch and internal presentation of workshop results.

13.30 Further sketching/prototyping/building.

15.00 Tea and cakes. Presenting results to the public.

15.30 Discussion about the different values involved in making and trading the new product within the context of the Abbey Gardens Honesty Box and the International Village Shop.

16.30 Finish

Posted March 24, 2010 11:06 by Kathrin Böhm

RHYZOM is a co-operative european research project initiated by aaa which consists of fieldtrips, workshops and outputs in the different countries involved. public works is one of the partners and we are currently organising one fieldtrip to three eco-villages in northern Germany and two workshops at Abbey Gardens in Stratford and in the village of Höfen in Southern Germany.

If you want to find out about programmes and would like to take part please write to

mail at publicworksgroup.net

Posted March 22, 2010 20:34 by Kathrin Böhm

Robert (from Robert & Jacky Removals) and Lisa setting off from Hackney Wick with the Mobile Porch

This years first outing of the Mobile Porch is in Crouch End, North London. You can join Bethany and Lisa for 'Finding the Plot', a weekend of guerrilla gardening, plot-finding and community conversations at the interactive garden workshop - aka Mobile Porch. The workshop takes place outside Hornsey Town Hall, Crouch End Broadway, N8 this Saturday and Sunday the 13 and 14th of March. Or the follwoing weekend on Camspbourne Estate, Hornsey, N8 which is the 27 and 28th March.

Bethany and Lisa spent several afternoons giving the Porch a much needed and much appreciated spring clean and new coat of varnish. For more info on their project visit Bethany's blog -> Just So Studio

Also - rumour has it that our friends at Avant Gardening received funding which will see the Mobile Porch visit south London later in the year.

Posted March 14, 2010 10:52 by Andreas Lang

DIY Regeneration at Camden Arts Centre

AF workshop with the 'urban pioneers'

Camden Arts Centre is bringing together three residencies commissioned for Kings Cross as part of the Junction series. The short exhibition will be on for 3 Days only from the 12th to the 14th of March.

Our contribution focuses on the dissemination of the advice given to us during our on site original residency. We printed up the 7 best posters and will spend Sunday afternoon walking Somerstown, fly posting and revisiting the area as part of Friday session No:38

Another element of the exhibition is a workshop commissioned by the Architecture Foundation with the Urban Pioneers a group of Secondary School Students.

Posted March 11, 2010 11:46 by Andreas Lang

Rehearsals started

Rehearsals in the main space, kitchen and shop

The Whitechapel Gift Shop is an art and architecture project by public works, in collaboration with the clients Pilar and Pele Cortizo Burgess.public works were the architects for the Whitechapel Gift Shop creating a home, which looks at the shifting boundaries between public and private realm and questions the necessity of institutions as predominant contemporary cultural spaces. The project tests the boundaries of public and private further with the public event of the performance - 'Plastic'.

public works collaborated with 30 bird productions creating 'Plastic' as a spatial and site specific performance 2 years ago for Edinburgh Festival and now we are collaborating to recreate it in the domestic context of the Whitechapel Gift Shop project.

'Plastic' was nominated for a Total Theatre Award in Edinburgh 08 and selected by The Guardian as one of the top four shows in the festival. It is coming to London to The Whitechapel Gift Shop from 18-27 March. Tickets can be booked online at: www.wegottickets.com/30birdproductions.

For more info on Plastic visit 30 bird productions website: www.30birdproductions.org

For more info on 'Whitechapel gift shop' please see www.publicworksgroup.net/giftshop and the client's website www.thewhitechapelgiftshop.com

Posted March 11, 2010 08:32 by Torange Khonsari

public work's archive box

The Archive of Shared interests has its second outing at the Whitespace Gallery which I had the pleasure of viewing when in Zurich last week. The archive brings together 30 practices who each submitted work. All contributions are referenced on a large wall and the individual dossiers are stored in plastic boxes which are loosely spread throughout the space. Its definitely worthwhile seeing when in Zurich. It is open until 20th of March 2010 on the 11.03 & 18.03 2010 from 3pm - 6pm or by appointment 079 231 33 36.
Below is the official abstract and address with a picture of our archive box above.

Archive of Shared Interests - Transfer Zone - Temporary Life - Temporary Communities
30 Theoretical approaches, architectural and artistic dossiers for communities in the Transfer Zone

Communities are defined by artists, scholars and urbanists as an antithesis to general society and its constraints, but they differ widely from one another in the roles they play. Whether the community is thought of as a secret utopia or as a threat to the individual, whether as a cooperative, a neighbourhood or a societal group, and whether or not the respective community is to be dissolved - every time, a certain artistic, architectural or theoretical concept of community initiates a subtext directed toward the public. Certain actions are implicitly designated for the visitors, the users, the readers; the public is revolutionized, integrated, informed, instructed, involved or controlled. The archive is conceived as a project apparatus on the broad theme of "community", an apparatus representing different and contradictory approaches and points of view on the basis of which "community" can be discussed. The archive will serve prospectively as the project apparatus of a research project and be expanded.

The archive is curated by Karin Frei Bernasconi, Siri Peyer, Dorothee Richter,
Exhibition design Jesko Fezer with Postgraduate Program in Curating, ICS ZHdK,
Graphic Design Megan Hall.

White Space // Office for Curating / Art / Theory
Programming: Dorothee Richter, Siri Peyer
Militärstrasse 76
Zugang über Kanonengasse neben Café Aloha
CH - 8004 Zürich
www.whitespace.ch

Posted March 9, 2010 21:30 by Andreas Lang

On display and for sale

We've just launched the pilotphase for the COLCHESTER INN project by presenting the KNOT CURTAIN at the current firstsite gallery. The curtain is the first of a series of new elements which will over time construct the COLCHESTER INN - a new public meeting space in Colchester.

The individual frames refer to chinese forms of hosting and the tradition of Chinese knot making. Assembled they works as a division wall/room curtain/display. The frames are on sale at firstsite and the profit will be reinvested into the new meeting space.

Posted March 2, 2010 10:18 by Kathrin Böhm