Join Kathrin and Wapke from Myvillages for a day trip to two community projects in Hellersdorf, Gutsgarten and station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf, with tours of both places, identifying and picking edible plants, digging for rural undercurrents, plein-air drawing and an introduction to Company Drinks. 

Berlin’s Rural Undercurrents Day Trip is part of the trans-local co-learning space of The Rural School of Economics (since 2020), where we are making time to leave the center, and become aware of the urban gaze. This trip to the outer edges of Berlin is intending to be attentive to the multi-vocal rural undercurrents on the way and in Hellersdorf. Where does rural knowledge, mindsets and practices reach public and shared realms within cities? Which interdependent economies related to land, the seasons and the more-than-human are in use? Can we draw rural undercurrents and what does trans-local mean? 

Borrowing the invitation of “going picking together” from London based cultural enterprise Company Drinks, we are planning to gently harvest new knowledge and drink ingredients throughout the day, to feed into a shared meal on Sunday, July 28 from 13:00 at nGbK am Alex.

11:00 First meeting point at nGbK am Alex
12:00 Second meeting point at Gutsgarten Hellersdorf, Alt-Hellersdorf 17, 12629 Berlin
12:00 Tour of the garden, meet Company Drinks, picking and drawing together 
14:00 Pot Luck Picnic at the pavilion on the green space (please bring something with you)
16:00 Visit station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf 
16:30 Leave Hellersdorf
17:30 Return nGbK am Alex

Gutsgarten is a community garden near Gut Hellersdorf, the former village center of Hellersdorf. The garden was initiated by PrinzessinnengartenBau in cooperation with the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Since December 2016, a place has been cultivated here together with local residents where we garden, cook, celebrate parties, organize workshops and cultivate neighbourliness. The garden is open to anyone who wants to garden, learn, pass on knowledge or simply get involved. During a tour of the garden, we can get to know the place and the work of the community, learn from them, and engage in conversations with each other. 

Myvillages, established by the artists Kathrin Böhm, Wapke Feenstra, and Antje Schiffers in 2003, focuses on the cultural production in and of rural spaces. The initiative challenges the cultural dominance of cities by highlighting rural practices, mindsets, and locations as significant cultural actors. Myvillages’ work spans diverse projects that explore resources, practices, and knowledges in the countryside that respond to challenges related to urbanization and the environment. Through international and trans-local collaborations, Myvillages fosters a new dynamism in understanding and engaging with the countryside, not as a backdrop but as an active cultural ground for artistic operation and critical inquiry.

Since 2014, nGbK has been running the station urbaner kulturen as an exhibition space in Hellersdorf. In 2020, it was joined by Place Internationale, a green space temporarily put at the nGbK’s disposal by the Berlin district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. This has now become the location for the Klassenzimmer der Zukunft (Future Classroom): A former trade fair pavilion has been rebuilt as an exhibition space and educational resource for various collaborations between local residents, artists, pupils and students. On the green space, we come together for a potluck picnic before visiting the exhibition space (current exhibition: LABORSCHULE BERLIN) and station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf.

Note on accessibility from the work group Municipal Kitchens:

Cooking and eating together is a shared language all of its own, so if you don’t feel confident with the spoken language(s) available at this event, please know you are still so welcome. We have multiple ways of sharing and we look forward to greeting you. We want everyone to be able to access our events, if there are any barriers to you joining us that we haven’t already tackled, please get in touch and we will do our best to support you. This includes providing childcare at daytime events (we will need at least one week’s notice).

Contact: anmeldung@ngbk.de