Vortrag und Diskussion in Berlin
Donnerstag 29.5.08, 17-19 Uhr
Universität der Künste,
Hardenbergstr. 33
1. Stock, Raum 102
U- und S-Bahn Zoologischer Garten
Seit den 1970er Jahren gibt es Community Gardens in New York City. Trotz der steigenden innerstädtischen Grundstückspreise, sind sie als Landnutzung und Institution bis 2010 gesetzlich gesichert. Ihre Entwicklung als gemeinschaftlich genutzte innerstädtische Freiräume wird vorgestellt und in Hinsicht auf die bislang ungesicherte Situation von Gemeinschaftsgärten in Berlin, insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit der Räumung des Rosa Rose Gartens in Friedrichshain, diskutiert.
Waiting for development?
17 Uhr: Vortrag, Edie Stone, Direktorin der Green Thumb, New York City
17.45 Uhr: Vortrag, Frauke Hehl, Gemeinschaftsgarten Rosa Rose, Berlin
anschließend Diskussion.
Einführung und Gastgeber:
Professor Dr. Gert Gröning, Institut für Geschichte und Theorie der Gestaltung (GTG)
Moderation:
Carolin Mees, Doktorandin „Community Gardens in der South Bronx”
Die Energy Watch Group veröffentlichte im Mai ihren neuen Bericht. Ausserdem ist heute, am 22.5.08 der Rohölpreis so hoch wie noch nie. Und in den letzten 12 Monaten ist der Preis um 100 Prozent gestiegen. Eigentlich ein guter Grund sich entsprechende Sound Of Sirens Artikel nochmal durchzulesen.
Hier ein kurzer Auszug aus dem neuen Bericht der Energy Watch Group:
Seit einiger Zeit tobt eine heftige Debatte um das weltweite Ölfördermaximum („Peak Oil“). Institutionen mit großer Nähe zur Energiebranche, wie etwa das Consulting-Unternehmen CERA, betreiben eine Kampagne zur „Entlarvung“ der „Peak-Oil-Theorie“. Die vorliegende Studie gehört zu einer langen Reihe von Arbeiten, die innerhalb und außerhalb der ASPO (Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, etwa: Vereinigung zum Studium des Fördermaximums von Öl und Gas) entstanden sind und zeigen, dass das Ölfördermaximum keinesfalls mehr als „Theorie“ bezeichnet werden kann, sondern eine Realität ist, die sich bereits vor unseren Augen abspielt.
…Den Analysen unseres Szenarios zufolge ist das weltweite Ölfördermaximum 2006 eingetreten…
…Die wichtigste Erkenntnis ist, dass die Ölförderung nach dem Peak einen steilen Rückgang erleben wird.
Please be aware of that. And please be aware that socalled free trade is an invention that destroys lifes, cultures and our planet.
Also we do not have to go to the rain forest, to India or North America, the same thing is happening in Finland, where indigenous people are being marginalized and robbed of their rights, land is being taken and robbed of its resources, governments are backing corporations.
Watch this documentary: Last Yoik In Sami Forests?, check the website: www.elonmerkki.net
The shift, the change will come through us, through people who speak up, who demand their rights, who create lively cultures and lively democracies, who think and act as an interdependent world family, looking for ways from being dependend consumers to responsible producers.
We have to replace the well being of corporations again with the wellbeing of real people and real societies. We have to create and build new self-governing economies. Connect which each other, learn from each other.
Know more: Vandana Shiva on zmag.org
Connect: CivWorld Interdependence Day,
Find support: Post Carbon Institute (Assists societies in their efforts to relocalize communities and adapt to an energy constrained world.) Transition Towns (Local responses to the challenges of climate change and peak oil. Relocalization, Network and Support)
Sustainable Dance Club (SDC) is a new project of creatives from Holland, which has no less ambitious goal than to redefine the world’s club culture. It all started in Rotterdam… but read for yourself!
The Interview was done with Esther De Jong, SDC press spokesman, in the end of february 2008.
Hi Esther!
Thank you for participating in a Sound Of Sirens interview and thanks a lot for your time in advance.
In the beginning, please tell us what Sustainable Dance Club is all about and who stands behind it!
Having fun and doing it in a sustainable way, that’s the vision of the Sustainable Dance Club. The Sustainable Dance Club is a creative concept of Rotterdam based organizations Enviu – Innovators in Sustainability and Döll – Atelier voor Bouwkunst. The idea focuses on integrating sustainable design, technologies and entrepreneurship in a club environment. The goal is to introduce sustainability to a large and
young audience by making it sexy and profitable. In 2006 the concept was developed and presented during a completely sold out sustainable club night called The Critical Mass in Rotterdam’s club Off Corso. Since then, SDC has been overwhelmed with questions for presentations and interviews. Their goal is to realize the first edition of SDC this year, and this is going to happen in Rotterdam’s club MyTown, opening in September 2008.
Opening in September 2008.
In 2004 the idea of a sustainable dance club came to life in Stef van Dongen’s mind, the founder of Enviu. In the beginning of 2005, Enviu involved Döll –atelier voor bouwkunst, to help them with the technical aspects of creating a sustainable dance club. In September 2006 a graduate student called Anouk Randag, started to develop an energy-generating dance floor. Besides the idea of the Sustainable Dance Club as a permanent sustainable dance club, in parallel an organically growing ‘toolbox’ was developed in February 2007. This toolbox contains innovative modules that address the central themes of sustainable clubbing. The toolbox is an open database where people are invited from all over the world to contribute their ideas and experiences and try out ideas and share their experiences with other ‘toolbox-users’ to create a worldwide sustainable dance club community.
Section of a sustainable Off_Corso by Döll
One month later, Michel Smit (of Cultural Development and former director of Off_Corso) is installed as project leader of the SDC Company. In May 2007 the city council has plans to rebuild club Nighttown, and SDC gets included in these plans. The club Nighttown is going to be called MyTown and will be the first Sustainable Dance Club in the world!
Besides the energy-generating dance floor, plans are to build an environmental-friendly bar, include trees4dance (calcualate and compensate your dance-footprint), flush the toilet with rainwater, create a relaxingroof and more. The final concept will be shown in MyTown in September.
Spreading a sustainable message.
But what’s so sustainable on a night-club?
OK, you’ve got the energy-producing dancefloor, the rainwater-toilets, the environmental-friendly bar and so on…
But isn’t a club the mother-of-all consumption temples? Isn’t reduction of consumption one of the main keys to a sustainable lifestyle?
Yes clubbing is one of the most consuming activities, but people will keep on doing it anyway (compare it with flying an airplane). The aim of SDC is to reduce the waste in the clubbing scene for 30% and make the youth become aware of sustainable activities. In this way you have 2 matters in one: you reduce the waste and try to make young people get more active with sustainability.
If they ask you directly, will SDC actually help people in making their lifestyle more sustainable, instead of “just” being a role-model and building up awareness?
This is an interesting question since I am researching that at the moment. I am a graduate student and Im trying to find ways to let the visiting people change their lives into a more sustainable way. We would like to make a difference and not only show them how it could be.
Running a nightclub isn’t an easily affordable business. Most of all clubs all over the world are being sponsored by major brands. Will you work with sponsors, and if yes - is there any kind of selection procedure? Or will you accept cash from everybody, because the main point is: Take the money and do good things with it, even if it comes from a questionable corporation?
I do not totally agree with the fact that running a nightclub isn’t an easy affordable business. Usually most of the clubs get there money out of the ticket and consuming income of the customers. In the case of Sustainable Dance Club we might use companies that support our goal (for example organic drinks or sustainable energy etc) and display their goods in the club. But again with the clubs, there isn’t a lot of sponsoring going on, probably more in the event business.
Isn’t that very optimistic?
Most of the clubs in Holland might get partial subsidies from the government otherwise, the pay it themselves or may corporate with big liqueur brands. In the case of a sustainable dance club, it has a big chance that the government steps in and we can cooperate with organic or sustainable brands like described down here. However, we will only work together with brands that support our goal and that are sustainable!
That sounds promising!
To what extent must the company’s policy/culture of the possible sponsor-partner be sustainable?
I.e. would SDC accept Pepsi, when they offer you Pepsi Raw?
Didn’t hear about Pepsi Raw until now! But it looks promising and it could be our sponsor for example. The same as we will be working with Gulpener which is the producer of organic beers. It’s hard to say how deeply sustainable a sponsor should be, as long as it is in the spirit of young, trendy and caring for the environment
But don’t you think Pepsi isn’t just greenwashing its other activities with that particular line-extension and that they try to ride the eco-trend-wave, too?
I guess you never know what a company’s intentions are, I don’t think you can say everybody is truly caring about the environment and not trying to gain an image or money out of it. Anyway I think it’s good when a company is doing something for ‘ sustainable’ people, from what intention they do it, is hard to say.
What if someone wants to open a SDC in another country? Would you support them and / or sell him them concept in a kind of franchise-way?And are there any plans to spread the sustainable message to other clubs, like a SDC-club-tour or something like that?
Garden of Delight at the Critical Mass party, october 2007 (photo: Frank Hanswijk)
Of course it is great if other people are having the same idea of being sustainable, but it would depend on the kind of company and their ideas about it I guess. I can’t give you a concrete answer about that now, we would have to see at the moment, but I don’t exclude franchising. There are in fact plans to spread the sustainable message and make a sort of SDC club on tour. Our ultimate goal is to make every club in the world sustainable, but of course at the moment we are still building on the first so we have to take one step at a time and first make sure all the attributes are finished.
Green Culture in Holland.
Nice dream! :) But maybe one day we’ll see a sustainable club-world like that, because it seems to be the only option in a world of such critical energy and resources descent.
Let’s talk a little bit about the dutch sustainable culture in general! How much are people aware of the situation and would you say that there are kind of green and responsible vibes to be felt inside the society?
I think there is a big awareness for sustainability in the Dutch culture at the moment. For example Rotterdam is trying to be the greenest city in Holland so there is a lot going on in this area. Of course it is one thing to say that you care about the environment and actually doing something about it. This is what SDC wants to achieve, also for clubbing youth. Besides that, it could be that sustainability is a trend right now, so this is a good time to focus on it before the attention starts to drop.
Well said!
We wish you a very nice opening and an even more successfull future!
What kind of music and style will us expect?
And at last - will you spill the beans for our readers about the club-opening schedule?
(Secrets are sooo exciting…)
The clubs we will work with can decide on their own what kind of music they want to play, for the first club in Rotterdam it is going to be a mixture of dance music & club nights, band performances and an open stage for creative young people. The assumption is that MyTown will open in the beginning of September, it can change depending on the progress of the club and its assets.
Thank you for your time and maybe we’ll see us in september at MyTown!
Projection of the gas meter shown at the Critical Mass party (photo:Frank Hanswijk)
See also Trees for Dance (unfortunatly only in dutch)
“Trees for Dance gives clubs and festivals the opportunity to calculate the amount CO2 they (will most likely) produce. Also individual clubbers are able to measure their CO2 footprint of an all-night-long clubbin’ night. Trees for Dance offers everyone including big festivals the opportunity to compensate for the CO2 consumption by planting trees.”
“Durch den überraschend großen Rücklauf wurden unsere eigenen Erwartungen noch übertroffen: Die Forderung nach Veränderung der Spreeuferplanungen stützt sich auf 16.000 Unterschriften, gesammelt in nur fünf Monaten. Diese haben wir heute offiziell beim Bezirk Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg eingereicht. Wir sind froh, bereits einen Monat vor Ablauf der Sammelfrist diese sensationelle Resonanz belegen zu können. Wir sehen damit das vermeintlich positive Image des Mediaspree-Projektes als gestorben an.”
Fein! Wär hätte das gedacht? Wir gratulieren und sind gespannt wie es weitergeht.
See, the thing is: I like gathering things I consider beautiful. These ‘things’ can be objects or images I saw, thoughts I found, ideas, activities, whatever. And then I like to go and share what I find…This project by Åsa Sonjasdotter is many things at the same time: It is about art and activism, about self-empowerment, about agriculture (past and future), about the beauty of diversity, about the beauty of people, about questions of sustainable living and cultivating, about the preservation of indigenous knowledge and culture, about europe and regulations, about personal experience, engagement and learning…you name it.
I find her work with this project deeply inspiring, educational and beautiful.
Heute ist anscheinend deutscher Aktionstag bei Sound Of Sirens! In Hamburg ist es die Kultur, die flöten geht - in Berlin das Stadtbild und die damit einhergehenden Freiräume. Als wenn wir nicht schon genügend Mainstreamkultur und Großveranstaltungshallen hätten, zumal man sowas ja auch in Bezirke packen kann, bei denen nicht so viel gewachsene und liebgewonnene Struktur weichen muss! Als hätte Berlin ein Platzproblem!
“Sie bauen uns die Scheiße in die Stadt. Um genau zu sein, wollen sie außer diesem häßlichen Riesenklotz der Mainstream-Kultur namens O2 Arena auch sonst noch jede Menge Kommerzkacke an die Spreeufer von Berlin-Friedrichshain und Kreuzberg bauen, so z.B. eine neue Straßenbrücke, die direkt im Kreuzberger Wrangelkiez mündet.
Alte, gewachsene Strukturen, für die wir diesen Teil Berlins so mögen, bleiben dabei leider auf der Strecke, dafür gibts Autoabgase, höhere Mieten und noch mehr leerstehende Hochhäuser und Betonwüsten. Eine Chance dies zu verhindern und dass Freiräume erhalten bleiben, besteht darin, das BürgerInnenbegehren “Spreeufer für alle!” zu unterschreiben.
Im Einzelnen soll die neue Brücke nur als Fußgängerbrücke konzipiert werden, eine Bebauung nur bis auf 50m ans Spreeufer erlaubt werden, womit die Investoren schon einen großen Teil der Baupläne wieder einstampfen können, sowie weitere Hochhäuser, die den Wohnkiez unvermeidlich Richtung Bürosilo schieben, gekippt werden.
Die benötigten 5500 Unterschriften sollten zu schaffen sein, denken wir. Wenn die Unterschriften zusammen sind, gibts eine Abstimmung mit Kreuzchen machen und so.”
Nun scheint es endgültig besiegelt. Deine Clubkultur ist tot!
Was so bitter klingt ist leider Realität. Gerade in den letzten Jahren musste ein schöner, kulturell relevanter Club nach dem anderen das Zeitliche segnen und gleichgeschalteten Kommerz-Sauftempeln weichen. Besonders auf St. Pauli ist das Phänomen deutlich, schmerzlich zu bemerken. (Eigentlich sollte der Pudel mal eine Asterix-Party machen, fällt mir gerade ein… hehe, kleiner Scherz am Rande.)
Wer was dagegen tun, oder zumindest ein Statement dazu abgeben möchte, der sei zur folgenden Kranzniederlegung eingeladen:
13. Februar 2008, 11 Uhr vor dem Hamburger Rathaus. Details siehe Flyer… hin da!
Vortrag und Diskussion in Berlin
Hi Esther!
Having fun and doing it in a sustainable way, that’s the vision of the Sustainable Dance Club. The Sustainable Dance Club is a creative concept of Rotterdam based organizations 
Heute ist anscheinend deutscher Aktionstag bei Sound Of Sirens! In Hamburg ist es die Kultur, die flöten geht - in Berlin das Stadtbild und die damit einhergehenden Freiräume. Als wenn wir nicht schon genügend Mainstreamkultur und Großveranstaltungshallen hätten, zumal man sowas ja auch in Bezirke packen kann, bei denen nicht so viel gewachsene und liebgewonnene Struktur weichen muss! Als hätte Berlin ein Platzproblem!
