CITYMAKERS

Ein Audiowalk über Stadutopien in Weißensee von Katya Romanova

Audiowalk about urban utopias in Weißensee produced by Katya Romanova

“POP-UP  Teahouse Berlin” is a cultural space making project at C*SPACE Berlin intending to create a tran-cultural space for the AsiaBerlin community and anyone  else interested in deeper understanding between cultures. From just beeing and talking over a cup of tea, to  using the Teahouse as a performance stage or engaging in discussions about the future and how we want to live: Join the many activities of the Pop-Up Teahouse summer 2022 edition!

’Green Cities for our Future’ is a video based training course on low-carbon and sustainable urban development in Germany. It contains 5 course units and was produced by CITYMAKERS in 2021 for the Sino-German Urbanisation Partnership, implemented by GIZ.

The STADTMACHER-Koffer is a toolkit designed by CITYMAKERS to deepen the dialogue between city-making enthusiasts from Europe and China – as well as all people who are interested in the topic of liveable cities in the Chinese-European context.

The “Pop-Up Teahouse Berlin” was a special summer 2021 place making project created and hosted at C*SPACE Berlin. On six Saturdays between July and October the charming yard of the former furniture factory in the neighbourhood of Weissensee was transformed into an outdoor teahouse, that was not only a place for casual tea hangouts, informal transcultural dialogues and talks, but also a platform for design workshops as well for artistic performances at night. Find here a photo documentation and some videos…

Mit Förderung des Fonds Soziokultur /Neustart Kultur präsentierte CITYMAKERS diesen Herbst in Berlin: “Vielfalt entdecken – Partizipative Video Walks”. Wir stellten die Fragen, “Was für interessante und vor allem vielfältige Geschichten von Menschen und Orten gibt es in unserem jeweiligen Kiez? Was macht Vielfalt aus?” 5 engagierte Künstler*innen und gesellschaftlichen Akteur*innen haben diese Fragen durch tolle filmische Stadtspaziergänge beantwortet und wir möchten sie hier zeigen!

Everything is always in flow 一切皆流 : When two artists from Beijing got stranded in Berlin, their creative energy fundamentally changed the face of the CITYMAKERS residence.

Das multimediale Wechselspiel von Keep Wuhan Walking – bestehend aus Audio-Atmosphären, Reportagen, Essays und wissenschaftlichen Einordnungen – führt die Flanierenden digital durch Wuhan – ob vor dem Bildschirm, im Lesesessel oder unterwegs über Kopfhörer.

The multimedia interplay of Keep Wuhan Keep Online Magazine – consisting of audio atmospheres, video impressions, reports, essays and scientific writings – guides you as strollers through Wuhan digitally – in front of the screen at home or on site in Wuhan.

A walk through Luxembourg, one of the European capitals, focussing on the topic of European identity. A film by Rémi Mazourine.

Decolonising our minds. Uncovering traces of German colonialism in China in today’s Berlin. An inquiry of different locations on Kiautschou street and Pekinger Platz. A film by Kollektiv Raumstation.

Das “Chinesenviertel” – Hamburgs forgotten Chinatown. Adopting the role of the archivist, the filmmakers combing through Hamburg’s urban fabric for traces of the hidden history of Hamburgs displaced Chinese community. A film by Lina Martin-Chan and Jöran Mandik.

This video-walk focuses on the theme of walls and hutong communities from the Forbidden City to Beijing’s Qianmen (前门) during the summer of 2020 when the corona epidemic has not yet ended. A film by Li Xin.

Investigation of the topic of “boundary” in the city, corona time. A film by Wang Keyao and Fang Kong.

Stefanie Schweiger and Angela Köckritz trace the history of Chinese living in Berlin. From the first Chinese arriving in 1822 to be displayed as an exotic curiosity. Up to the very diverse Chinese community residing in Berlin at present. A film by Stefanie Schweiger and Angela Köckritz.

Twin towns Duisburg and Wuhan: Commonalities of different cities? Similar cities with differences? Exploring traces of history and the connections to China in the former steel city. A film by Sonja Broy and Silvan Hagenbrock.

Is there a wisdom about how a people or a society can find happiness? What is needed in order to lead a fortunate and contended life? A film by Susanne Elgeti and Annette Mehlhorn.

2014 kam eine Vorhut von Stadtmachern in den Genuss eines Spaziergangs mit Dr. Eduard Kögel, der uns der Suche nach der Vision der lebenswerten Stadt durch das Märkische Viertel führte. Anlässlich des CITYMAKERS-Virtual Walk Projektes, der Aktualität des Themas, und nicht zuletzt aus “Stadtmacher-Freundschaft” mit Eduard Kögel, der uns in diesem Projekt immer wieder begleitet hat, haben wir diese Erinnerung noch einmal “hervorgeholt”.

Song Qun is an architect, artist and curator from Xian, the founder of “Bendi 本地- Local Life”, a 3,000 sqm large cultural space for the contemporary presentation of “Urban Memory”. His approach is beyond mainstream understanding of heritage in China, advocating for cultural memory as the story of everyday life of people and their objects. What  impressed him most in Berlin was the Jewish Museum. “The openness of Berliners towards the history of their city is admirable, and I learned a lot from the fact that each museum is writing the history of the city in its own way.”

Was für eine Stadt ist Wuhan? Auf diese Frage eine Antwort zu geben, ist nicht leicht, andererseits gibt es aber auch sehr viele Antworten. Ist sie das Zentrum Chinas? Ein historisch bedeutender Ort? Eine strategische Industriebasis? Eine Stadt am Wasser, von der Schifffahrt geprägt? Das Chicago des Ostens? Eine äußerst populistische Stadt? Chinas größte Provinzstadt? Heimat der heißen Gǎnmiàn-Nudeln? Ursprung von Flüchen mit Lokalkolorit? Chinas heimliche Hauptstadt des Punks?

Die globale Epidemie Covid-19 hat mit Wuhan als vermutlichem Ursprungsort eine Stadt ins Zentrum des weltweiten Interesses gestellt, deren bedeutende Stellung im globalen kosmopolitischen Städtegeflecht des frühen 20. Jahrhundert im Westen nahezu in Vergessenheit geraten ist.