Berlin

The waste-free scene

Help cut down on trash AND check out Agora Collective's new digs in the former Kindl brewery during the Open Source Circular Economy Days festival, Jun 9-13.

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Photo by Maria Runarsdottir

The 2200sqm space in Neukölln’s former Kindl brewery is a mess: no windows, no lights, a few stray tables and a giant pile of rubble in the back. Hard to believe that later this month, it will be CRCLR, Berlin’s ground zero for all things circular economy.

But a six-person team of ambitious Berliners from the co-working and artist space Agora Collective are planning to make it happen, starting with the Open Source Circular Economy Days festival June 9-13.

Coordinator Simon Lee and his team are in the business of creating “solutions” to deal with the waste products generated by our material world, from upcycling clothes to using beer byproducts to make bread. The current Agora space is a start – their chef makes dishes out of restaurant and bakery leftovers, as well as produce from Agora’s own urban garden.

Lee and co. are still trying to figure out exactly what their new building, obtained late last year thanks to a grant from the Swiss Edith Maryon Foundation, will be used for. They hope to implement “experimental forms of living”, where they will filter grey water (such as water from the shower) and use it for urban farming.

There are also vague plans for a “textile or food production lab”. But first, the Neukölln usual: a series of Agora art exhibitions and performances. As for the festival, it’s expected to attract some 250 people for 55-plus events, or “challenges”.

Want to figure out how to finally do away with to-go cups, how to create a “degrowth” business or how to make cosmetics out of common edible household items? These are your people. “We try to come up with tangible results, that’s the goal,” Lee says. “I’m not anti-capitalistic, but you can do capitalism differently.”

Jun 9-13 | Agora/CRCLR, Am Südhaus 2, Neukölln