Recently a man with an american accent asked me if he and his friend Maggie could invite me for dinner. His name is Bill from New York, graphic designer, 60 years old, homeless, Maggie is a cat. With Aids. This is how I came to the very first [more]
Recently a man with an american accent asked me if he and his friend Maggie could invite me for dinner. His name is Bill from New York, graphic designer, 60 years old, homeless, Maggie is a cat. With Aids. This is how I came to the very first Volksküche in my life.
Bill read about the Unreal Estate House (a political initiative against gentrification), that I have set up in Kreuzberg, in the newspapers. Bill said that he is the cook of a so called Vokü (Volksküche), which is a kind of supper club for poor people. “I have to talk to you and get you to know” he said straight away and I wonder what he wants from me. Money? A job?
The Vokü is based on volunteer helpers such as Bill and you can eat there for free or at least for a little money or donation. Surprisingly the organizers of Vokü have high claims on the quality of the food. Often they are vegetarian or even vegan. And Bill is not allowed to bring meat, milk or cheese to the vegan kitchen. There is a second separated meat kitchen on the third floor. The Vokü-movement started in the eighties and mostly were installed in squatted housing projects.
Bill invited me to one of the many squatted house projects in Berlin: The Bödi9 which stands for Bödiker Strasse 9. Often the House project is named after the address: Sama32 (Samariterstr 32) or Xb-Liebig34 (means Kreuzberg Liebigstrasse 34).
It reminded me of the famous Tacheles house which probably is one of the first squatted house buildings in Berlin-Mitte. Anarchists, hallways full of graffitis, it smells a little bit odd, dark, chaotic, Communist parols. A squatted Vokü is completely the opposite of a Starbucks Coffee Shop. It is unfortunately the opposite of cosiness.
Actually, as long as you have windows, electricity and water facilities it is not hard (and expensive) to set up a nice, cosy open space for Vokü purposes.
I have summed up three steps to create a cosy restaurant at the end of this text.
Bill turned out to be a great host and showed me all the floors in that house and told me his story, and I was so impressed, that someone like Bill, who really has fallen to the last steps of the society ladder still finds enough courage and heart to be generous to other people like me. He wanted to pay for my dish. It was a vegetarian Lasagne, and well it didn’t taste like a restaurant dish but more like a dish you get at your friend’s place. It tasted somehow very homey as if it was cooked by someone’s mama. I enjoyed it and left a five Euro bill in the donation box.
Actually I have been in supper clubs a several times. The first one I remember is the vietnamese Pagode in Hanover Vien Giac, where my mother lived. Monchs don’t talk while they eat. The same spiritual silence I have experienced in California at the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in the hills of Muir Beach (close to San Francisco). This is really the most beautiful and modern temple I know. It is inspired by japanese pavillons, completely made of wooden planks and architecturally it is a true revelation. I used to build Berliner Hockers with homeless women at the Mission Brewery in Montréal (Canada). They also had a kind of supper club, but that had more the look of a hospital’s canteen. This class was initiated by Manfred Stoffl from the Goethe Institut. A great guy.
The Bödi9 used to be a squatted house, now it’s in the hand of it’s inhabitors. The squatters have bought the whole building. Today there are around 20 to 30 people living in 1 room apartments, heated by ovens. The smallest apartment measures 3m x 2m and this room is called “Solidarity-room”. It is reserved for people in need who don’t have money to pay a rent. And this is the room where Bill and Maggie have checked in a year ago. The others pay 100 to 200 Euro for the room. Bill is a tall man with a trustful american voice and wakeful grey eyes “I don’t take drugs and I am not a criminal, I smoke and drink too much” he says. After Bill has finished his career as a graphic designer in a auction’s house he got divorced from his wife. He lost his status in germany and a lot of bad news appear at the same time (loss of family members, money problems, lovesick). After being the career man today Bill is a caring man. He cares for the Vokü, he cares for Casimir (another cat in the house who never is allowed to get in touch with Maggie because of the HI-Virus – human beings can not get infected by cats). He cares for an old woman who needs to move her place. Bill said that he feels so fine at the Bödi9. There are so many inspiring artists around him. And it is so international. They all come from far apart of Germany: Lithuania, Poland, France, Spain, Italy, South-Korea. And they all have their own story.
He likes to cook with seasonal vegetables. Pastinakes for example.
At the moment he can survive with 100 Euro per month. Buthe would love to set the “Solidarity room” free for the next ones in need and become an ordinary renter. And he would like to sign a health Insurance which would cost around 400 Euro for people at his age. That means, that he urgently needs a job in which he earns 1.000 Euro to get his life in order. I felt the necessity to help him but I know that it’s never good to bring too many solutions from outside. It’s better if the solitions come from inside.
Suddenly so many ideas popped up in my mind, projects and initiatives that he or the bödi9 could do to generate some extra money.
In my opinion the initiators are enriched with three fundamental capitals: First, they are free minded people, not dependent on the thought to sell their souls or their lifetime for money reasons. Rather they would live on a very low standard. Not to be dependent on some certain standards (such as a big apartment or an own bathroom or gradually settable temperature (the oven is really hot once it is on) is a big capital! Second, they have a healthy open minded and caring social network (everyone supports the other and they care for eachother). Third, they have space! A lot of space in a very central location close to the Spree, where you find a lot of touristic hostels.
So here there are four ideas, that came up in my mind:
1. Declare a part of the building (first and second floor) to u public culture center. This could be the four capitals of this center: B. Ö. D. I. 9
B stands for Books & Arts, Ö stands for Ökologisches Café , D stands for Designed Apartments for tourists and I stands for Inspiration-Classes (School, education, Kita?) and the 9 stands for the cycle mode: Every 9 weeks there is a shift ( exhibitions change, programs change, artists in residence programs that rotate after 9 months)
B: Books&Arts is a gallery space for exhibitions with a open bookcrossing book store. Important: The gallery needs a curator, otherwise the artists will never have a chance to get an appreciated audience. There should be a little workbench with basic tools included to repair things or build exhibits inhouse.
Ö: The Ökologisches Café is basically the Vokü, but it addresses clearly to a more open audience, not just the inhabitants and their friends or the left orientated people, but also neighbors, tourists and people who work there at daytime.
Paymode: Change from donation or low price to “pay as you want”-mode. Experiments in Vienna, San Francisco and Berlin show that this can work out and bring more money than low pricing or donation policies.
D: Designed apartments
Actually this is the Cash cow. We take one space and turn it into a convenient space for a small family (2 adults + 2 kids) where they can stay for 70 Euros per night. I would love to design a little space, I only need 20 or 25 sqm. Check www.hartzivwohnung.blogspot.com
I: Inspiration-Classes
Everyone knows something, so many people were asking Bill, if he could help out with his native english expertise, he is also a graphic designer and a connaisseur when it comes to art books. His floor neighbor Charles is a DJ and a painter, he could give classes in music and drawing and so on.
But there are also so many webbased classes online on web- universities such as www.general-assembly.com or www.ted.com
This is completely free of charge.
Important new rules: No smoking anymore in the whole public area and we need to add some family friendly details such as kids corners.
Well, how can I help you, Bill? I finally wanted to know from him. He said: Oh yeah, I have seen your book “Hartz IV Möbel” on the table of my neighbor Jakob. He is a fan of your movement and he is out for holidays. Could you just sign the book, that would be a big surprise for him. I signed and understood the nature of this man. He is there just to be. And he cares for the wellbeing of his environment. That’s the only task he has. What a nice task. Will I tell him my ideas on B.Ö.D.I. 9? Probably not. Maybe one day. But I think I will not penetrate this honorful space where people haven’t forgotten what a home is all about: Caring.
As I mentioned here now some tipps to turn a cellar into a cosy café:
Here are 3 first things that I do when I design interiors for cafés or restaurants:
1. Bench to the wall
A wall without a bench is naked. You don’t need to put a bench on each wall, but the longest or the most prominent one should be attracted with a bench. Some wooden planks on beer boxes can work out very well. Without a backseat. Just add some colorful cushions. No professional furniture maker required.
2. Tables with pendant lamps
Add some square tables with a center foot leg in front of the bench. The size can be very small like 40 cm x 50 cm. That’s totally fine. Don’t make the tables too deep! I have sat on a table at the restaurant Uleta in Vitoria (Spain) where they had 90cm x 70cm. That was crap, you create a strange distance to your table partner. Important: Food needs direct fresh frank light! The best thing is to hang pendant lamps from the ceiling. Naked bulbs without a shade work out very fine. Need chairs? Take light wooden chairs from the fleamarket or school chairs. Or build “Berliner Hockers” (check www.hartzivmoebel.com for free blueprints).
3. Paint one wall black
Don’t ask me why, it will immediately turn your space into a cosy coffee shop feeling. Invite an artist to draw on it with white chalk.
That’s it.
There are Voküs in over 50 cities in Germany. And there are even Vokü movements in Peru. (http://www.freemusicwiki.net/weblog/?p=42) and in London (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=auLRjcdQHxo&has_verified=1&layout=mobile&client=mv-google)
I really like the online appearance of Vetomat (http://cms.vetomat.net/index.php/tag/voku-2/) and also Hafen-Vokü in Hamburg (http://hafenvokue.blogsport.de) and I was impressed to find this one in San Francisco Voku SF (http://www.vokusf.org)
Find one Vokü in your area and give it a try, go there, eat there, cook there and talk to the people.
Here is a list of Voküs in Germany:
http://deu.anarchopedia.org/VoKü