Kulturlabor Trial&Error

Sperrgutmarkt am Spreewaldplatz (Samstag, 5. Mai, 2012) Wo alte...

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:42:15 +0200

Sperrgutmarkt am Spreewaldplatz (Samstag, 5. Mai, 2012)

Wo alte Möbeln und Trödeln Verpflegung brauchen, da ist Trial&Error auch! Viele waren auf dem Spreewaldplatz, um sich von ihren Sachen zu verabschieden und/oder etwas von anderen Menschen zu adoptieren. Trial&Error war da mit einer offenen Werkstatt (ganz offen, mit Bäumen statt Wänden!) Da waren auch Kinder, die alte Möbelstücke kreativ umgestalten haben, Erwachsene die Möbel repariert haben und Menschen, die Gegenstände neu angemalt haben, unter Anderen! Es hat alles nicht nur Spaß gemacht, es hat sonst auch vermeidet, dass viele Sachen, die noch gut waren, nicht direkt in die Mülltonne landen. Was einer nicht mehr braucht, kann von jemand anderem weiter benutzt werden!

Danke allen Leute, die da waren, für die schöne Stimmung! Besucht unsere Webseite oder meldet euch an unseren Verteiler an, um auf dem Laufenden zu bleiben ;)

Natural Cosmetics Workshop Imgages by TAU*MH are licensed under...

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:41:33 +0200

Natural Cosmetics Workshop Imgages by TAU*MH are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Gasoline on our faces? Avoid skin dehydration without using chemicals!

In a consumer life nearly every product is a source of evil somewhere on the planet:

Depriving local population in central america from affording their staple foods, using lots of non recyclable packaging, polluting the environment, abusing human rights through its production or contributing to soil erosion, the list is never ending. But if there is one aspect on which we mostly all agree to be important to protect when we use a product, this is our own health.

In the field of cosmetics, we often hear contradictory messages about what’s good for us and what’s dangerous. For me, toxic substances in body lotions, sun screens and lip balms took a long time to unveil. Skin moisturising are marketed to be so essential for survival, how could they be harmful? Once we discover the tricks, a little bit of information and experimentation can help in deciding what really is important. In Kulturlabor Trial & Error we always try to promote workshops that let people learn by themselves, experiment and make their own opinions afterwards.

Our skin is an organ much like our intestines; it absorbs all kinds of substances and it stores them or transports them to our bloodstream. Said in a different way: if you wouln’t drink a glass of gasoline then you don’t want to rub it on your skin either. “Of course I would never rub gasoline on my skin!”

Taking a closer look at the label of conventionally produced body lotions, it turns out that several petroleum derivatives are their main ingredient. Why? For example, mineral oil, a very popular member of the petrol family, is a byproduct from the distillation of crude oil into gasoline. It’s a leftover and it’s really cheap: it’s probably more expensive to properly dispose mineral oil than to buy it and this is the reason why it’s used largely in the cosmetic industry. You can easily find it in Baby oils, Hand creams and Hair gels; inspect the labels for these terms, they are all different forms of the same substance: Paraffin, Petrolatum, Petroleum Jelly, Mineral oil.

Although mineral oil is used in moisturisers, it’s not a moisturiser in itself; it creates an oily layer on the skin that locks in moisture, hinders pore transpiration and prevents elimination of toxins through the skin. Not only is it not beneficial, it’s also considered to be carcinogenic by the World health Organisation.
An alternative to petroleum based oils are plant oils that do the same job as carriers and maintaining the consistency of moisturisers and additionally contribute to our skin health due to vitamin content and antibacterial properties.

Luna Leung, natural cosmetic specialist and Jorge Vilar, chemist, together with the Kulturlabor Trial & Error E.v. network offered a workshop to prepare lip balm and body butter from all natural and organic ingredients like Bees Wax, Olive, Castor, Coconut, Sesame and Almond oils as well as Cocoa butter and Shea butter. The procedure required only simple kitchen activities like melting and blending to prepare and all the participants brought to upcycled or reused jars of natural cosmetics.

You should try it out. Watch out for more workshops at and recipes contact Luna Cosmetics www.facebook.com/luna.natural.cosmetics.

TRASH OF THE MONTH >RECYCLINGPAPER< The Trash of the...

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:37:54 +0200

TRASH OF THE MONTH >RECYCLINGPAPER<

The Trash of the month in March was one that we like very much and therefore we decided to do it again: Paper. But this time we focussed on the production process and how to do-it-yourself.

The Chemist Jorge Vilar gave a presentation about chemical issues and the impact on the environment that the modern paperproduction has. After we got to know what paper actually is been made up of, we had the chance to just do recyclingpaper ourselves and see the handmade process. Thanks to Juli, we were having the chance to experiment with paper in different shapes, colors, techniques and materials.

Luckily everybody contributed and brought some nice food to share, this way all our needs were fullfilled. Thank you! The only thing left to do is to pick up your lovely papers, which u can find in ODC or write us an email or come to the next Trash of the month event! In any case we are looking forward to hear soon from you!

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Photos by: Tau*mh & Carla Schulze

Check out Trial&Error new headquarters! Trial & Error...

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:53:00 +0200

Check out Trial&Error new headquarters!

Trial & Error has a fresh new co-location! A massively nice house next to the river, big garden, loads of creative workshop spaces with many inspiring people. We are in the proces of creating a workshop space as well as join in with other great inititatives that are happing, like a lovely community garden! Sounds good? Join us!

Every friday we will spend fixing up the place, common areas, rooms for workspace and massive storage! This week we will continue with the trash collecting point and fix some of the windows….and enjoy the sun! If you have tools, bring them as well!

Cycle together? This friday meeting with bikes at 10:30 a.m., Hermannstrasse 170. You can join us later as well here: Regattastr. 262, Berlin.

Map:
http://maps.google.de/maps?q=Regattastra%C3%9Fe%2CGr%C3%BCnau%2CBerlin&hl=fr&ie=UTF8&ll=52.410407%2C13.598977&spn=0.001721%2C0.005284&sll=51.151786%2C10.415039&sspn=14.408862%2C43.286133&oq=grunau+re&t=h&hnear=Regattastra%C3%9Fe%2CGr%C3%BCnau12527+Berlin&z=18&layer=c&cbll=52.410437%2C13.598763&panoid=0j2zENCR3vR0aKrzEkrRng&cbp=12%2C68.1%2C%2C0%2C-22.5

Thanks to Jacob and T&E crew for the beautiful pictures!

Trash of the Month! – Wasted Media

Wed, 23 May 2012 17:36:15 +0200

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

What do a solar cooker, earrings and a chandelier have in common? They were all made during “Trash of the Month – Wasted Media Edition”! Members of the Trial&Error community and friendly visitors came, got their old CDs & audio/videotapes in the mix and remixed them into something creative.

Check our website or subscribe to the mailing list for more Trial&Error events – we’ll keep you updated. ;)

Photos (c) by Janis Pesiks

Sperrgutmarkt am Samstag den 05.05

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:12:16 +0200

Kommt zum Sperrgutmarktes und bringt eure ungewollten oder kaputten Möbelstücke mit, damit ihr diese dann für andere Schätze tauschen könnt oder wieder zu kleinen Schätzen machen könnt.

Ist der Bezug des Sofas aufgerissen ist? Oder haben die Kinder den Tisch angemalt? Funktioniert die Lampe nicht mehr und fehlt dem Stuhl ein Bein? Oder ist das Stück einfach nur etwas zu langweilig und unpersönlich? Bringt es mit und möbelt es vor Ort und mit professioneller Hilfe und Beratung vom Kulturlabor Trial&Error e.V. wieder auf.

Am Samstag den 05.05 von 12-16h auf dem Spreewaldplatz! Kommt früh genug, sonst verschlingt das BSR Monster die tollsten Schätze.

Dieses Projekt wird von der KiezAktiv Kasse der Gekko Reichenberger finanziert.

Just really nice… … really. Today we wished we had a...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:42:00 +0200

Just really nice…

… really. Today we wished we had a video camera, because we were having a beautiful sunny bike ride, picking up a lot of banners we got donated and it just looked freaking nice on the bike!! Never, ever, ever, ever a car again!

We arrived back at Open Design City before the summer rain and managed to find a friend with a camera to capture what was left of the scene to share it with all of the internet… ;)

A big thanks to the Haus der Kulturen der Welt who supplied us with the banners!

It is going to become a lot of pretty things and bags in no-time. We are looking forward to make a cover for the Kiezmobil with our new industrial sewingmachine, and allready next week some kids at the Eduard Mörike Grundschule will make a pfandtasche … If you feel like trying it out yourself, there is an open pfandtasche workshop the 27.05.12 at the Museum for Communication.

.. and yeah, If you wanna build your own D.I.Y. bike, don´t heasitate to pass by the ODC this weekend… There is going to be a great workshop to make a nice bike… More info here. It will looks something like this:

Trash of the Month. Plastic bottleThis time we decided to get...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:41:00 +0200

Trash of the Month. Plastic bottle

This time we decided to get closer to a trash, which we touch, smell and taste almost every day, but which is a rather unfamiliar terrain for most of us. The Trash of the Month in April was: the plastic bottle.

After experimenting with the material, Jorge, our in-house chemist introduced everyone to the world of plastic. As it turned out, there is seven different kind of plastics, each with different characteristics, industrial uses and ways to reuse. Lesson learned: if there is one way, try to avoid plastic stuffs.

But our creative audience - with a little guidance of our crew - had many ideas, how to make nice and useful things out of this really problematic material. The results: window gardens, bird feeders, coat-racks, vases, charger holders, boxes, jewelries.

Thanks for every participant, it was a pleasure to have you all here, in ODC. Extra thanks for your trash-proposals to the next event, we hope we will see you all in May again!

Check out this short film about bottled water, that we have also screened at the event:

http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-bottled-water/

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Photos by: Janis Pesiks

Kulturlabor Trial&Error e.V. went to Belgrade, Serbia to...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:03:00 +0200

Kulturlabor Trial&Error e.V. went to Belgrade, Serbia to make the contemporary art museum Galerija-legat Milice Zorić i Rodoljuba Čolakovića our home and workspace for a week!

We met and worked with beautiful people from Škart who make political posters and social projects, Karkatag who makes kinetic gardens and machines out of old bike parts and Elektrika Pancevo a small gallery with independent publishing.

The days where filled with interesting talks, public talks and learning to work with each other. The event was part of the conference „(Graphic) Designer: Action, author or universal soldier?“.

We also had the opportunity to meet with the Kaktus network from Occupy London, attend lectures from the conference and explain them how and why we work with Kulturlabor Trial&Error.

The trip was made possible through the financial support of the Step Beyond travel grant from the European Cultural Foundation.

TRASH OF THE MONTH >RECYCLINGPAPER< The Trash of the...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:47:00 +0100

TRASH OF THE MONTH >RECYCLINGPAPER<

The Trash of the month in March was one that we like very much and therefore we decided to do it again: Paper. But this time we focussed on the production process and how to do-it-yourself.

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Photos by: Tau*mh & Carla Schultef

Last thursday we had the opportunity to enjoy in the...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:32:31 +0100

Last thursday we had the opportunity to enjoy in the Naturkosmetiks workshop, creating homemade lip balm and body butter. Luna explained us detailed how to make this sweet and natural cosmetics, and Jorge made a short introduction about the industrial cosmetics. All this made a great evening sorrounded by nice people, so we expect to repeat really soon!

Thanks to Luna, and to all the participants!

Tau made this nice pictures!

Organic DIY natrual cosmetic workshop!

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:59:33 +0100

Organic DIY natrual cosmetic workshop!

Feb 28, 2012 – the Café Dritter Raum was turned into a big...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:12:00 +0100

Feb 28, 2012 – the Café Dritter Raum was turned into a big clothing party. Trial&Error was there with the Kiezmobil, as a mobile freeshop.

It was a joyful get-together where everybody, from babies to older people, were walking around in search of great clothes to swap. A baby walked towards me and gave me a plastic bag with a banana peel inside – even he was taken over by the spirit of swapping!

A sewing corner was set up to let creativity flow, so that nobody would have to go empty-handed (unless they really wanted to!) if they couldn’t find their perfect fit. Some decided to make bags out of clothes, others made pillows - everybody had fun while doing it!

Everybody got their chance to get rid of clothes they no longer wanted and to bring “new” clothes home without having to spend money.

Check out www.richardkiez.com and www.cafe-dritter-raum.de for more upcoming events.

Why shop when you can swap?

Words by Federico Fusco, a lovely trial&error volunteer

Creaction - Exchanging creative solutions for social change A...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:31:47 +0100

Creaction - Exchanging creative solutions for social change

A fun team coordinated by the Kulturlabor Trial & Error, traveled the last 7th of February to the city of Avilés (Spain) with the goal of exchanging creativity ideas for social change with young people from Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Italy and from the local community in Asturias.

The exchange was hosted by the asturian association Ye Too Ponese. For 7 days we dived in the theory and culture of creative activism, we listed concerns and problems we would like to change and we put in practice some actions in the public space to create awareness about them.

We documented many of the actions and the results can be found soon in www.mastazine.net

Open call for participants!

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:35:00 +0100

Stream for change - Let’s take action and create our own media!

Kulturlabor Trial&Error is building a local action team in Berlin to do regular actions for the next months. Do you want to express your opinion about the world? Do you think that the media doesn’t represent you and your ideals? We want to create our own media

Join our team for an international project with partners in Greece, Austria, Spain and facilitated by a team in Czech Republic.
We will have a meeting in Berlin the 2nd week of March to discuss what topics we want to work on and what actions can we make to improve awareness.

Contact Tau through email@trial-error.org for more information and joining.

Trash of the Month > Clothes Swap & Coconuts! This...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:21:00 +0100

Trash of the Month > Clothes Swap & Coconuts!

This moths Trash of the month —Tuesday 14.2— was a beautiful collaboration with the Kleidertausch event from the neuköllner Tauschring and Café Dritter Raum and 60 something drink-coconuts we happened to save from the bin and shared with friends and Kiezbewohner. The coconuts were sponsored by KULAU a really nice berlin-based organisation.

For comming swap-events look at www.richardkiez.net and www.cafe-dritter-raum.de

It was great fun swapping and sipping away and warming our cold feet on the cosy fire in the Dritter Raum.

On the 28th of February there will be the next Clothes Swap event co-organised with the Dritter Raum and Trial&Error> 15:00- 20:00 > Hertzbergstraße 14

Our lovely Kiezmobil will also feature again, this time with a mobile swap-remake-station!

Hope to see you there!

Your Trial&Error team

January 21st. and 22nd., Trial&Error was invited to Köln, to...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:49:47 +0100

January 21st. and 22nd., Trial&Error was invited to Köln, to take part in the “Messe der Meister von Morgen” (M.M.M.). We were invited by Büromacht to this event, developed inside the activites of the Passagen 2012, and it was a pleasure to make a workshop and spend time creating some stuff from “real trash” (carefully collected) with the very nice people from Jack in the Box (amazing works!) and all the visitors!

We enjoyed a lot with all workshops that took part there, and is really nice to meet so many upcyclers to create together.

Thank you to all the people were there, specially to all the crew from Büromacht and Jack In The Box!! We hope come back to Köln soon!

Pictures and text: Jorge Vilar

Recycled creativity festival 2011- Photobook!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:36:00 +0100

The digital version of the amazing handmade photobook of the Recycled Creativity Festival 2011 is online! Have a look - Read it here!

Thank you again to all visitors, workshopgivers, bands and organizors who made the festival so cozy, energetic, lively and nice!

Photobook made by tau’mh.

Trashion über alles

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:13:00 +0100

Trashion designer battle, upcycling bicycle tires and plastic bags into accessories, lively and colourful swapshop, redesigning the look and getting costumes for the celebration, making slogans and banners, discussing about recycling and upcycling, waste and material - this all Trial&Error crew was busy with this weekend (20th - 21st of January). Tr-errorists where running busy in “Neu-Westberlin”, an amazing old warehouse in Berlin Mitte, which vwas transformed into art gallery with installations and amazing pieces of street art, into club with 3 stages, into space for interaction and participation, shows, parades - and that all because of Butt’n’better!

By coincidence the name of the festival rises associations with contraversial Berlin fashion week “Bread&Butter” - with controversial i mainly mean the hypocratic nature of the fashion itself, including such issues as the consequences of imposed beauty standards, promotion of overproduction, or fair trade. The last one was also the topic of the demoparade against fashion-terror, organised by Butt’n’better - accompanied by couple of lovely police-vans, colourfully dressed demonstrators went for a walk around Berlin Mitte to express their opinion on fair trade.

Quote from a visitor: “I thought Berlin like this doesn’t exists anymore.” However, we hope that Butt’n’better raised not only nostalgic feelings, but awareness towards waste problematics as well as encouraged to stop follow fashion, playing copycats and express themselves. The festival was organized through “Findus Geburtstag” collective.

Trial&Error <3 Butt’n’better

Words by Rūta Vimba, photos by Mārcis Rubenis (cc)

Check out the upcoming photos by Elerinna Heise

3 Lastenräder in 3,5 Tagen! 20.-22. Januar war bei Open Design...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:46:54 +0100

3 Lastenräder in 3,5 Tagen!

20.-22. Januar war bei Open Design City ein Lastenrad Wochenend-Workshop!

Wir haben es fast geschafft mit einer Gruppen von etwa 10 Leuten in drei Tagen drei Räder zu bauen. Das letzte haben wir am Montag fertig gestellt. Vielen Dank an Alle die teilgenommen haben!

Mehr infos zum Projekt gibt es hier!

Video von Hans Boes von Heinrichplatz-TV