Germany Tour 2017

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In 2017, we traveled with the concept in a new cast Next Stop: Heimat through German small towns. Jule, Rabea and Andi became Ina, Agnes and Daniel, and European cities became Lörrach, Wismar and Brackwede.

For five months we experienced Germany’s borders and opened the doors of our container from the south to the north for encounters and getting to know each other on an equal footing between people with and without flight experience.

Every time we left, we left behind a new “outside the box” community of people who met in the container and now regularly organize events themselves.

Frankfurt 
04. May bis 22. May 2017

Lörrach
23. May bis . Juli 2017

Wismar
04. Juli bis 10. August 2017

Brackwede
16. August bis 26. September 2017

Warming up in Frankfurt

Our Germany Tour 2017 starts with a two-week kick-off in Frankfurt am Main. As part of the exhibition Picnic Time of the Museum Angewandte Kunst, we are surrounded by trees in the Metzler Park on the banks of the Main and organize many cooking evenings and two large picnics on the green field. now and then both eyes are closing and dancing, cooking and eating due to the high demand with more people in the container than we have plates.

In these two weeks, we get energetic support from our colleagues and the community of Über den Tellerrand Frankfurt eV The container is fast becoming a popular meeting place for old and new faces, and between Green Sauce, steaming Injeras and Dakbe Dance, we find ourselves as a team, get to know the container and get started for the three locations of Kitchen on The Run Tour 2017.

Arriving in Lorrach

In the border triangle between France and Switzerland, in the very south of Germany, lies Lörrach. For a long time, the border town was a transit point for people with a flight experience, but shortly before we arrive, the city’s first connecting accommodation opens up, which now offers people a long-term stay. With the container, we want to start the process of designing a living together and creating as many sustainable encounters as possible during our time on the ground. But just as for the inhabitants of the new accommodations, it also means for us first – arrival. We set up the container, meet press representatives, visit accommodations and get to know local initiatives and stakeholders with whom we will work together. The Muslim month of fasting Ramadan begins with our first cooking evening in the city and the next six weeks we spend many festive evenings in the container, surrounded by lukewarm summer air and candlelight. The beginning is made.

Encounters in Wismar

Once across the country it goes to the Baltic Sea to Wismar. With its picturesque center, the town is a popular destination for weekend visitors, senior citizens and Sunday boat trips. The many cafes and restaurants, terraces with umbrellas and souvenir shops all seem to have been made for guests. However, the place offers little opportunity to meet all those who live there. With the container we are standing in a housing estate in Wendorf, away from the tourist center. In the socially weak district, many refugees also live in relatively cheap housing. In a large parking lot between supermarket, pharmacy and flower shop, we are clearly visible to all and yet not at all welcome. Our container is receiving a lot of skepticism, but despite the initial restraint and rejection of some residents, the cooking evenings in the container will soon become a space for birthday parties, dances late into the night, children’s classes and social gatherings. Even if not all Wendorfer find their way into the container – from the numerous windows around the square, many pairs of eyes are watching the colorful hustle and bustle every evening and perhaps the container has moved more than we think.

Meeting again in Brackwede

Brackwede is the multicultural district of Bielefeld and we are right in the middle of it all with the container between the church, Pommesbude and tram station. The Brackweder fill up our meanwhile empty batteries with their enthusiasm and motivation in an instant. In Bielefeld there are already many contact points for people with and without flight experience and the container offers above all room for new networking, inspiration of new projects and to deepen previously only fleeting encounters. As in any location we give as well Here, our knowledge to the local people on and continue building little by little a community that continues to cook after our departure and is incorporated directly into our large Über den Tellerrand network. On our departure, we even leave four cooking groups in different districts of Bielefeld, where the people from our cooking classes regularly meet again and make living together in Bielefeld more colorful. The final closing picnic of our trip then bursts with a meter-long buffet, musical contributions, colorful children’s program and many dances across the square all expectations. And after five months, the container closes its doors for the last time after 62 cooking evenings, 1500 new name tags on the container wall and many beautiful encounters for this year.