The historical model

In the 1920s, the artist Johannes Itten developed the so-called Bauhaus preliminary course. Anyone wishing to study art, architecture or design at the Bauhaus university had to complete this craft-oriented foundation course. Bauhaus pedagogy continues to inspire courses at art colleges around the world and at our ‘Bildungsmanufaktur’ in Berlin.
Walter Gropius (1923): Scheme for the structure of teaching at the Bauhaus.
Provided by: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin.
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022.

Young People Discover The Potential Inside Them.

Since 2010, up to 60 teenagers and young adults from a wide range of backgrounds have been visiting the Bildungsmanufaktur every day. In our workshops and urban labs, they spend several months working with experienced artists, craftspeople and designers, developing ideas and putting them into practice. Gain new perspectives. Make friends. Gain confidence. In the end, everyone knows what they are made of. That is what counts.

Arrive, catch up, gain confidence and trust

The workshops provide the ideal environment for this. The diversity of the participants, our trainees, is great. For almost ten years, S27’s educational workshop has focused on young refugees and young adults.
A day in the educational factory

For those who need it, the day starts with two hours of German. Then it’s off for a few hours in the creative workshops, Clan B, Kochinsel, LUZI or Studio Ƙarfi. There we work with wood, metal, glass, ceramics, textiles, plastics, paper and food, they cook, design and make things. And  – learning by doing – language and mathematical skills improve.
Orientation, self-confidence, moving on

At the end of each course, the trainees present the results of their work and there is a celebration.
A certificate from the Chamber of Crafts helps them on their way to school, further education and training. Excursions to companies in Berlin also provide orientation. Where there are still problems, an experienced social team provides support, listens, helps with contacts with authorities and agencies, and to think and plan ahead.

Bildungsmanufaktur CITY + Country
In recent years, the project has been successfully established and expanded in Berlin. With the support of the Drosos Foundation, Glashaus Prenzlau and S27 are testing and analysing the extent to which the model can be scaled up and transferred to a rural context.
More info

As different as the situation may be in the big city and in the countryside, what our young trainees have in common are major challenges, disadvantages and insecurities. In Prenzlau, almost a quarter of all young people have problems getting a foothold in the job or education market after leaving school. Alternative offers are scarce, many young people get into an apparent dead end early on and find it difficult to get out of this situation.
This is where the educational concept of the BILDUNGSMANUFAKTUR comes in.
In the city, in the country, everywhere, the following applies: positive experiences with what you create yourself convey self-confidence. I can do it! From here, it is easier to take new steps towards society, the world of work and the world of work.

Free of charge, join at any time
Would you like to join us? Contact us by email at bildungsmanufaktur@s27.de, by phone on +49 30 6177673-26 or come along!

Download Flyers:

Clan B
die Kochinsel

We present: solar trees! Together with our trainees, Manuel Strube transforms the batteries from carelessly discarded disposable e-cigarettes into energy-rich root tubers and the little trees now charge mobile phones, supply USB boxes with electricity, etc. The house raft of our educational manufactory is also something to be proud of: drifting is energy-efficient in any case. Meanwhile, old broken boxes are being turned into new, portable, battery-powered boomboxes. Sustainability, new technologies and low tech – under the title FOXY energy Lab, we are creating an incubator for project practice that focuses on these topics.
The FOXY energy Lab is made possible by the generous support of the Drosos Foundation.
Photo 1,2: Burkhard Peter & Michele Caliari // Photo 3: Yvonne Wadewitz // Photo 4: Michele Caliari // Photo 5: Luis Krummenacher // Photo 6,7: Milly Reid // Photo 8: Aris Kress-Kallidromitis // Photo 9-15:  Maximilian Dreusch, Federica Teti // Photo 16,17: Luis Krummenacher

“Die Kochinsel” in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.

DIE KOCHINSEL
We are an initiative of young people, who have traveled from all over the world, with many different talents and special knowledge. We are united by a passion: we dedicate ourselves to the art of cooking with curiosity and dedication!

DAILY MEETING POINT
We meet in the mornings around the large kitchen counter, right in the heart of the S27. We plan, cut, wash, stir, discuss, laugh and improve our German. We combine cooking with fresh, healthy and, if possible, seasonal ingredients. The result: healthy pleasures that bring guests and groups of the S27 to one table.

COOK TOGETHER – GROW TOGETHER
We remember our homeland and create something new! We exchange recipes, stories and traditions at the stove and experiment with visionary ideas of a world cuisine. We see ourselves as a sustainable and transcultural project with the goals of perspective development, professional orientation and a large portion of empowerment. A competent social team accompanies and advises us on our way into the future.

OUTSIDE WITH YOU: CATERING AND SOCIAL MEDIA
On request, other project teams, groups and companies can also enjoy our fusion kitchen – we design individual catering and finger food concepts. A cooking blog has been set up on Instagram to share our favorite recipes and experiences with you (@diekochinsel). Good Appetite!

Photo 1-9: Luis Krummenacher. Further photos: Photography workshop of Kochinsel with Katha Mau.
Eventfabrik in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.

The ABC of partying!

Berlin is a global centre for the event, cultural and creative industries, with the associated variety of professions.

In an equally diverse full-time programme, we offer a workshop and basic parkour through craft productions, stage and trade fair construction, event technology, event management and safety issues. Everything comes together in self-organised events. We proudly invite you to our city laboratory, the Falscher Fisch.

ON YOUR WAY INTO THE EVENT INDUSTRY
Regular excursions to various companies and the opportunity to experience live and hands-on how clubs, theatres, concerts, trade fairs and festivals work help to orientate oneself professionally and make valuable contacts. Through internships, we take a first step towards vocational training and a professional future.

A STRONG TEAM
You can never organise an event alone – you become a strong team that can do (almost) anything. Our social team provides concrete help with planning for the future and moving forward, even in difficult situations.

Mon. – Thu. + specials & events on some weekends
Falscher Fisch, Ziegrastr. 1, Neukölln


CONTACT:
Angelica Germanà Bozza, a.germanabozza@s27.de

Photo 4,5: Kulturprojekte Berlin / © Anna Tiessen | Photo 1-3, 6-7: S27 / Luis Krummenacher
//Funded by: Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Jugend und Familie, UNO Flüchtlingshilfe Deutschland.
The location of Falscher Fisch is amde available by Estrel Berlin.
“LUZI” in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.

FEMALE POWER
Meet new friends, get creative and develop ideas for your professional future. LUZI is a multifaceted project for girls and young women (16 – 27 years) who want to do things together and try out images and roles for themselves and their future.

What we do together:
In the studios of our new venue, Falscher Fisch, we meet female artists, social workers and create our own fashion, jewellery and design objects, instruments, carpets and art installations. We work in different workshops with wood, metal, fabric, clay and paint. In the process, we get to know new handicraft techniques and training professions together.

At the same time you can join our German course. You can try it out and together we will see what you enjoy doing.

Photos: Nele Düll, Nourhan Amer, Luis Krummenacher.
“Studio Ƙarfi” in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.

STUDIO ƘARFI
“Ƙarfi” is hausa and stands for strength, power and empowerment. With the tools of art, we take a critical, decolonial look at society, the world and realities of life that we want to change.

DECOLONIAL AND ANTI-RACIST
In this way we deal with discrimination and racism that we have experienced ourselves and with colonial continuities (streets, squares, places of remembrance) that surround us every day – in our shop at Schlesische Straße 10/11 we develop and design our artistic interventions:

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
In 2023, we turned our shop at Schlesische Str. 10/11 into a very special research laboratory. “Domestic Affairs” stands for a broad conceptual focus that is not limited to physical spaces and inventory, but relates the domestic to history and colonial history, politics, rituals and emotions.
Our neighbour is the antique dealer Aatik - what happens when we remove the utility value of things?

Our first experiment, COPY SHOP, consisted of transforming our neighbouring shop 1:1 into cardboard and paper.
In a second experiment, we converted junked furniture and other collected items into a fleet of “carpet scooters”, living up-cycling sculptures, next to which the e-scooters in the city, which are increasingly tending towards e-waste, look old.
The static nature of the carpet was also to be set in motion, with imitations of oriental carpets from the GDR’s “Deutsche Werkstätten” and the West German furniture market of the 1970s being cut apart and carefully hand-stitched into footwear. The avant-garde slippers are perplexing – they have thus reversed the qualities of statics and movement; what otherwise lies flat and appears stable suddenly runs away… A sign of our times?
With: Philip Crawford, Amine Mohammed, Brooke Meenan und anderen.

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. A project of Studio Karfi, supported by  Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt.

WAKE UP & LIVE (2022)
Large cargo loads of old textiles from Europe regularly arrive in African home ports. We brought back textile waste bales from Benin and Kenya to develop our own textile statements from the re-imported clothes.
For our pyjama collection, however, we opted for colourfully patterned wax fabrics, so-called “African fabrics”.
Everyone and anyone knows them - or not quite?


With each new cut, we uncovered hidden knowledge about these pattern fabrics, colonial continuities interlinked with a nightmarish clothing industry that now ensnares the entire globe. Sleep was out of the question for a while.

A look at Ghana, however, opens up a different way of reading wax fabrics, because African producers have indeed inscribed their political struggle for freedom in the fabrics with special orders for subjects and patterns from European fabric producers.

Our team from Studio Karfi will present the controversial pyjamas with wax prints to a broad public during a catwalk through Görlitzer Park during Berlin Fashion Week. In the centrally located Kreuzberg Park, which has been in the news because of the obvious drug trade, numerous refugees, also from African countries, try to secure a minimal existence for themselves and especially for impoverished relatives in countries of origin under the worst conditions through the illegal sale of drugs. A very sad consequence of an ongoing colonial catastrophe – because in order to save livelihoods at home in the global South, uncompromising, immediate far-reaching world trade revisions and far-reaching labour rights for refugees and migrants are needed. The climate crisis will create huge migratory movements, it is against human rights to refrain from regulating world trade and to tighten restrictions on flight and migration.

It is therefore less easy to sleep in Studio Karfi’s pyjamas than to fight for justice.

Buona Notte? Buon Giorno!

THE COLONIAL WAITING ROOM (2021)
In a first action we create the installation “The Colonial Waiting Room”. We understand the waiting room, especially the one we know well of the German immigration authorities, as a colonial space and invite people to join those who are stuck in the “waiting room of history”. The Decolonial is now.

In cooperation with:

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS is funded by:

“Clan B” in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.

CLAN B
We’re a group of young people from different countries who started an initiative in June 2018 to support people in need. We ourselves know difficult times and difficult situations in life, which is precisely why we want to be active and help others. We call ourselves “Clan B” – the name stands for alternative, sustainable forms of life and at the same time for friendship and support: We try out creative forms of backing that we want to offer ourselves and other young people in need.

TO BUILD
We work in workshops with professionals from the craft and design sectors; in the meantime, we have already built our own headquarters and a mobile kitchen for our group. We are working on do-it-yourself strategies against dependence on the consumer world.

EXCHANGE STATION
Cooking, making music, discussing – that brings different scenes and cultures together. We meet at Falscher Fisch in Neukölln, where we’ve built ourselves a workshop.

HELP
Whether at the children’s party or in the homeless shelter, at the neighborhood party or in the retirement home – we like to lend a hand where support is needed.

More about the project HERE!

LES MICROBES | Under the artistic direction of Matze Görig, we developed a miniature film set made from waste and found objects over several months. In the workshop we engage in a multilingual exchange. The models bear the traces of our eventful stories. The miniature worlds are actually the backdrop for an experimental animated film. After editing, animation and post-production have been completed, we’re looking forward to see it on as many festival screens as possible.
The curation and exhibition of the miniature models was funded by Fonds Soziokultur as part of our project „Schattenzensus“. Photos: Luis Krummenacher
Photos: Milly Reid, Aris Kress-Kallidromitis, Alaa Hassan, Luis Krummenacher, Wesam Karema
“Basic Lab” in the scheme of the “Bildungsmanufaktur”.
Loosely based on Walter Gropius, “Schema zum Aufbau der Lehre am Bauhaus”, 1923.
BASIC LAB
A workshop for exciting experiments and simple basics in design and crafts. Inspired by the famous Bauhaus pre-course, we offer a colourful range of materials and techniques, from wood and metal to weaving and printing.
LEARNING BY DOING
Our door is wide open to anyone who wants to try something new! Supported by a team of different artists, we explore the world of design and creation together.
The BASIC LAB is all about discovering your own talents and having fun in the process. We don’t just learn, we also do – from mixing colours, to taking apart and reassembling old objects, to experimenting with traditional techniques. As part of a truly international team, we not only improve our manual skills, but also our communication skills.
GET AHEAD
At the same time, you can attend our German course. You can try things out and together we can see what you enjoy and where you could go professionally. Our social team will help you plan your future and move forward, even in difficult situations.
Photos: Nele Düll, Luis Krummenacher, Michael Wolke, Sadegh Sharifi

The various course groups of Bildungsmanufaktur are funded by: