Category Archives: HU Virtual

Social StreetWork – Via Augusta – from Rome to Cadiz

2020/06/05Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, sculpture garden, UNIIEfafe

Nearly 2030 years ago a mix of military and economic considerations had led to planning and realization of the Via Herculanea, later re-named to Via Augusta, an ancient public street of the Roman Empire to connect Cadiz, Sevilla, Alicante, Valencia, Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona with the extisting network of main streets, all connected to the eternal city of Rome.

Here I will explore a narrative about a spanish youth playing in the streets of Italica, a Roman consul founding a city for war veterans, a Gypsy woman walking barefood on the Via Augusta in Rome and the project of rebuilding a ramp in the color garden of our community FamiliaFeliz in Cervera del Maestre, which will be part of the upcomming community founder festival in 2020. Also i will shed a bit of light upon myth and reality of community founders on the way to work for an idea and enlighten the link between all of this.

social streetwork - Dilan is moving recycled construction material — social streetwork – Dilan is moving recycled construction material

As many politics truely believe a street is a tool to explore a region, to develop a new industrial area and to organize people on their way from A to B. And as we are all dealing most of the times with narratives of belief systems (like religion, science, common sense, the law of nature…) most of these times we are failing.

social streetwork - the broken ramp — social streetwork – the broken ramp

But there is a reason for a street as a tool for transportation, and human mankind mobalize much energy to set up a public street, if there are needs for a logistic solution.

On my journey to discover Spain in the 1980th i was living a month in Granada and joined a trip to an ancient Roman city named Italica, not far from Sevilla. On a very sunny day in May (we enjoyed +47 degrees later at 7pm in the evening in Sevilla) i was walking in the streets of this amazing ancient Roman city. During the Second Punic War in 206 BC Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus had moved a Turdetan settlement, after the battle of Ilipa, into a camp for wounded Roman soldiers and expanded it later into a military post. When i was so far away from the forum romanum in Rome i felt the power of this ancient empire, to be able to connect these places with a network of public highways. I imagined, what the boy Aeluis might have thought about the Roman Empire and his own career later on.

social streetwork - new concrete mixed with gravel - a ancient roman recipe — social streetwork – new concrete mixed with gravel – a ancient roman recipe

Nearly 15 years before i was sitting on a big marble block and drawing a Gypsy woman moving over a ancient street. I was not knowing at that time, to which destination this road – Via Augusta – could lead me. And – maybe as well as Aeluis – i was not aware that we both would take this street in our life, but in the opposite direction.

social streetwork - new concrete mixed with gravel - filled with natural stones at the border — social streetwork – new concrete mixed with gravel – filled with natural stones at the border

When the craftsmen began excavating the base of today’s Cologne Cathedral, the builders at that time thought that a building would only stand securely if the weight of the foundations corresponded to that of the building above it. It took them 40 years to excavate all soil and ground and to fill it with stones mixed with roman concrete, an ancient well-known buildung material. And as the Romans 1000 years before, they also used and recycled material from the old church at the same place.

Imagine what you would think, if you start your career as a freemason in your 20th to be part of a team to build a cathedral. And 40 years later you get retired and the last piece of stone you move is still part of the foundation. In the same way we see FamiliaFeliz as a long term project, much longer than our working lifetime and – for sure – longer than our life at all.

Only three years ago we accomplished our mission to expand the land for our community project by adding the last of first three plots to the collection. We named this area art camp and later it became a host for the first visit of german high school alumnos.

To reach this location everybody has to pass a old concrete ramp, created by the previous owner of the plot. This ramp was already broken and heavy weather events in the last years damaged this building more and more.

social streetwork - new concrete mixed with gravel - 2000 kg in 4 days moved without electricity — social streetwork – new concrete mixed with gravel – 2000 kg in 4 days moved without electricity

After 100 (!) days of lock down in Spain we hope to welcome people from near and far to our Community Founder Festival CFF in August 2020. So we thought it was a good idea to renovate and repair the ramp before all these guests will use this main entrance to the art camp, which will be the host for tends and trailors and vans and cars.

social streetwork - Dilan is preparing the left border — social streetwork – Dilan is preparing the left border

Two times in my life i was the guest in the villa of Aeluis near Rome. He made the way from Italica to the eternal city and became emperor and leader under this name Caesar Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus. His house – Villa Adriano – was more likely a municipal district than an ordanary house. On the way from his parents home to the villa on the hills of Rome he changed the carob seeds for diamonds.

On my visit in his house i realized the power of civil rights. Aeluis, as a spanish boy, was a defeated Iberian in the Punic Wars, who, with his defeat under the Roman empire, at the same time obtained all civil rights, including active and passive voting rights.

What a difference, if you compare this with manifestations in streets of contemporary empires, in which ordinary citizens complain that their civil rights have not been granted yet, after more than 250 years of beeing citizen of these empires!

Aeluis for sure traveled on the ancient Roman public street Via Augusta, he passed the little village of Benlloch in Castellon as well as Roman metropoles like Tarragona, Barcelona and Girona on his way to Rome.

Aeluis also passed on the Via Augusta a city founded and organized by Decimus Iunius Brutus Callaicus. This Roman conqueror had developed an little island in the Turia river, 4 km far from the coast. This city was designed as a retreatment area for soldiers. Later under the Caliphate of Córdoba it became a well developed commercial and administrative city named Valencia.

The Gypsy woman walking on the hot stones of the Via Augusta in Rome was a symbol of commerce for me and highlighted the meaningfulness of this network of public streets all over Europe.

social streetwork - amplify the ramp border — social streetwork – amplify the ramp border

Aeluis had not experienced any border control nor passed any check points on his way to Italy. It was one country at that time. And till the lock down began, i was a European citizen with the right of free movement and could followed him in the same way. Many years after his travel, with the spanish flue, countries in Europe invented border controlls for ordanary citizens, and, what coincidence, in these times again the free movement in Europe is falling apart.

Streets are used by military, by commercial dealers as well as by humans looking for new challenges in their lives in discovering new territories and remote places. Streets are links between centers of power. Streets are following ideas. Streets are places for the manifestation of human dreams and values. Sometimes, like the Roman empire, part of the idea disappers. But if we meet a street, we can meet the history, which leads to the ideas.

The ramp in the color garden of FamiliaFeliz in Cervera del Maestre, Castellon, located in Pais Valenciano, not far from the Via Augusta, might be used in the future also by travelers discovering their new lifes. As a main entrance to the art camp it is a kind of private street but also an invitation to peace, a link to the tribe of humans without fear.

social streetwork - Francesca working on the ramp foundation — social streetwork – Francesca working on the ramp foundation

Like the young freemanson digging the foundation of the Chatedral of Cologne, who in his imagination may hear the praises of the parish around the shrine of the three wise men, Dilan, Francisca, and Jens and many other are working on the ramp in the color garden, to invite guests, they might never see with their own eyes.

The myth of community building is sitting in a circle and singing, the reality is digging the foundation to set up a place to make that gathering happen. I took the Via Augusta to the south east of Spain. Aeluis went to Italy. He changed the peace of Italica for the violence in Rome, as part of the elite. I left the violence of neliberal capitalism in the north and I changed the diamonds for carob seeds. You might see the trees, if you walk the ramp.

social media equals social distancing

2020/05/31Allgemein, Bio garden, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, HU Windeck, UNIIEfafe

#SOCIALMEDIA was seen as as a computer-based layer over network connections to be used as an information exchange opportunity for their users. In the wild west hype of Internet emerged a lot of so-called funcionality on screen to tickle the human neurons.

no social distancing - harvesting olives in the color garden — no social distancing – harvesting olives in the color garden

This story is about social media, social distancing, real community life, final goals, military tools and about selecting useful information out of spam and the link between all of them. You are 1 out of 7 out of 23.000 if you read this story down to the end.

When i gave my first lectures in IT-Networking on a glimp of the beginning of remote data transmission i was asked by a elderly student: “What will be a fundamental consequence of using this network on a daily basis?” My answer was simple as that: “The information will loose its value.” Now – looking back – i would likely clarify “the flat-screen-based information…”.

We – as humans – are evaluating the relative truth of information by calculating the distance between the sender (to us) and the source of this information itself. Embedded in never ending story telling we see self-experienced information – sender equals receiver – as likely true, if it is told us by somebody else maybe true and if the person giving us third party information we become more and more unsure.

Based on OSI we experience the information offered in our perception. But finally we are looking on a kind of a black box because we – as an application to receive this information – are not able to decode the underlaying protocols. So like in the last 200.000 years of human mankind we invented strategies to evaluate this black box by using assumptions, prejudices and validations.

Originally created as a military weapon additive the former ARPA-NET, all this ingreediences in this black box became more and more commerialized. In the beginning it was only the access to this black box which was invoiced. Later the bill expanded to include individual functions and access to content inside or behind the black box.

Whenever humans inventing tools they imagine an advantage. They calculate this advantage in comparing tools to achieve their goals. So my second prediction as a reply to the question of my student was: “And the sender will invent more and more sofisticated tools to present their information as true.”

At the same time the black box was growing a lot. As a point in the FIDO-NET fourty years ago i was reading maybe 10 posts in newsgroups and happy about one personal mail a day. The effort to wrap information in a way to send it, was high – like stepping into a little yellow or red iron cabine in the corner of a street to make a remote call – and therefore the average of daily received messages was low.

Based on my career and the capacity of internet functionality our community FamiliaFeliz used a website and social media to spread its information as well. By using this black box we where trapped in the same way as the others and even knowing the conditions from a professional point we experienced the same difficulties “to get our message to the receiver”.

Making research on the possibilities of these new tool social media we where focused on two issues: hidden features and emergent values, in naive speech: “Contemporary communities should have a look at contemporary tools to reach contemporary goals.”

Social media, as a product of private companies, is for sale. You might pay with money – which is another currency for quality life time – or you pay by giving attention, anyway, you pay. Refering to the evaluation of the tool we have to look on advantage and disadvantage of using this tool.

To messure this value we should think about the real goal. For many social media users we see a shift from infinite / final goals to milestones as goals. Lets give a sample: If your final goal is to buy a car you might have a look at some online shops and blogs and vlogs about cars you are interested in. You will compare the received information with your assumptions and prejudices and maybe you will validate it in a test drive at the nearest car dealer. But finally you might buy a car and you stop to make research about it. All research and surfing the internet could be seen as temporary goals to reach the final goal to buy the next car. In this case the information out of the black box is used to reach this defined goal by surfing from milestone to milestone.

But it is not as easy as this. You are not alone using the internet. Some machine learning algorythmns are following you and learning what you like and how you act in front of all this competitive information sources. By tracking your way online – and offline – the sender as an intermediate is learning how to show a given product in the best way to you. As a ROI probably he will try to sell this knowledge to the car dealer.

The message the car dealer is learning from this might be, that it makes a lot of sense to postpone the bio feedback – the test drive – to the latest possible moment in with you made up your mind already about which car you are likely to buy. Therefore you might see less and less opportunities for test drives in the future.

no social distancing - creating mosaics in the house of the dragon — no social distancing – creating mosaics in the house of the dragon

As an international decentralized community FamiliaFeliz doesn’t want to sell a car or any other product. Many other communities – struggling with money to survive – are inventing products like workshops (spirituality, health, community buildung, permaculture, bio construction) for so-called living community tourists.

We do not want to judge about the communities, neither about these clients. It seems to be normal to invent a fitting product for a potential customer. Many of these users are spending hours and hours of screen time to feed the dream of a community life and social media offer a lot of groups where these customers can exchange their dreams and visions about living in a community. No wonder that a lot of communities try to meet their potential clients inside these social media networks surfing for content to feed their dreams.

However, both sides seem to be trapped. The community which try to gather clients will run in a never ending competition about attention and a “LIKE” doesn’t solve any economical challenge for them. The surfer and social media user introduces himself as somebody who search for the final goal to join or invent a community project, but more likely he stick on his chair in front of the screen and return to exactly this surfing mode to feed his desires.

There are other communities – without any business plan for social media – like FamiliaFeliz. These projects are just posting time by time something about their real activities and daily life.

no social distancing - exploring the new land of hope — no social distancing – exploring the new land of hope

In a social media group called “Projecto de Ecoaldeas en España” we found 63.4% of the posts initiated by the sender as a share of external information not direct related to himself or to an existing project of an ecoaldea (research 2020-05-31 – 6pm). The sender was just sharing information about videos, howto’s and external articles about topics like useful tools, bio construction or spirituality. We can assume that each sender was a) aware about the topic of this group (eco village projects) and b) that each sender expected a value to share this posts in this group. We might assume also that the sender would like to see more of similar postings in this place from other group members. Non of these posts leed to a real eco village project or gives information about a real activity of any existing eco village project.

In the same research we identified 13.3% of the posts as direct advertising with deep links to products, like workshops or webinars. Only half of them where related to existing communities as the provider of such trainings. The other half was posted by individuals, who probably expect to be able to win customers among the visitors of this group.

Only 10% where shared posts from individual members of other groups about real activities of communities and 13.3% where direct posts from community members about activities of their own community. If you count the 10% and these last 13.3% as posts and content really related to the topic of the social media group, it should be noted that more than 75% of the information has nothing or very little to do with the real life of communities.

But nevertheless more than 23.000 members are enjoying this group. So whatever might be posted, this people get what they want.

On the other hand less than 15% of this information is delivered throughout this black box from a sender who might be a real member of a real community.

The word of the year 2020 could be #SOCIALDISTANCING and we don’t know yet how big the impact for future generations will be. But it looks like, that the effect of postings in social media support more the following AI and the companies running the networks and selling the user (behaviour) data than it leads to finite goals of users really willing to enter a community or communities looking for new members to join.

no social distancing - all about love - a performance in Tortosa — no social distancing – all about love – a performance in Tortosa

Many years ago i started to develop a social media group called work of art. This group was introduced as “to discover how we could transform virtual attention into real benefit and value for all members”. I wrote: ” Social networks are full of spam and redundant information and it will be a survival of the fittest and a soft skill to use such virtual environments in a human and useful way.”

35 years after using my FIDO-NET server as a host for the first online-based training in collaboration with the public highschool of Cologne i found myself in the year 2020 in Spain in a lock down with kids in the house, neglected by their schools and confronted with inexperienced teachers who desperately practice sending PDF files and video links of social media platforms to their scholar.

In the early years of the internet i was responsible for train-the-trainer seminars. As the elderly student asked me about the future impact in my first online based training in these teacher trainings it was important to me to bring new generations of pedagogues closer to the consequences for their own profession in times of internet. Social media flodding out of the black box was promoted as a social tool, but it kept the distance between sender and receiver and as a product its inherent feature was and is to hold the receiver as long as possible in the loop of surfing: screen time versus quality life time.

35 years ago in my first online based seminar i experienced how important real presence time was for my students. Even receiving information is a social act and useless if not compagnioned by other sense experience than listening and looking.

no social distancing - all about love - lecture in the MLU Halle in Germany - biology — no social distancing – participative strategies in education – lecture in the MLU Halle in Germany – biology

You have to put your hands in the clay to understand what bio-construction means. You have to wash all the plates for the group to understand what it means to live in a community. You have to donate your last money to another member without fear to understand what shared economy means.

The ongoing fragmentation of societies was initiated by media and politics and the myth of western individualism. We can denote internat and social media as milestones. AI – artificial intelligence – driven algorithms personalize what we see. The information is wrapped and selected like convenient food to hold us in our mental and physical comfort zone.

Flat screen – flat life, when surfing in social media becomes a loop and receiving information becomes the ultimate goal, you will not arrive in the color garden of FamiliaFeliz. Keep in mind: Social media equals social distancing.

Like freedom fighters communicating between each other by sticking short paper messages on tanks we send this message in a bottle throughout this black box of social media.

no social distancing - lectures on our UNIIE campus in Spain — no social distancing – lectures on our UNIIE campus in Spain

No workshop, no car, no hidden agenda, our message is simple: just leave the screen and go for your dream. Expand your quality lifetime, in nature, with other like-minded people.

You are 1 out of 7 out of 23.000 members of a social media network group. We calculate 20% active members in this group of 23000. We calculate 15% of them are posting information related to the topic and 1% of them are highly motivated to found or co-found a community (real entrepreneurs). So we wrote this article for nearly 7 people – by posting it into that group, and you are one of them. Maybe you will make it to the color garden.

Urban gardening in times of reconstruction

2020/05/04Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, UNIIEfafe

In early 2020 our community – like many other in the world – experienced a serious time of reconstruction. Limited in access and free movement we focused on solutions to survive and to initiate peace and hope around us. We collected plants and seeds and started to prepare a urban garden on the terrace. We published news around this theme to guide some friends far away asking for urban gardening solutions and we documented the progress.

urban gardening - new beans — urban gardening – new beans

We shared and donated plants in the village and we prepared some seeds for having more plants in the future.

urban gardening - extensive use of limited space — urban gardening – extensive use of limited space

We created some frames out of pallet wood. We tried plants in different locations of the terrace, in different pots, compagnioned by different other plants.

So far after 4 weeks we experienced this:

Potatos – even out-cutted piezes with buds – are growing well.
Salad is growing fast in some pots, very slowly in others.
Bigger frame constructions containing more soil are working better than little once.
Replanted onions are buildung flowers. Leek doesn´t look good.
Tomatos in bigger plastic bottles (including a bigger deposite of water) are growing better.
Watercress is growing fast and better in protected areas with some shadow over the day.
The mix of garden soil, compost and starter soil makes a big difference.

We decided to continue the project and to expand the production of new plants with donated seeds from friends. We will replant some in our big garden.

CFF – community founder festival 2020 in Spain

2020/04/11Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, HU Windeckfafe

willing workers on organic farms - the circle of alimentation — CFF 2020 | community founder festival 2020-08-21 – 2020-08-31 | Spain

Many people are on their journey to find the right community. At the same time many communities are looking for candidates and new members. There are some gatherings on national level, sometimes limited to one language or with an approach somewhat remote. We feel it’s time to think about an international gathering.

If you are a (co-)founder of an existing or soon in 2020 upcoming community and you like to invite others to join your project, you are very welcome. In a first step we have published this message, we have defined the location and date and we have opened an application form to gather a core group for design and administration of such a gathering.

Something starts when one person says NOW, not when everybody is ready.
Juan Petry

In times of Covid-19 we are not able to predict if a physical gathering will be possible in Europe at this time (in late August) but we want to open this dialogue with you NOW to prepare it and to focus on that time line.

Familiafeliz as a host for this gathering is willing to share its resources, especially the art camp and the color garden, but it will need your active participation to create and perform a successful event.

CFF 2020 - festival map — CFF 2020 – festival map

Therefore this post and its content is an invitation to come together and to identify you as somebody looking for an alternative way of life and willing to donate your energy for such an outcome.

Join the core team now. | Read more about this event (regulary updated PDF).

Couch Potato – Fridays for Future

2020/03/23Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, UNIIEfafe

Look at that moon. Potato weather for sure.
Thornton Wilder, Author

terrace gardening - potato bed box — terrace gardening – potato bed box

In March 2020 the Spanish government expanded the time of traffic limitation till April. Cloudy weather and some rain motivated us to expand the terrace garden project as well.

We found a abandoned wood box in the garden and drilled two wholes in one side, about 3 cm higher than the bottom.

terrace gardening - potato bed box with plastic — terrace gardening – potato bed box with plastic

We used also a old sheet of plastic to protect the wood against humidity. We prefer to re-use and upcycle material and the rotten plastic was big enough.

terrace gardening - potato bed box with water owerflow — terrace gardening – potato bed box with water owerflow

We placed two pipes into the wholes and fixed them with stripes. We glued the pipes against the blue plastic to protect the wood.

terrace gardening - potato bed box - wood to store the moisture — terrace gardening – potato bed box – wood to store the moisture

We charged the box with some wood pieces. Its a donation of a company which produce orange boxes and the pieces have a perfect size to be used like pellets for heating or in this case to store further rain water. The wood also will be populated by bacteria and insects and later transformed into useful compost.

terrace gardening - potato bed box - a layer of carton — terrace gardening – potato bed box – a layer of carton

To develop a bigger space for the water and reduce the speed of de-composting we placed a layer of carton on top of the wood.

terrace gardening - potato bed box - soil - compost - sand — terrace gardening – potato bed box – soil – compost – sand

In the next step we charged the box with a soil compost mix.

terrace gardening - potato bed box - the couch potatos — terrace gardening – potato bed box – the couch potatos

On top of the soil we placed some potatos. We used a mix of left overs we found in the garden beds and some new seed potatos as well.

terrace gardening - potato bed box - hay and grass covering — terrace gardening – potato bed box – hay and grass covering

Finally we covered the potato with a layer of hay and grass. Just in time it started to rain again.

I bought a big bag of potatoes and it’s growing eyes like crazy. Other foods rot. Potatoes want to see
Bill Callahan, Author

All material was re-used and compost and soil where borrowed form the color garden of CASAdelDRAGON. Most of the seed potato are the 3rd generation of potato we developed in the garden area. For time investment we have to calculate 1 hour. The installation cover a space of less than 0.5 square meter. Like the upcycling of water bottles we post this content for our friends in Belgium and for everybody looking for some gardening activities which are easy to realize in these times of limited mobility.

social art – advantage to survive in times of reconstruction

2020/03/21Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, UNIIEfafe

When i was a child i was collecting plants from outside and brought them into my greenhouse, constructed by some well-known plastic bricks. Inspired by movies like Silent running i invented my own story of enjoying the nature and its beauty.

Many years later – now (2020-03-21) – in times of limited access to nature and locked to private spaces – i was asked by some friends about a useful advise to set up a urban / terrace garden in small size.

I promised to share all my limited knowledge to help them to develop a garden in their city flat in Belgium.

One solution is to use old plastic water bottles. They are maid out of PET. First you should cut some fabric in stripes of 40 x 5 cm.

PET bottles - preparation to store and move water — PET bottles – preparation to store and move water

Than you should cut a star into the screw cap. It is useful to make this step before you cut the bottle into two pieces.

PET bottle - best practice to reach a stable structure — PET bottle – best practice to reach a stable structure

The fabric is – turned to a double strip of 20cm – placed into the cut of the screw cab – 15 cm outside. The bootle is cutted with a scissor – 60% for the bottom and 40% for the top part.

PET bottle - water overflow solution — PET bottle – water overflow solution

In the bottom part you should burn or drill 8 wholes – each ca. 1 cm wide – 3 cm below the open side. In the top part you might burn or drill 4 wholes – each ca. 1cm wide – 4 cm below the screw cap.

I used a old soldering iron to burn the wholes. It reaches temperatures higher than 265° – which is the melting point for PET. Even if you are planning to prepare a lot of bottles the burning Methode is quick and easy. But work only outside or in a well ventilated working environment.

PET bottle - reassambling and adjusting — PET bottle – reassambling and adjusting

Before you place the top reverse into the bottom part prepare 4 to 6 short cuts into the edge of the lower part – each 1 cm length.

I used old plastic fruit boxed for handling. It make sense if you find a solution to place the bottles in a safe way – wind – and to allow the free flow of excess water. You should fill up each bottle with rainwater till you see the water inside the cap before you insert soil.

Your plant soil you can mix out of forest soil, sand, mother soil, humus, compost soil. In these times – March 2020 in Europe – you might not be able to create the best soil, but these circumstances should teach you to focus the best possible solution. Maybe your salad will be not so big or your onion not so tasty, it doesn’t mapper.

stable ground and first boxesfirst boxes full of salads and herbs

If you set up your garden on your terrace, be aware of the final payload. A normal floor inside a flat supports between 1,5 kN/m² (150 kg/m²) and 2,5 kN/m² (250 kg/m²). In Europe 3 kN/m² (300 kg/m²) is mostly supported for a terrace or balcony. You should check this before you set up a large garden on your place. In my case – like you see in the Foto above – i have to calculate 1,8 kN/m² (180 kg/m²) in case of a heavy rain event!

And where is the social art here? In times like this – i name it times of reconstruction – i feel very happy and i am full of humility that i can work as an artist. I was looking for logistical and technical solutions when i was a young child to protect my plants in my little green house. I used this PET bottle solution in some workshops with youth in Europe in the last years and i am happy to deliver some ideas to my friends in Belgium now. The design is based on a solution from Cecile Thevenot (Permacultura Penyflor) and modified a bit.

These times will be seen as times in which the society will need creative and realistic solutions. I am happy to contribute to this. I use this little web blog as a tool to paint. My art work is a message. And the message is: we will survive. And we will learn a lot about ourselves, our needs and re-adjust our priority lists. I will continue this posts in the next days…

Thanks to Eline and Ruben, for giving me a reason to publish this. They where helping a lot in our color garden some years ago and its a pleasure to give back something. I will return in this garden tomorrow and i will work with an new generation for the food for tomorrow, to deliver the most important message now: There is a – tasty – tomorrow.

experimental cooking – participative art event

2020/03/03Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, UNIIEfafe

As part of the artistic and social project of CASAdelDRAGON in 2020 we invite you for one very special art & cooking event. Sunday 25.04.2020 at 11am we will meet in the color garden of familiafeliz. We will cook together in a two hour session and enjoy after the color garden and art camp of CASAdelDRAGON.

The workshop is open for vegan & vegetarian friends as well as for those who eat meat!

This event is linked to previous events in Spain and Germany and also to the upcoming exhibition in the house of the dragon.

You are interested? Great. Please announce your partizipation till 20.04.2020 12am via email (juan / at / petry . eu) or use WhatsApp 0049 160 99131933 (artsurpriseme).

We expect a contribution of 10 Euros for buying the food and drinks. The workshop itself is free of charge. Meeting points are 10.30am at CASAdelDRAGON Calle Las Parras,19 12578 Cervera del Maestre or 11am inside the art camp in the color garden (1000m down the hill from CASAdelDRAGON).

experimental cooking – smoked out of tajine
participative art event
CASAdelDRAGON
Las Parras,19
12578 Cervera del Maestre
Castellon

Start 11am / Duration 2+4 hours / 10 Euros for food and drinks per person / limited places / Apply till 20.04.2020 12am

The Art of Education

2020/01/23ADA - abejas de amor, Allgemein, aquaponics, artsurprise, Bio garden, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, EL-DRAC Gallery, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, HU Windeck, sculpture garden, UNIIEfafe

In early 2020 we had a lot of talks about living in communities, values and goals and further activities and upcoming projects.

It was also a time to reflext about the last years. The following collection gives an overview about social educative artistic activities of our community and address one Always re-emerging question: “What is this all about?”

the art of education - exploring yourself — the art of education – exploring yourself

In spain we are runing an artist residence, the house of the dragon (CASAdelDRAGON). One key to deliver informal education is a huge garden area called the color garden. It is our campus and space for a lot of social activities like camps in nature for families with kids (left photo).

Also we are involved in the summer school activities of APEAL, which is a NGO in Bucharest (Romania).

the art of education - it stuff for informal education purpose — the art of education – it stuff for informal education purpose

For the community project of ApEAL in Chiocanesti near Bucharest we collected some IT stuff to enable the association for computerbased workshops.

the art of education - students from a german university are building bridges — the art of education – students from a german university are building bridges

A group of biology students was building a bridge over one old water channel, designed by roman and arabic conquerors. This project was not part of the original workshop but the realisation of a common wish of the students to contribute in some way to the social project of our color garden.

the art of education - participative art installation in a gallery — the art of education – participative art installation in a gallery

The CASAdelDRAGON is an artist residence, guest house and a think tank for innovative social art projects. In the basement of the house we run a gallery since more than 10 years and we use the space also for partizipative art installations like the regalo bar, a shop, in which you can not buy anything, you just can receive a donation or you can donate something to others. It was quite a challenge for latin souls to use this opportunity.

the art of education - alternative bee keeping in Castellon — the art of education – alternative bee keeping in Castellon

Part of the color garden is a vegetable garden with a lot of young fruit trees. As an addition we are involved in beekeeping in the province of Castellon. This project address the actual situation of bees between industrial agriculture, micro-economical views on nature and sustainable needs for human habitats.

the art of education - aquaponic as contemporary art — the art of education – aquaponic as contemporary art

In a relation to the MLU Halle (Martin Luther University) we hosted from time to time biology students in the guesthouse. As part of one exhibition about social art we showed an smal scale aquaponic installation.

the art of education - latin roots and european identity — the art of education – latin roots and european identity

Magda from a little village near Bucharest was sitting on the terrasse of CASAdelDRAGON and said with tears in her eyes: “I want that my Children will see what i see now!” We where thinking the same 3 years before and we invited the first kids from Romania to visit the region of Maestrazgo, the land of the templer and deeply connected to the european history. In the following years we had several groups visiting and partizipating in our social art projects and we will continue this in 2020 and further on.

the art of education - everything about love — the art of education – everything about love

In our german home unit we established the “room for art” in the basement of one house. We invited people with interest in social art and contemporary education for a one day workshop to paint together. By transforming passive visitors to active creators of their environment we sculptured their brains, following Beuys and his idea of social sculpturing.

the art of education - discovering arabic roots in spanish ground — the art of education – discovering arabic roots in spanish ground

This Hand belongs to a great person. Her name is Fadella. She was coming from Bahrein to study our community life and she gave us a very deep impact in the arabic spanish european history. Her finger points on a handmade ancient nail, laying on a stone which is part of a roman trade path (which is part of our color garden).

the art of education - lunch time — the art of education – lunch time

The hosue of the dragon is an open house. A lot of times we are sitting together and share the Food whioch guests and Friends and visitors. These events are not intensivly organised and prepared and they appear more spontaniosly – but exactly this delives a flair, with is great and special.

the art of education - a christmas market in south France — the art of education – a christmas market in south France

Our close friend Anne is runing a severgardens project in south France. Part of this UNESCO featured project is to explore, develop and share knowledge about natural pigments and dye techniques and ways to produce natural colors for artistic purpose (which is also part of our activities in the color garden in spain). We spend a very cold and long day in France to connect locals with organic products and techniques and developed some connections for the project of Anne.

the art of education - a lecture about social science — the art of education – a lecture about social science

Following an invitation we gave some lectures in Germany for students of Biology. Partizipative strategies and methods of social art projects for science and classical education might re-design the thinking of former education.

the art of education - AMAL - and a happy new year — the art of education – AMAL – and a happy new year

In the educative space of Cecile – permaculture Penyaflor – near Tortosa we invited the guests to paint with us, reflecting the theme L.O.V.E. Later these art works became part of an exhibition under the title AMAL.

the art of education - workshop for leader — the art of education – workshop for leader

In Romania we organised a workshop about leadership. A group of children, teachers, government officials and social workers was involved to create a game about leading a summercamp for youth. The game will be published as part of another social art project ARTSURPRISE. It will be a tool to train youth in social leadership.

the art of education - where we go Cecile? — the art of education – where we go Cecile?

The missing link is another social art project in which we connect social spaces like Ceciles Permaculture Penyaflor, EcoTros or others. Quo vadis – the question for all of us and especially for social entrepreneurs like Cecile.

the art of education - a rocket stove for lunch time — the art of education – a rocket stove for lunch time

German students are buildung a rocket stove in the color garden. They are highly motivated by creating the foundation of something useful for the lunch of the next day (and the next day was really the next day!).

the art of education - light sculptures in Girona — the art of education – light sculptures in Gerona

In another open social space, the masia from Francesc, a friend living close to Gerona, was th stage for one art performance in the night. We created some light sculptures in the dark and enjoyed a conversation about art and relevance and sustainability of contemporary art.

the art of education - self organised cooking event as informal learning session — the art of education – self organised cooking event as informal learning session

To transform a passive event of a lunch into an active partizipation of the guests we invited some creatives in the color garden to prepare and enjoy local food and experimental cooking.

the art of education - learning as a personal process — the art of education – learning as a personal process

Learning something is in our opinion a personal process embedded into a social environment in which the person is free to discover and receive what (s)he is Looking for. Therefor the job of a contemporary living community with the goal of establishing a social space for informal learning and personal happiness is to create this space, to maintain it and to protect it.

the art of education - the free university of informal education — the art of education – the free university of informal education

Tine gave a workshop about awareness and meditation. The workshop was part of the educative activities of our free University (UNIIE). This underline, that we see our task more in enableling the space for informal learning than to just offer workshops.

A lot of people have a lot to tell. We want to enable them to do this… and to enjoy it at the same time.

the art of education - sense and meaning in life — the art of education – sense and meaning in life

Life brings people to the house of the dragon and they continue their way through their lifes. Some of them, as the nordic nod mosaic in the kitchen of the CASAdelDRAGON reflects, find back later and enjoy another time what they created and what others created in between.

If you have been reading this article till now – something we appreaciate a lot – you might belong to a group of people who really want to go deep into something. If you cross all These pieces of Information and ask yourself where is the red line in all of this, it is the power and success of partizipative art and ist influence on contemporary education. We are not aware about the outcome but we feel to be part of a wider movement of a lot of creative people all over the world. And even if we do not know if we will reach the goal, we are happy on the way.

beyond the limit – back into the vineyard

2020/01/21Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, UNIIEfafe

social vineyards diaries — social vineyard diaries

In the first days of 2020 the great german artist and friend Jo Pellenz visited the house of the dragon. He is an emerging contemporary artist in Cologne and also the son of a dynasty of winemakers.

To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher

Beside the artistic project to build a contemporary art museum (MUARCO) in the color garden of CASAdelDRAGON Jo donated his time and knowledge to the vines on the campus of the free University of informal education, which is part of the color garden.

To refresh the vines and bring back vitality for the next season Jo pruned a lot of brunches.

social vineyards diaries - next generation — social vineyard diaries – next generation

A selection of one year old brunches was packed with a mix of soil and sand in a bucket and placed in a dark corner inside a cellar.

When the wine offshoot will be expelled in the spring the new plants will be used for green walls around the building of the museum MUARCO.

To keep on growing vine in the area of Cervera del Maestre is connected to an very old local tradition of winemaking. Back in the year of 1987 we where able to buy 25 years old white wine in the wine cooperative in Sant Mateo. A few years later they closed the business because they harvested not enough grapes.

Old people told us a story about a local weather phenomenon: “There are 50 years more and more dry, followed by 50 years more and more wet.” In 1987 we started to rebuild the house of the dragon at the peek of “dry” and in the last years we arrived in the time of more and more rain. In 2018 we had two times flooding in the dry river in one month (October). In the dry period before 2000 we had summers in which it was prohibited to use water for construction.

The vines where moving to the mountains before 2012 and now – slowly they are returning to the lower part of “El Maestrazgo”.

Jo’s investment in keeping the old vines alive will give food to new generations of visitors in the color garden of the CASAdelDRAGON. This donation is giving with respect to the value of nature, without expectation, and by highlighting old traditions of farming.

Winemakers are thinking beyond their own lifetimes. They harvest what the grandfather was planting and they plant for their grand children.
Jo Pellenz, artist and former winemaker

Like the garden of Epikur the color garden is a social space. Sometimes people meet each other because they share the same moment in time at the same place, a lot of times the guests in Epikurs garden are just surrounded by the work of former contributors like Jo, and walk on top of a foundation, laid out by others years ago.

Kitchen sink design – Social art in progress – Part 1

2019/11/02Allgemein, CASAdelDRAGON, color garden, HU Cervera del Maestre, HU Virtual, sculpture garden, UNIIEfafe

open kitchen sink design – playing around with the design

In September 2019, we decided to add a kitchen sink to the open kitchen project in the art camp. After building different fireplaces and a rocketstove, we wanted to add an option to clean dishes nearby, instead of having to move them back and forth between the Casa del Dragon and the garden.

A key element of the project was to re-use waste water from the dishwashing process to water plants in the lower art camp garden area, especially the fruit trees.

The wise creator knows that he is only a facilitator, using what is donated to him by others.
Juan Petry

Together with Rebekka, we played around with potential shapes of the sink area around an old almond tree. We talked a lot about the workflows and processes of serving food, collecting dirty dishes, cleaning and storing them for another lunch or dinner session.

Besides ergonomic and logistic issues, we focused on the social aspects of cleaning dishes. We wanted it to be possible for the dishwashing station to be used by several people at once, allowing for small teams to work together. We also wanted the people washing dishes to be able to communicate with others nearby.

open kitchen sink design - foundation and ibc tank placement — open kitchen sink design – foundation and ibc tank placement

Once we agreed on a suitable design for the kitchen sink area, we started to build the foundation of the sink, the main part of the construction. When we decided on the location of the foundation, we considered that the nearby dry stone wall would need to be repaired in the future, respected the roots of the almond tree and allowed for enough working space for the dish washing team.

For the foundation, we used small natural stones. A refurbished ibc-conformed pallet was placed on top of cement stones. This construction supports the weight of the water tank and the elevation protects the pallet wood from termites.

open kitchen sink design - Rebekka as a new bricklayer in action — open kitchen sink design – Rebekka as a new bricklayer in action

Wherever possible, we used old construction materials. Iron pieces were used to increase the stability of the wall, holding nearly 600 kg of weight (0.6 cubic meter of waste water) in form.

open kitchen sink design - basement and final position of the sink — open kitchen sink design – base and final position of the sink

Even the sink is a refurbished piece that was donated by a friend (thanks to Angie!). To clean and fertilize the waste water, plants will be placed in the open area of the abc tank.

open kitchen sink design - worktable — open kitchen sink design – worktable

After finishing the raw structure of the sink, we added a worktable. In reference to the design of the open kitchen, we repeated a circular cutout between to pillars.

open kitchen sink design - service hatch for dishes — open kitchen sink design – service hatch for dishes

On one side, we added a space to collect dirty dishes. On the other side, we placed a service hatch for clean dishes. In the foundation, we placed a hole for better ventilation. It will be covered by a fine net to protect the inside from little animals.

open kitchen sink design - re-use of pallet wood — open kitchen sink design – re-use of pallet wood

The construction will also protect the stored items from the sun. The service hatch is designed to cover around 60 dishes and protect them from rain and dust.

open kitchen sink design - organic shape — open kitchen sink design – organic shape

Wherever we established a construction in a certain height we find glases and bottles lateron. A lot of visitors are likely to put used stuff wherever they stay. To work a bit against this habit we created a organic shape around the sink table. Later it will be also an invitation for next mosaic workshops to find another place to play with colors.

open kitchen sink design - natural fridge and storage under the worktable — open kitchen sink design – natural fridge and storage under the worktable

Nearly 300 bottles where used to create the circular wall, giving the worktable a solid foundation. In the center, we constructed a natural fridge, using a

open kitchen sink design - worktable platform — open kitchen sink design – worktable platform

We raised the outer arch of the circular shape and placed a piece of wood on the inner arch to create a frame for a 6 cm thick concrete platform. Small recycled iron pieces were added to the concrete, to increase the stability of the structure.

open kitchen sink design - plastering around the bottles — open kitchen sink design – plastering around the bottles

Next, we added plaster around the bottles and experimented with a new mix (6 soil : 1 cement : 1 lime). The challenge was to use the right scree to prepare the best mixture.

This kitchen sink is a piece of social art, supported and done by many people. One of the biggest contributors was for sure Rebekka. But also people like Angie from Benicarlo and David from Cervera donated materials to this structure. Many people collected bottles. Guests of the Casa del Dragon, like Amanda and Nina, prepared dinners for the hungry bricklayers. Others carried construction materials to the location. We have to honor all these people helping us to make this possible. Special thanks to Nina, Fronçois, Sacha, Youri and Ivan.