Today i started working on the new summercampaign for the institute- oh my god, it was so exiting standing in front of the camera and the new slogan is awesome!!! awesome, just awesome!!!
watch the first pictures straight from the set:

MONDAY:

i continued following the principle of sharing: i want to share food with the "participanti- productiva". i invaded them with baking a german apfelstrudel.

Guigo, one of the visitors shared the strudelproduction- very nice experience of community.

But what happened- its again a striking example for the constant flow and change of communities: In the end people robbed the oven and started to eat the strudel- i planned to do some vanilla sauce with it, and sit together in harmony sharing the meal-well you have to accept the flow, one can't control a situation forever....

By the way- the "hymn -virus" is working. Daniela is deeply infiltrated with singing my song. Sometimes you have to repeat thing over and over, but in the end people take it....

DAY 4:
organize the institute- what a mess in the head of organisation... i will have to talk with the staff!
pedro wrote me back a whole thesis about my blog- i love it!!
I am still thinking about.

The Curator is calling for „The Application form”


1. WHAT
My project developed to an institute named:

Satisfaktor – Institut für beglückende Erfahrungen

It`s an institute working on providing people experiences to pimp up their life.
It’s meant as a non-profit enterprise offering people support and on the same time working on research and strategy development for a more exiting life.
The importance of community and the issue of interaction is the basis of the organization. Our business is experiences of exitment and experiences of satisfaction.

The name- satisfaktor is the factor of exitment in your live, that empowers you to be a more happy and beloved person.
Satisfaction is also meant as sexy, desired and a fulfilment of existential needs,

- the stolen- name-story, actually when we came up with the institute name we had problems with a pornfilm company claiming the name as theirs. we still conduct a lawsuit with them.

-the hymn: refers to the fact that it doesn’t matter if there is an altruistic way of thinking and acting existing , to create community always supply people with exitment.

2. WHO
Katja Fillmann is founder, real- live researcher , head of the development department and president of the institute. It’s a rags to riches story. Within a short time of starting the institute the community of members developed over 100%, still expanding. This summer we started to cross the borders and opened a filiale of the research department near Lisbon for interaction within language - borders. A very fresh and exiting project!

The structure of this enterprise is community based, and self evolving. As we recognised that communities are supporting and always are in a flow of change, we adopted that knowledge in the construction of the institute, being able to be flexible and open to change structures if needed. Best to compare it with a bubble (than a pyramid). We are still in development. This attitude has been proved to be a very successful strategy in building up the institute.

Although to get better focus there is
the department of emergency: people drop in and get help very fast
the department of research in real life interactions
the department of education
the department of inner affairs call it the SATISFAKTOR_FAMILY- community of members

at the moment as I mentioned we are building up the department for international- community-stuff ( I excuse this stupid name, but it was accepted by basis democratic election, so I had to accept)

we are always interested in members clients and supporters

mainly to state- everything is always in a flow, constantly shifting things. Its bind to the philosophy of flow of the institute.


3. When

The history of the institute started with a project I started on getting to know my neighbours. The initial moment was actually a handsome foreign guy with 6 volvicbottles, that helped me entering my house. I felt very moved and surprised by this little warm gesture of help. I felt a lack of community and emptiness. That was the moment where I realised: me, that little innocent girl from the country turned into a modern urban individualistic egofighter. I just had to change something and i started doing a project on that change. I developed a list of strategies in how to get my neighbours that finally led to the fundament of the institute.

Chronology of events follows


4. Where

Cause of flexibility reason the use of internet was very important from the beginning on. So you can find the institute on the internet- at the moment we restructure the platform so unfortunately its under construction. On the platform you can find first aid help- instructions and strategies .cause our philosophy is deeply connected to the principle of sharing, we ask people to report about their experiences guided by us. Also to evaluate the effectiveness and quality standard of our work, but also to show other people, that it works.
The headquarter is sited in the beautiful heart of Berlin Kreuzberg, Germany.
But as many people who need our help are living a kind of urban nomadism, we are moving from time to time and give courses lead by the department of education.
We did also squat public places in order to create a situation of surprise and coincidence where people looked up from the routine of their everydaylife.


5. Why
I recognisesd by “getting to know my neighbours”
The importance of experience.
The importance of community,
The personal development of an individuum
The learning of new competences to cope with a more exiting every daylife.
Creating a community around you provides a homie-feeling.
The work of the institute and following the strategies of the institute can help you to source out possibilities of communities around you, break down the stupity of routine and help recognising the potential of knowledge, skills and possibibilities to have fun around around you.
Its mainly about to experience and to realise the power of that special form of learning. Because we work with the effects of exitment you will have fully emotional experiences that stays with you as an intense longlasting memory of new and profound knowledge.


6. How

We are operating on different levels of strategies:
-As we recognised the basis of every community is the principle of sharing- we try to implant the filter of sharing into peoples mind.
In courses we train people to recognise options of sharing and initiating the practice of sharing.

-Exitment is dealing with the unexpected, and the feeling that things happens- not planned, but coincidentally.
Therefore we are working on creating coincidences especially in meeting people- actually there is a whole department carrying for “the art of meeting people”.
- Create situations like inbetween places where people can meet . The importance of the epherme isn’t to be overlooked. We are doing research about that- like for instanace squatting ephermal places like a waitingroom in public spaces, to build up possibilities of meeting people.- it’s a overseen potential of community creating.

Concrete example to provide good experiences
Example:
Use the universal meaning of music- the power of synchronicity. Music is an ideal topic where people can come together, like singing a song.
A task:
Work out a House-Music-Sampler, by asking your neighbours for their favourite songs- that can gives you the feeling of being surrounded by them although you are sitting alone at home, but finally you had to meet your neighbours before and talk about their music in order to get their favourite songs, ideally they invite you to share to listen to their favourite song. You already gained exiting expierence and you can do something for the community of the house :in providing everybody with that house-music- collection, that represent the community of the house and engraving an awareness of the community.

another example: In our educationprogram "satisfaktor1" we invite people to a one weekendcourse postulating to accept that they don't know exactly whats gonna happen. But we create before of that expectations, e.g. we gonna do sik-painting, but then we will do 1 day spending on e.g. how to produce icecram, or a course in geometry.
We work with the break of expectations. People are drawn to deal with the unexpected and transform it into the known. and that in a very creative way. because they all desperately try to understand why they do have to learn geometry or making icecream in order to do silk-painting, they will start to make creative bridging creating new meaning and strategies. We are using this tendency. they will discover new perspective on the topic of silk-painting - for example that they could do much more interesting things then silk-painting. At least they are observing how they others start to deal with this stiuation. They cant help it - it`s a law of mimic habitude. and by doing it they experience going togehter but on the same time beeing very creative on their own solutions.

in "satisfaktor 2" we take the partizipants a step further. every partizipant gets a "Betting-partner". This step is mainly working on to overcome the anxiety with the unknown and welcoming exitment. Partizipants have to push their borders within reallife research, the betting partner is the observer and controller of this reallife research. Its a giving and taking: For example P1 gives himself the task: go to foreign people on the streets that you would like to approach and ask them to take a photo- they try to catch attention on them by doing a small videotake with the camera and saying something like I really would like to get to know you. and do sthg expressive.
So p1 might be scared Now he tells his bettingpartner p2 I am betting with you that i will do this, otherwise Ill have to fullfill your task.
Now p2 observes and takes care for p1 supporting him in nice thrilling sportive way.
p2 at the same time gives himself again a task, e.g. : "I dare to dance at night in my flat in front of the window after putting a letter into my neighbours postbox saying: surprise for you tonight8pm watch out of the window, otherwise i will have to fullfill your task." Now they support each other, pushing each other and sharing the project of the other beeing the witness of the other project. This principle provides exitment, shared experience and profound knowledge.

DAY THREE
I got up and took a walk in lisbon. It seems to be important to perceive where I am to arrive.
Desire- sharing the process with the others.
Claiming for it.
At that time I knew suddenly, what is my task in that virtual-rogerios -laboratory-situation:
Decision: I am having a good time !
Decision: my research about community experience is happening right now !
Decision: Tomorrow I start the SHARING DAYS with the others !
Decision: Sing songs together with the others !
DECISION: My project deals with those terms:

COMMUNITY
AGENGY
EXPERIENCE
TO SHARE
TO BE LOVED

God, am I a Hippie?!!!!

Decision: I try to take the role of the hippie person in the group > live the principle of sharing

try to offer time to everybody to share time with them sharing something.
Decisions: baking cakes with the others day to day

By the way its strange to be watched but nobody takes the possibility to talk back to us. Nobody comments on my blog….So it seems to be more thrilling to watch people than to interact with them????

here i tried to make contact, I was holding up an appell as long as my arms could hold it up. I tried to work seriously!!!

Ok I started singing songs. i found that canon on the internet:

It saiys:

Die Menschen sind schlecht/ Sie denken an sich/ nur ich denk an mich.

Maybe this will be my agency song:

You know music is such an universal thing , an universal language bringing people together...learn it! so when we meet one day, you will sing it to me and i will know that you know me already- get to be one of my "Homies"my secret community supporting my agency.

Explaining my project in one single sentence:

My project is to build up a service institution in order to provide people with
Creating-Community-Experience and - Help on the base of the principle of SHARING and EXITMENT

Day Two

Yesterday.....seems so far away....
I woke up in a bad mood. I tried to structure my thoughts of day one and continue to think of the benefit of community.
I hung out in the internet for long time and made research on how to meet people, in the concepts of community. – by the way a bunch of sectarian stuff besides some interesting alternative concepts.
Specially I tried to find a link to the idea of a mobile community, I found some stuff about urban nomads. But then it seems that the internet is the solution for the community but I am not so much interested in this virtual stuff. How to provide with community experience in real life like first hand experience but living a mobile lifestyle?

I guess the term of neighbourhood is to be transformed to the actual situation you are in – So look at it and make the best of the present moment/ period etc.
I learned the word backlash yesterday- so this is actually what could be the benefit of taking attention to the present surrounding. If you act/ offer/ invite/ notice people, they can react on it.
Be generous and lavish! It supplies you with relaxation, happiness and less effort of control in your life.

Very important point of the day was to talk with Leonore here a brief assumption:
The talk got me out of isolation, already I used the concept of sharing with her that supported me and caused community, alexandre and rogerio joined in- it got dynamic= finally exiting

Kind of a protocol:

She pointed out that I mentioned in my blog that people like to talk about other people, but actually she thinks that by doing that they want to talk about themselves - people are mirroring themselves in others.
We listen with filters that are lead by the motor of interest. So actually listen to the other is listen to myself—I take care for me in taking care of others? ---I think when we have to share our whole life with ourselves, it might be a bit boring only to mirror ourselves in ourselves, so the motivation to interact with others is actually to be more thrilled by our own- well only another reason for communities> make your life a more interesting place, it doesn’t matter if you are masturbating about yourself in listening and understanding others- or if you listen to others in order to help them in a more altruistic way- in any case its more exiting and inspiring, so go for your neighbours!
By the way treat the neighbour as the person next to you-physically, bind to situations or thoughts, not only to the house you are living- look at the present situations you are in

We look at people in what they are doing and not in the being-
Perhaps that always causes stress, cause we feel we have to effort in everything, get a doing person- but the trick is to look at “being” as a process, sthg you can do and not as a state. So people relax- you are always doing sthg.

We were talking about the initialising moments of relations and communities, my thesis is that you need this initialising moment, sthg that triggers the wish to stay with each other, producing a constant interest in the partizipants of the community.
I think there’s a special quality in the surprise of that moment- its not seen or planned it happens to you- better said: it appears with that easiness without effort>> EASINESS

If sthg isn’t pushed it happens more coincident, or better to say it appears as if it were coincidental
> the magic of synchronicity > Sthg happens at the same time> an utopia> is this the meeting point, the initial moment?
e.g. Singing in a choir gives people such a good feeling, and spirit of community because they do things at the same time, synchronised?

Talking about the manipulation of coincidence , producing coincidence
Ø An Idea is born: I am gonna create an agency to create coincidences, exiting moments in your life.
- importance of the first meeting experiences. The first meeting is an invitation. You’ll might get a backlash, you may be surprised.
- surprises are exiting! a backlash means already a surprise.

The difficulty in meeting people: first you have to overcome the unknown and transform it into sthg known> overcome anxiety, create knowledge. Perceive experience.
Second, you have to overcome moral borders.

To create an experience there are three elements :

Me
You/the other
Situation/place and time

>> first contact creation is an exiting work and an exiting moment, you`ll get to be a hero by overcoming the difficulties in meeting others- you feel success, bravery, thrilled, pushed your borders

I SHOULD COLLECT EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS ABOUT THESE INITIALISING MOMENTS

Prepare a congress? Build up an institute for research in first contact-experience

Coincidence producing:
- construct it – get conspiratorial! Search for strange intersections> if there are none construct them. E.g. things you have in common with sb. Make one story out of many!!!!

“ I like your shirt”
“ why?”
“ cause of the blue color”
“really , such a coincidence- I love blue too, it reminds me of the sea…..”
“ No, I meant more that it gives you that fresh look”
“ oh this is exiting, I always have these assoziations of the sea is so fresh, that’s exactly what I meant to say, when I get dressed with that it feels so fresh. What do you prefer, when you need to refresh? Shouldn’t we have a drink?”
A: “Well I am not sure…”
“ I’ll show you something.., close your eyes!”
................

>Well, one has to exercise these talkings. Some experiences ?

Very important> try to appear not planned!

Manly intersections with others are caused by
- interests
- problems
- pleasures

>> and there we come again to the very important concept of sharing. Then you are able to discover intersections
-----------------------------

At night I did some research in getting to know people in the streets of Lisbon, I exercised small talk with strangers on the streets of Baixo Alto – I chose for the second level of difficulty: small talk with language barriers, sharing beers with others supported by a contact person- what a nice realtime experience at the end of the day
good girl fillmann!

Dear reader of this blog,

one of my strategies of getting to know my neighbours is : produce coincidences-
thats why: to build up a community it needs an initialising moment for it. A moment that triggers the wish to get to know the other, or a binding happening by an event. This event mostly is characterised by beeing surprising, not planed coincidence is tricksing out your preception on sthg or someone. You experience something for the first time in a way. and the paradox thing is you ask yourself- can this happen by accident? YOu transform this moment into fate and gives a binding moment producing committment .
These moments are mostly exiting.

Milan Kundera wrote: "The bigger the coincidance, the bigger the love"

What are your special coincidences in live?

Think of situations that would make your live more exiting? what are the things you wish to do?
whom to meet to have a more exiting life?
write to me or skype with me....

Exerpts from Notes done on Day One:

From doing the presentation:

Reflection and restructure-trial on how to do get to know my neighbours:

1.I build up a list of strategies that more or less analyses:
the status of who is living next to me,
the place where I live itself
what information of the people I do have so far
how to get in contact with them

2.Creation of first contact experiences
to get in contact strategies are :
- ask others how they did- the classical research thing
- actively saying hello to them
- passive actively draw attention on me, in order to give them the chance to meet me
>>> at least all the same which way you choose, I have to create the wish in them to get to know me in order to get to know them better

By the way,- what means to get to know, or to know somebody??????????

3. Next steps after first contact experience:
How to stay in contact with them
how to build up a relation?
How to crate a community
Or to decide to leave the contact

-Leave the contact: don’t react anymore, don’t be present or available for them, be boring
-Build up relation: do sthg for them, let them do sthg for you, ask for help
-Build up community: do sthg together, share sthg, create a situation where to get to know -better, use a space

By the way how to create bindingness/ commitment?
By the way why do people have so often discomfort in meeting people?

My personal situation is this: I am not constantly in the house. I am very often moving around cause I work in different places out of berlin quite often. This situation is a non-konstant situation permanently changing surrounding. And my house is somehow a garden where nobody cares very good for it. Everything is mushroom around.


Notes on the dogma of the day: performative laziness: less effort more fun and result
Define the limits of the context> switch on the right filters in your reception , the rest will come.
Get rid of the concept of suffering
Concentrate
Think of the first things a situation asks you to do.
Does lazy mean also being lavish?

Reflections after the presentationthing:

The benefits of my project:

The utopia of creating communities with thinking of neighbourhood as a concept that inspires that utopia

Ø the concept of sharing is the concept of the community.
Ø What might be a mobile community suiting to my needs of a kind of nomadic living situations how do nomads actually do? Schwärme?
Ø My ideal community, my homies



I have to state this. I realised that I thought a community of something stable, constant. I guess I didn’t make a difference between the desire to gain more continuity in life through a community and something that is static. But I want to think of a community as something without strict rules. Not something sectarian. An open community.
An open community is something in flow. People come and go, bring in themselfes and change within the experience of the others. So even if people stay the same, they will change themselves within the process of being in the community. So the community is something continously changing. The only continuity is the commitment of the participants and the change.

LISBON:

Day one:

I arrive at Rogerio’s place, the camera-thing seems to me quite funny, surreal. I feel drawn to make fun about the situation, I guess to cope with it. How long would people stay online to hit an interesting moment- these lucky ones who does…
After explanations about the rules of the coming days, we start to prepare a 10 minute presentation about our projects.
I took the decision to invite people to watch me online. I hope people are not only observe voyeuristic but trying to communicate with us. That seems to be the chance- to meet people by opening a process of working, to gain the unexpected experience, nice surprise, by sharing thoughts and working people , if they decide to share their thoughts about my work and take part. – nice idea. Talk to me!
Sitting and discussing, trying to understand to find an entrance to the work and chances of the coming week.
Lunchbreak at a private pool, where am not allowed to go inside- there it lays in front of me innocent empty surrounded by some people. What a promise, what a temptation. I’ ll have to change that at one point of my stay here.
When I am doing my presentation everybody is tired already- who really cares about my thoughts? – the doorbell rings, the lady from the radio enters and I have to stop my presentation. I try to end it after the lady was introduced in the whole thing. I feel confused and that I couldn’t communicate the main things that kept me busy with the project. I have the feeling I have to find the link to continue working on my project here and now in Lisbon, a different context, I have to transfer the idea of getting to now my neighbours to a broader but still concrete level. I feel the need doing something not sitting the whole day discussing the whole project. I cant concentrate.
After I finished my presentation the interview with the radio follows…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………finally we go back to my presentation the lady is gone. I have the feeling everybody is tired and cant think anymore and I am not sure if people remember what I tried to present. Give me feedback. I feel lost. Frustrated .
The curator tells me to think about the benefits of my project. I thought I did already, but obviously not enough or précised enough. I am asked by Daniela why linking to persons is so important to me. I feel like a crazy depressed lonely person.
I am talking about the benefits: to get to now my neighbours provides me a warmer social atmosphere around me. A homie-feeling. I can source out possibilities of communities around me, build up possible communities, I can recognise the potential of knowledge, skills possibibilities to have fun around me. To get to know new experiences.
The curator tells me I should stick on the idea of creating communities as a utopian vision. And gives me the challenge to create a community with the audience on the 18th.
Alright……
What can I do here? I have to find my focus, I have to do transfer with the term of neighbourhood.
We take a pause before eating tuna salad again at the beach. Sitting on the beach… wonderfull- does it change your life attitude to see the sea everyday?
I wanted to find the on/ off button in my head and turn it out for an hour, but somehow there was a reset going on while I was sitting on the beach- I wrote some notes . its strange to be always pregnant with thoughts – You never now whats coming out but its always growing inside you.
I feel I am unpatient and I am to pushy to myself.
Katinka is doing yoga exercises with me in the bed before sleeping. Thank you katinka!

How to get to know my neighbours

One night I came home, and the first thing that stroke me, was the fact, that a handsome guy I never saw before, offered me help with opening the maindoor of my house. That was the point, where I realised, that after four years living in that house, I don’t have any clue with whom I am sharing my house. I started to think about what is neighbourhood, and why I don’t have contact with my neighbours. So I decided to make a project on How to get to know my neighbours. The task I gave to myself was to think about strategies on how to get to know them and starting to work on that. The first aim I gave to myself was, that until the end of the first week working on that, I wanted to get managed sitting in a foreign kitchen in my house and sharing a coffee with one of my neighbours.

A List of Strategies
Possible tasks to myself:

1. Make a list of all people living in my house.

2. Photograph the house

This picture represent my housecommunity. Some of the doorsigns look older than others, so it seems obvious that behind these names people are existing, that live longer there than others. Some of the signs look improvised. Probably these are the people, that moved in later and maybe they are the more easy people in the house. So what often strikes me unvoluntary- clichees are true- so with that: first impression is most important, you already judge and give meaning by the first signs.

I remember photographing the doorbells felt a bit voyeuristic, but I wasn`t aware about it that time, that my home means to me my very private sphere. So I skipped the doubts and continuing my plans, cause i realised on the other side, that I am always reading traces about people in my everydaylife.

these bottles of water I found on the stairs in my house only two days later when I met the friendly stranger living in my house caring waterbottles with him. So was that a sign or coincidence?

3. Think about possible themes/ things that I have in common with my neighbours.
What problems are we sharing, what pleasures? Actually about what could I talk with them? Find out themes of the house!

I made a list of my neighbours , and what I already new from them, for instance there is a chinese doctor living underneath my flat, once he had problems with water coming down the walls and he thought it was my fault- I could go there and ask how that problem solved. or I could consult him as a chinese doctor.

A theme is the infrastructure around the house- where can you get nice food, nice bars, places to sit down, talk about places that change..

there was reastauration going on that time in the house, so this was actually a good theme to connect cause we both are sharing the house as a theme.- so what 's the theme of a house?- its beauty? It costs, strange ugly places within the house, its inhabitants? the other neighbours turned out to be a very good theme to talk about, when i finally met people- why people always love to talk about people so much? What mostly stroke me was the fact that there are myths of stories about inhabitants of the house still circulating after years. When i moved in that house suddenly my boyfriend realised that he had been here years before- it turned out that his brother used to live here before the wall broke down. So he told me stories i heard again when was tlaking with neighbours now after more then 10 years- but it was told as a secret- so sorry i cant tell the story here.

4. How to get in touch?
Think about situations where you could meet your neighbours by accident. Produce coincidences!
Hang out at the postboxes, very often people coming along , so this is the chance to say hello and have a small talk about the mass of advertisement and the best indian food imbiss round the corner. In fact i meet the most people of the house at the postboxes.

i could also stay in the backyard cleaning my bike- but actually i did it once and i didnt meet anyone...

5. Ask people how they got to know their neighbours. Investigate on the internet!

I found an article about the idea of an moving- in party, and about the details to prepare this event. - actually i could this and in autumn i was very motivated in doing so. But actually I didnt take time until now in realising it, and since begin of february a was again almost all the time outside my house, it somehow felt ridiculous in hopping home for a neighbourparty, when i am almost never there.

But another idea is to join a internetcommunity for example mein.nachbar.net where people meet that are living near your place.I tried out this too, but when the first contacts arose, it was only guys around 50 years old and i didnt felt in the mood to answer them.
within the presentation of the project a guy told me that its great to have a balcony- so if you drop something on the balcony of your neighbour it might be funny and a reason to talk to him/her. -unfortunaly i dont have a balcony.

More Ideas?

6. Ring on the doors, say hello and that you want to get to know them. Hand out a present for them in order to show you are not aggressive, depressive or mad.
That is obviously the best to do. In fact people where irritated when I stood there saying: "hello I wonder who you are." But after the first shock people like that s.o. comes up to them just for the reason that you meant them as a person. But mostly they get sceptical - what does she want from me? Does she want to sell something , is she aggressively religious or just depressed? These thoughts and that skeptical moment was and is still quiet hard for me to stand. I try to think of it as something normal and let it behind me, but whenever i start moving towards strange people i have to push myself very hard going over this point. Mostly its worth doing though. I guess the discomfort comes from the fact that you are judged from the very first moment- and who likes beeing judged?

Some of the people where I rang the doorbell i didnt tell that i am doing a project and some i did. now its easier for me to meet the people that i straightly told that i am doing a project in getting to know my neighbours.

7. Bake a cake and bring some cake to the neighbours.

that was my most successful strategy getting to know my neighbours.

The trick was to put some cake on a plate bring it to the neighbours , and telling them that they can bring back the plate whenever they feel ready for it. So for sure you will have a second meeting.

What was very nice is that all the plates came back with something new on it- some also put on some cake for me, some combined it with other sweets, once it came back while i wasnt at home. the guy turned back again a day later , only to tell me that he liked it very much that i rang on his door.

8. How to dress- present yourself ringing on a neighbours door.
som people think the first 20 seconds are deciding the rest of a relation to other people.... after thinking a while about that i was a bit confused in my head about the question how do i want to appear to my neighbours.

9. If the straight way telling them that you want to get to know them doesn’t help, invent a person that should live in the house, that you want to find that person, cause you care for a parcel the postman handed to you.

my straight neighbour next door used to get a lot of parcel with a post delivery service, she was never at home wehen the postman rang but me. what happened was that at one point I had a more intensed relationship to the postman of my neighbour than to my neighbours. For that reason i had the idea with the invented parcel person. her interest for parcels gave me the hope to get in touch with her using a parcel.

But finally she moved out. A new girl moved in.

10. Find the guy with the Volvic Bottles. If you find him, refer to that moment you met him, people like when you remember them, perhaps he did the same, so you will like to hear he remember you. It’ll please you.

I never met this guy again...

11. Make a date at the Chinese-doctor working downstairs.
I couldnt help getting ill since i started the project while i was at home. But he to gets parcels from time to time, so we do have nice chatts on the door.

12. Go to the Computershop and be interested in doing a course in ten-finger writing.
there is something interesting going on. the computershop almost never was open, and when i came home after a longer working period he was gone, now there seems to move in some young people

13. Find out about the special knowledge of your neighbours. Ask them about their profession and their hobbies. Be interested in that, you might be surprised. Ask them to show or to teach you something.
while bringing up cake to my neighbours i got to know nina and björn. he is studiing something with housing management. This knowledge seems to very usefull in a neighbourhood. They where the first that invited me immediately for a coffee in their kitchen. They have a cute cat and I offered to babysit it. Nina gave me sweets for christmaspresent. I felt very good.

14. Finding out where Inga Fettig lives and bring the parcel to her place which the postman handed out to me. Try to talk to her at least 10 minutes on the door. Suggest to drink a coffee at the time. one day the postman left a parcel for inga on my door but she didnt came to fetch it. in fact I missed her, my boyfriend opened the door and I wasnt their when she came to fetch the parcel. So I walked over to her with cake again. It was at friday noon and she was cleaning her flat. She was so surprised that she let me in and drank a coffee with me. She too got a cat. We had a very nice talk and I asked her to come to the presentation of the project, she said yes, wrote it in her agenda and didnt come. For a while I was very disappointed, but then she came back with a selfmadecake on my plate, I was very charming. I dont meet her very often in the house. And I never went up to her again.

15. Invite people to your place
well my housingstyle is quiet chaotic. whenever someone comes up on my door i feel ashamed to invite people to that messy place.

and something I realised at one point while trying out these strategies. - I love my privacy. To ring on a foreign doorbell is something deeply intimate. To invite people is to direct a big play- you choose the setting, you choose the characters that should meet, you create a situation, and so you are prepared and control a situation . But if you just ring on a door spontanious as a neighbour nobody is prepared but you.

for example i rang on a door at noon with some cake. A guy opened the door, he was really irritated by me and the first sentence was- i am working at home- i didnt asked why he was at home or what he was doing at that time. So he made sure, that hes a working man, jusitfiing beeing at home at that time.

how can you do it a fair game? and where do we start to control situations- or do we get to know each other as much as we dont controll a situation?

16. Cook a soup for the neighbours, see what difference is between cake- and soupoffers.

17. Ask your neighbours to come to the presentation of your project.

18. Ask for help from your neighbours ( e.g. for baking a cake). Bring back a piece of cake on a plate , he will bring back the plate, so you will meet garantied three times!

19. Bring the common space of the house to live!
Play something in the main floor, animate people to join in . have coffee and cake with you to share.
I didnt dare doing so until now, because i would do it in my own house. I have the feeling i should now people a bit better before doing something like that.

20. Care for a better atmosphere in the house: Do something for the others in the house in the common spaces of the house. For e.g. put some flowers on the stairs.

21. Make yourself visible! Make music and dance in the yard of the house where people can watch you from their windows. Now they noticed you and can finally ask what the hell you where doing in the yard.
I had this plan- whenever I bring down the garbage i would sing loudly a song, people must notice me after a while

22. Do something together with your neighbours in the house to get to know your neighbours


Please continue the list!

5th of july, 2008

now after half a year from starting my project it didnt change too much in the house. Well I was very often out of my house within the last 6 month working in other towns. In a way Of course it got friendlier in my house, i have nice small talks when i meet some of the people in my house, but still i dont know everyone. The question arose if i really want to get to know everyone,or better what does it mean to me "getting to know someone" How far is my interest for the persons around my going ?When i started i had this desire not beeing isolated in a house where i live. But while working on that project I also realised that I use my home to recover myself. That i dont want to communicate all the time with everyone.

people block a lot of communication in their everydaylife to control situations. but i guess the lucky moment is the moment where something unexpected is happening.

in february i started a project where i squatted a waitingroom on a trainplattform. While doing it i very often thought about the situation standing in front of the doorbell of mey neighbour. Somehow these projects are very connected and i could go much further with meeting people. here is a descpription on the project. later on i will fill in some comments.

MONTAGSKLUB 17/20

in the middle of platform 17/20 at Lichtenberger Station, Berlin, there`s an old waitingroom. Mondayclub17/20 is squatting this empty space. Until july Katja Fillmann is opening once or twice a month a salon. Every first monday of the month we are transforming this waitingroom into something else: a space filled with live for the travellers and neighbours of Lichtenberger Station inviting people to partizipate or just to observe.
mondayclub is a theatrical occupation of the social and geographic empty space in urban space, a free space where collective everydayriatuals( breakfast, dancing, wellnessroom...) meets artistic interventions, and bring the waitingroom into a different context.
A project of Katja Fillmann

supported by

Katja Schmidt, Viktor Scholz, Christine Rollar, Carolin Hochleichter, Beatrice Fleischlin, Lucia Schelling, Moritz Tittel, Michael Wetzlaff

1. Termin: Mo: 4. february , 06.00Uhr- 10.00Uhr: coffeedisco at platform 17/20
Between departure and arrival we are dancing with travellers into the monday morning. We are listening to the very special Mondaysongmenue and sharing a cup of coffee.

people were quite irritated when i came up and invited them to come to the waitingroom with me for a coffee and listen to some music, many refused. It was very very cold and dark, but the waitingroom appeared as a beautiful surreal fata morgana with the a smell between coffee, pee and room freshener.

The Kiew-Express was 50 minutes late, that was

our adavantage. i had a very special talk with a 23 year old guy from kiew waiting for his wife. he explained how he get out of a criminal career and how he felt arriving in germany.

later on some people started to dance. on the picture beneath I met a group of Jevovah people coming from kiew on a mission journey coming from mallorca and building up a Jehovah community in Kiew. Spontanously a woman shared a package of praline with the other people waiting in the room. One russian woman stood for half an hour in the entrance of the room and only repeated the word "West Berlin" many many times.

A chinese guy working for 3 months in berlin tells his story and try to teach me some chinese. later on I am sitting together with a vietnam family on a bench sharing coffee. A night worker around 50 wants to hear harder music, I try to give my best, but its not enough for him.

2. Termin: 3. March, 06.00Uhr- 10.00Uhr: Zen Oase Lichtenberg
Relaxation at the microwaveshrine with our guests and a little tired smile for the people running through rush hour. two geishas presenting a teeceremony and inviting you for a massage on platform 17/20..

I found out a structure about when which people are arriving at the monadyclub: at 6.00h people stranded from the night, night workers, going home ar coming. later the worker, students rushing through the station. People coming to the kiew Express to fetch family and friends arriving on the patform, or people that exchange things at the train, sending or receiving things to or from Kiew. Then older people, people with children going to the countryside coming along.

I am meeting natascha, shes living with her husband in berlin for 3 years, she feels lonely and searching for friedns , shes fascinated for every asian stuff. i give her a handmassage and she is telling the story how she got to know her husband . In the end she gives me a little mirror as a present and wants to come back the next time.

tamara tells the story how she came to germany to marry a german guy without knowing him. first she only talked to christine, then she is telling us all her story.

Uwe, a puppetplayer, is very moved. he helps us spontanously to clean up the room, before he took a rest in the window laying down and having a nap. Lucia is having a long talk with him.

I am wearing a geishacostume- obviously i am making a good first impression- much more people start to talk with me.

3./4. Termin: 7. April: 6.00Uhr-10.00 Uhr und 16.00Uhr bis 18.00 Uhr: Книжная биржа обмена - Bookcrossing Lichtenberg
mondayclub is presenting a livingroom on platform 17/20. Sit down, and read a book...

people are coming back. YOu can talk about the last month. A group of canadian traveller starts to read out spontanously out of their diaries. A discussion starts between 3 russians about russian literature.

We start to build up a gallery, so that people can find themselfes again and share the memories of the older "cometogehter" in the mondayclub. Teroom is growing . evdery new event is keeping elements from the older ones, so that you can see what happened before.- we are producing a history of our space.

5./6. Termin Mo:5. Mai 6.00 Uhr – 10.00 uhr 1. Lichtenberger breakfasthelpline und 18.00 Uhr-20.00 uhr Dinner at the platform
we`ll treat you well, take a breakfast and drop in for a special diner cooked on platform 17/20

A lady drops in at 6.15h in the morning. shes on her way to her fatherwho stays in hospital. hes very ill. shes sharing her fears about him to die . i talk to her about my own fathers illness. why do strangers tell me these things?

On this days we never had so many people joining us. i guess its because sharing food is the easist and most pragmatic thing people like doing.

In the evening, when we cook the dinner people stay very long and a kind of table community is establishing in the waitingroom, people chatt with each other, or just sitting next to each other looking curiously around.

we share the best soljanka recipe

7. TerminMo: 2. juni: 6.00 Uhr –10.00 und 15.00uhr bis 18.00 Uhr – Aloha Sommer!
mondayclub is transforming into a beach, and you can make your first holidaypictures in this monday morning rushhours.

we invite people to produce their first holiday impressions . people could arrange themselves with props and i asked them where they would like to travel most. then i took photos and offered them to write a postcard pretending to be their "urlaubsbekanntschaft" some also liked me to have me on the photo as their holidayflirt- i enjoyed it.

7. Kicken was geht. We play tablesoccer with the traveller and watching the game from yesterday- germany against turkei. Also preparing for the game against austria

9. Termin: Freitag 4. Juli: Feierabend!: the firstLichtenberger streetmusicianfestival at platform 17/20
6.00 Uhr bis 10.00 Uhr warm up und konzert ab 19.00 uhr
before mondayclub is closing , we are inviting all the streetmusicians, hanging aroúnd in berlin underground for a festival.

Mondaclub 17/20 is presented within the project Bahnhof lichtenberg of theater an der Parkaue, berlin.
the railwaystation Berlin Lichtenberg was opened 1881 and longtime it was a very important traffic centre- " berlins door to the east", the secret mainstation of the DDR until the 80ties. Today Bahnhof Lichtenberg is one of the more unknown stations. mostly used for regional trains, a working place for bakers, traders as well as a place for homeless, an everyday place. With this panopticum the theatre is dealing. the theatre asked artists, theatre makers and photographers to make research on this place and realise projects placed within the station or dealing with the history of this place.

I did it! here we go, my first blog.
this is already about meeting people-