on the occasion of the awarding of the 2nd Innovation Prize to STREETWARE saved item
By Stefanie Duncker on October 20,, 22 at the Kulturzentrum Pumpe, Berlin

LUMPENSAMMLEREI, WASCHSALON, TEXTILE FORENSIK, HAUPTWÄSCHE, FILIALEN, PROGRAMME, STÄRKESTOP

The starting point of the project are discarded clothes on the streets of Berlin. STREETWARE, directed by barbara caveng, understands the found objects as branches for textiles and equally for stories of local and global entanglement. Saved item - the rescued piece of fashion and clothing in this project stands for abundance and deprivation at the same time; but it also stands for quasi unread stories connected to these textiles. Which of the modern rags will be included in a new collection is therefore decided by the collectors: Is there something interesting in it or not? In their own shop, the garments are processed, made into a brand with logo patches, commercial bluff that is given away and sustainable use all in one. But this is only one part of the extremely comprehensive overall project: In the middle of Corona time, a 24-hour performance starts on a huge garment dump behind glass, branches of shops are also created in the district library, the collection is presented highly professionally with many amateurs on Tempelhofer Feld as a cat walk, numerous laundry stands on wheels form a kind of laundry sculpture in the park, homeless people advise the actors as they walk through 'the big flat' of the city, and Ugandan designers* and start-ups join in the discussion at a conference on culture and politics in the context of sustainability.

The makers of STREETWARE seem to follow every thread they find and develop their own action from it within the project. People from all contexts and from very different professions contribute with their knowledge of the cycles of textiles and with their ability to shape the STREETWARE collection as fashion, but also as a way of thinking. It is about resources of knowledge, material and visionary phantasy to think things further and make them visible.

The project is unique in its diversity. It is outstanding in terms of translating social, cultural and economic contexts into an artistic expression. STREETWARE - Saved item proves how branched and how connected society and unknown stories about clothing and textiles are. Artistically translated and with the participation of very different people, it exposes the use of resources using the example of clothing. It does so in a fun and integrative way that is also highly political.

Kunstasyl under the team leadership of barbara caveng has followed the ever-changing questions within the project without regard for its own resources. This is a dilemma in cultural work: one cannot avoid the questions that always arise anew and differently in the project. Kunstasyl does not evade, that is particularly impressive. We hope there is strength again or still for future projects.

We would like to support that a little.

The jury awards the second "Innovation Prize Socioculture" on the theme of sustainability with great fascination to the project "STREETWARE - Saved item" by the

Kunstasyl e.V. - with its Team leadership barbara caveng.

The Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e.V. publishes in its magazine volume 175 'Kulturwandel zur Nachhaltigkeit' the essay 'Vom Fallen und vom Aufheben' by barbara caveng which was presented as a speech at the 'congress at the clothes heap'
Buy the journal for 8.5 €.

„Mit STREETWARE saved item macht eine Künstler:innengruppe auf textile Überproduktion, die Wegwerfgesellschaft und Ausbeutung aufmerksam.“, schreibt Eva Apraku in einem Gespräch mit barbara caveng in dre Edition Nachhaltigkeit 2022 des TIP Berlin. Das Portaitfoto von barbara caveng machte Anja Grabert .

Eva Janssen hat uns für die Deutsche Welle in der Vesithek besucht und unser Angebot in TikTok-Videos verarbeitet.

Berlin Tagesspiegel Journalist Christina Van den Berg visited us at 'Pförtnerhäuschen' at Haus der Statistik in November 21. Her articel was pusblished at 11|18|2021.
Photogaph: barbara caveng | Alice Fassina | Lotti Seebeck | Purvi Dhraghadaryia © Sven Darmer