Extract from the catalogue of the exhibition “Wagenburgleben in Berlin” (Kreuzberg Museum 31/08 to 16/11/2008, curator: Dr. Ralf Marsault) This exhibition wishes to bring together people who live on those settlements called Wagenburg still visible in the urban architecture of Berlin nowadays, and allow them to tell about their life, history, hopes or dreams, even. But it was evident from the beginning that such a project can only be modest in the sense that not everybody from the wagenburgs would or could even accept it in order to cooperate. Wagenburgs remain a controversial subject as they do question deeply the rationality, rules and laws of the society in which they appear. Their inhabitants are used to misunderstandings and well aware that what they have to say about their choices or aspirations can also be used against them. So they are extremely cautious when they come to express their feelings and speak for themselves. Nevertheless, wagenburgs did not appear by chance, even less so because of any deemed superficiality of their inhabitants and the reasons why they exist and wish to survive as such are certainly complex. We are searching here for clues that could help us apprehend a social phenomenon. Indeed, in a society where the logics of profit and growth do create massive entropy, consumerism, restless exploitation of natural ressources, uncontrolled environmental disorders and wastes, along with poverty that throw towards its margins lots of unwanted from the domineering culture, the voice of the « marginalized » who are trying to survive, assert themselves and give way to their own alternative lifestyle and philosophy, can only be constructive and educative. Whatever might have been written in the past on the subject, strange enough at times a rather negative approach that could eventually be questionned in its objectivity, a population of diverse ages, gender and origins intend to live that specific way. It probably responds to necessities and basic needs remained somewhere and somehow unfullfiled. So it seemed necessary to reopen a debate, and Wagenburgleben in Berlin is an exhibition staged with the intuition that identity/identification in the process of structuration of the self and society can only be possible in an open and respectfull exchange with others. The documents collected here could hopefully nurture this dialogue. It then became also quite naturally evident that each wagenburg should have a space of its own in the exhibition with all liberty to occupy and invent it ... or not take the opportunity and prefer to remain silent, wishing even not to be mentioned if so decided. One cannot speak of the wagenburgs in general. The exhibition discloses that each group or «place» (spatially an intricate system of little places where caravans and trucks assemble around open fires), has it’s own way of existence and collective identity or imagery. People seem to assemble there by instinct and respect, sometimes even because of love (as mentioned in the interviews shown on the video monitors). But no two wagenburgs do « function» in the same way, and each of them is an open assembly of people with strong personalities and characters who do not necessarily think exactly the same altogether or have a common ideal. Everybody wants to live on his wagenburg, but in their own particular way. Photo: Ellen Röhner Photo: Ellen Röhner The result of this proposition displays the collection of objects, pieces of clothing and furniture, works of art, structures/sculptures, panels, posters, installations proposed by several wagenburgs. It surely could be more extensive and we might miss explanations and historical perspectives. But if some decided not to do more than share images or objects, we have to respect their deliberate choice. The mere possibility of speaking is sometimes not so easy to take as one might expect. It confirms that we are definitely witnessing a sensitive social experience with obvious traumatic memory (the relationship with the police and the press for example, the conflictual exchanges with the legal owner of the land or space where the wagenburgs wish to station, even though it was unoccupied and unused primarily ... but also the disapproving judgements and complaints of neighbours and passers-by if not the invasive curiosity of the tourists too). Nevertheless, we must know also that some wagenburgs have negociated with the concerned authorities and experience a rather peacefull legalized stay. Wagenburgs can probably be understood at best as semi-nomadic structures, so it is suggested that apprehending what they say and show, could be resumed by wandering around the different structures and exhibits. More than this «first encounter» would be risky. As giving the impulse of this exhibition and trust those who have accepted to participate, meant that one would go almost blind towards the day of the opening. It was impossible to know before what would be the actual content of the show, to be honest. Many objects came in at the last minute, when suddenly their owners reconsidered and decided to lend them, understanding their emblematic along with their affective value. So this catalogue ought to be only seen as a sneek preview in a sense. But let’s keep our eyes wide opened, as it seems nevertheless that we are discovering now essentially a «visual thing». And let’s try to experience the «feelings» it searches so much to communicate. One might admit then that the craftmanship called upon in the making of the exhibits presented obviously betrays a keen sense of aesthetic. The wagenburgers do have a creative sense of their own, very different one from another but sometimes reminiscent too. But it is here much too early to call it a specific culture though. First of all, because it is always possible that its inner core might precisely be that no definition, concept or statement is here stated or required. Also because the anthropology of the experience requires a more comprehensive documentation over a longer period. And on the other hand, as said before, all wagenburgs are specific places. All that is produced in terms of objects (useful or purely decorative) or rituals (solidarity actions, concerts ...) by each settlement, certainly remains closely tied to its own habits and weltanschauung, and to generalise or associate them could lead easily to misunderstanding. A precedent study1 based on documents collected on Waldemar and East Side Gallery wagenburgs, showed that those places are sometimes sheer paradox (open but very private, nomadic but static or waiting, where nature looks abandoned but is in fact overlooked if not eventually cultivated, messy but in the mean time effective working places ...etc.). One could consider those settlements as being structures which long so much to remain undefined in a poetic sense but have to make do with necessities. Cultivating uncertainty with pride or even arrogance (a warrior-like anarchistic outlook with floating pirate flags), their fragile balance is always susceptible to various intrusions and flirts with a risk of danger (in a blatant challenge with order/purity) but offers the promise of all possiblities and hopes too. Here lies probably the reason why they look so seductively wild and seminal in their presentation: the magical threat of their inner beauty. Whatever, the collection of objects and structures finally presented brings already some fruitful questionnings : - how far can the experience be related to a specific movement or sensibility in the german Kultur ? - if we do not get enough substancial informations to fully apprehend the social organisation of these settlements, isn’t it possible at least to collect some data from the inner structure and esthetic of the works and objects available? Dani,Wulheide: Monster Baby Box Charly, Kreuzdorf: Necklace with bicycle chain (mixed media) and sheep teeth (Hetching on brass) Geoffroy, Kreuzdorf: engraved and metal inserted wood Skalp, Kreuzdorf: engraved wood on baseball stick handle of Opinel knife Bam-Bam, Pankgrafen: Hybrid animal (metal/bones) Heni, Engelbecken: Stencils on board Souris, Kreuzdorf: Gabba, Wop-site: Silk-screens on paper Waldemar wagenburg (Sue ?): Customised Barbie doll Resin on screw & nut Charly, Kreuzdorf: Belt (mixed media) Sue, East-Side: Mirror (mixed media) Liina & Anna, Kreuzdorf : installation (mixed media) Schwarzer Kanal: Female figure (sandstone) ` Thomas W. (Mutoïd Waste Company), Görlitzer Park: recycled metal spider Papy Destroy, Kreuzdorf: Centaur figure (mixed media) Then among others, these are questions that will be discussed by ethnologists at the workhop « Wanderung und Metamorphose : können wir über eine Kultur den Wagenburg reden ? » planed on 15 November 2008 at the Kreuzberg Museum. The above selection of objects from the exhibition is certainly subjective, and will always remain incomplete. But when it came to decide which exhibit should be reproduced in this catalogue it seemed, intuitively from experience and fieldwork, that these could participate as distinctive references. As said, their origins are diverse, even if here a slight majority comes from Kreuzdorf wagenburg. But when looking at them, what strikes primarily would be some undoubtfull organic reference, an animality in their hybrid structure and feature. Even when they are made of metal (Bam-Bam) or plastic and fur (Liina), bones appear. Those could be used as much as nostalgia of a lost body as vanitas recycled in a mutated prosthesis serving an expected purpose. Recycling is definitely a key word in these objects. A bit like if the «twist» of those transformations was performed to «make sense» again in a creative re-enchantment procedure. Animals, by way of skulls or even clearly depicted: a spider (Mutoïd Waste Company), deer hind (Sue) ... and centaur figure (Papy Destroy), could then possibly serve an anthropomorphic vision searching for roots. A vision longing for some kind of filiation as surrogate vertebrae column (a recurrent motive also in wagenburg imagery), may be. The mutant baby (monstrous as a demultiplicated embracing figure wishing to attain or eat something with its doubly open mouth) remains emblematic also of an ever lust for contact and sharing, love even. But its monstrousity is eventually nothing but a transitionnal figure whose form searches for a plastic. Likewise, the little figure of resin compressed between a screw and its bolt (waldemar wagenburg) is particularly interesting as form in translation. It seems that it could also be melting in the fire of the burning flames painted at the base. This fire is open, but what symbolic does it here really perform: destruction or purification, both ...? We would like so much to understand but no definite answer is clearly proposed: very similar in the manner to the floating/moving identity of the wagenburgs, not to say identity of those who inhabit them ...! Photo: Ellen Röhner Photo: Ellen Röhner So obviously, all these rough-edged objetcts capture the sight by what probably could be called a «hard-core presence» of their own. Their somewhat menacing aspect as some would think, a raw but effective statement, appear charged with undefined or complex symbolism and meaning. In that perspective probably, they are reminiscent, with the same synthetic use of forms, of objects from traditional cultures in Africa (Wop-site silk-screen) or the Pacific : they seem to question our systems of representation and ethic with gravity. The calls of the monsters haunting them (the knife of Geoffroy with its Edward Munch distorted figure, the little masked characters hidden in the computerized nature, also in flames and seemingly bleeding on Skalp’s baseball stick) if only, are certainly deeply touching. And their mutated aspect can be acting as a transitional mask performing in a rituality whose destination is not yet clearly known. And the ambiguity of masks, their representation at least, is also replicated quite often in the wagenburg realm (Heni’s stencils). Whatever, facing some of these objects collected on the wagenburgs, one gets then a clue that possibly their apparent chaos of forms could in fact be calling for the rebirth of another order (the female figure with heavy breast found on Schwarzer Kanal echoing an Urmutter  [earthmother of the origins] presented by Sebastian from Pankgrafen Karow wagendorf, and inspired by the feature of the gravettian Lespugue venus), could be interpreted as such. It appears also that the customized doll (Souris), her assertive gesture and look (the slight detail of a pink bra under the jacket enhancing her feminity) is already warning that women do intend to assume plainly their role and power of decision in the experience of the wagenburgs. The history of the movement certainly credit them positively on that level. But beyond that, what remains the major question when facing the reality and expression of the wagenburg is: why are we in the presence of such a nostalgic thrive for nature and fascination for it’s ever changing and fruitful chaos of forms ? The objects collected on the wagenburg clearly unveil this craving for the monstrousity, confusion/mutation of forms. Louizette, Kreuzdorf: installation (mixed media). There is no definitive or simple answer but it could eventually be linked with the sad discovering that we are not quite living plainly in nature any more, rather than in our relationship with it. We have conceptualized nature to a point where we have lost the movement and promise of what used to be it’s trancendance. And everyday nature is challenged and threatened by our rationality, development and logos. We must stand but helpless while entire forests and species are disappearing. But those where frontiers of the unknown, imaginary fields of our wonder and enchantment though. Our margins are blurred, and being confronted suddenly with the desapearing of our own ending, we might then be desperatly in need to create or search for new limits. That is where possibly the wagenburg phenomenon emerges, and it’s transient form could be one of the necessary answers. So, only a brief encounter with what we perceive from the wagenburg leads us already to acknowledge its intrinsic and unique value. At the time of the workshop, we will then take the opportunity to develop our analyse much further and bring it into perspective. Notes: 1. Marsault,R., 2010, Résistance à l’effacement, Les Presses du réel, Dijon. 2. The workshop “Wanderung and Metamorphose took place on saturday 15th of November 2008 at the Kreuzberg Museum in Berlin. Contributors were: Pr.Dr. Jean Arlaud, Ethnologist and Film Director (Université Paris 7), Dr. John Borneman, Anthropologist (Princeton University), Prof.Dr. Christine Delory-Momberger, Ethnologist (Université Paris 13), Prof. Dr . Jean-Jacques Schaller, Sociologist (Université Paris 13), Prof. Dr. Chritoph Wulf, Anthropologist (Frei Universität Berlin), Dr. Rudi Bleys Historian, Dr. Ralf Marsault, Ethnologist. Simultaneous translation was conducted by Brigitte Kather and Dr. Volker Woltersdorff. A video release of the event is on its way to publication with a multi-media summing up version of the catalogue of the exhibition. (All rights are protected on the five photographs from Ellen Röhner as well as on all artworks presented, needless to say on all other images and texts from Ralf Marsault) Anna, Kreuzdorf, silk-screen on T-shirt. Links to the wagenburg mouvement and ressources on alternative dwellings. Wagenburg.de Wagendorf.de Wagenburg Lohmühle (Berlin) website, and video film presentation (in German) of the place. Wagenburg Schwarzer Kanal (Berlin) website, and video film presentations (in German) of the project when it was stationed near Jannowitz Brücke and now in Kiefholzstrasse 27, Neuköln. Wagenburg Laster und Hänger (Berlin) Wagenburg Pankgraefin Karow (Berlin) Wagenburg Wuhlheide (Berlin) Wagenplatz Zomia (Hamburg) Schrottbar (Biel - CH) Zaffaraya (Bern - CH) Wagenburg Hafenstrasse (Wien) Travellerhomes (UK) Alternative housing Mutoid waste company Habiter autrement Squat.net Ecoclash Freegan Décroissance Simple living Voluntary simplicity Périphéries Manuel de la vie pauvre Anthologie de la subversion carabinée Photo: Ellen Röhner A short video film, documenting the making of the exhibition and its introductory concept, has been realised by anthropological filmmaker Jean Arlaud. The document is available to anyone who would be interested to host the exhibition, or organise a similar event in another city, as well as borrow some of the objects that where gathered in Berlin for the occasion on such purpose. Please, ask fo further information.http://www.wagenburg.de/smf/index.phphttp://wagendorf.de/index.php/Hauptseitehttp://www.lohmuehle-berlin.dehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWN7y9XpEQM&feature=relatedhttp://www.schwarzerkanal.squat.net/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBueDPH66Dohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORQgsoUCovk&feature=relatedhttp://www.lasterundhaengerburg.dehttp://www.pankgraefin.de/http://www.wagendorf-wuhlheide.dehttp://zomia.blogsport.eu/http://www.lecourrier.ch/index.php?name=NewsPaper&file=article&sid=440159http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaffarayahttp://hafenstrasze.wagenplatz.at/http://www.travellerhomes.co.uk/http://sicarius.typepad.com/althouse/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutoid_Waste_Companyhttp://www.habiter-autrement.org/http://squat.net/http://ecoclash.over-blog.org/http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-practices/http://www.ladecroissance.net/http://www.simplelivingforum.net/http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/http://www.peripheries.net/article259.htmlhttp://www.critiqueslibres.com/i.php/vcrit/21546http://books.google.com/books?id=gdEJGF5MdYsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=anthologie+de+la+subversion&hl=fr&ei=iDpyTcvnJdTF4gb67anWCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsemailto:ralfmars@free.fr?subject=objet%20du%20courriershapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6shapeimage_1_link_7shapeimage_1_link_8shapeimage_1_link_9shapeimage_1_link_10shapeimage_1_link_11shapeimage_1_link_12shapeimage_1_link_13shapeimage_1_link_14shapeimage_1_link_15shapeimage_1_link_16shapeimage_1_link_17shapeimage_1_link_18shapeimage_1_link_19shapeimage_1_link_20shapeimage_1_link_21shapeimage_1_link_22shapeimage_1_link_23shapeimage_1_link_24shapeimage_1_link_25shapeimage_1_link_26shapeimage_1_link_27