Dänemark
Bisher 1808 mal gespeichert
This is a social experiment and construction project based in the industrial area of Copenhagen, Denmark. We began building boats from recycled material in 2008 and are the proud owners of the world's largest catamaran built from recycled material. Our goal is to create awareness about waste by building boats and getting them off-the-grid, by maintaining space in our warehouse for workshops where people can teach and learn useful skills, by distributing recycled material to other people/projects, and by creating events that are free to the public to demonstrate how it's possible to express yourself practically and creatively with 100% up-cycled material.
The Community:
Right now our group has shrunk to a smaller core of committed members, spring has opened the bird cage and loads of bright young people have flown off into the world. However, we always used to be a working-community that consisted of around 20 people from all over the world at any given time. We live in accommodation that we built ourselves from recycled material and we feed every member by dumpster-diving (we eat like kings!), utilising food neglected by supermarkets or donated to us by fellow organisations intent on stopping food waste. We aim to maintain and develop a flat-hierarchy and we make decisions based on consensus, so it's important that all voices within the community are able to be heard and that we create a culture of volunteers who are able to listen, communicate effectively, take responsibility for their actions and not shout if things get frustrating.
What's happening right now?
Summer is here, events, busking, workshops and concerts should be happening so we would like to find some motivated people who would like to help out, share there skill or focus on new projects and ides to take on! Also, our boats need serious work done to face the future challenges.
- Finding a crew for our two catamarans (The Cave Boat and The Big Cat) and the up-coming crowdfund-fundraiser that we will run to lift them out of the water and fix them up. This includes rebuilding the top structures, patching any small holes with bitumen, heavy metal work, preparing insulation for the walls and ceiling of the Big Cat, and hooking up the electricity on the Cave Boat again. Alongside these tasks, we hope to maintain our solar panels, lift the windmill again and create a space to store wood for the wood-stove. We are also looking for a new harbour space. Lots of things to do!
- Filling our community hub – the Warehouse. We are in need of do-ers, tinkers, makers, people that know where they're going with their efforts and who can use their self-direction to bring us to new shores! . Imagine you had all the tools, materials, time and social network possible – what would you create? How do you believe your flow can influence others in their work? How will we be financially sustainable while doing what we believe in every single day of our lives?
We are on a building process, getting ready for summer so we can re-start with this:
- Preparing for events. Each month, we have exciting events going on, everything from putting on a show with live bands to hosting workshops where we can share our skills with the public. The work plans for each event varies, but in summary our tasks might include: gathering / moving material, cleaning and decorating, creating costumes, building stages, speaking to the public, writing scripts / organising line-ups, standing at the bar / selling veggie burgers, setting up lights and sound, or playing music / putting on a show ourselves.
How can volunteers help us?
We need people that can take over their own small corner of this big empire and collaborate with everyone to create a new outlook on the future, people to build networks in town and within the community, people to share their skills with us.
Our project is very big, so of course we wouldn't expect you to get involved with everything as a volunteer, nor do we expect you to do anything alone. You can learn A LOT from being here, but it doesn't come by itself. Generally, nobody will tell you what to do. You will have to ask questions, brainstorming as a team and encourage skill-sharing yourself. Gain knowledge and share it with others. Let's Do It Together - we're building a movement!
If you come to stay with us you will have a host. This person has agreed to familiarise you with the community and help you as best they can with questions you might have, as well as introducing you to projects that might suit you. However, your host will never order you to do anything, they will only try to encourage and inspire you. Its up to you to take the initiative to get involved, to keep yourself motivated, and to find yourself in this project.
By empowering people with all sorts of skills, we hope to break employee mentality. We want people to take responsibility for their own life, not to blindly follow governments, employers or social structures.
Hopefully work and play will melt together. We like organising working days together every now and then, as well as doing things together just for fun!
If you would like to apply for a stay with us - please think about how would you answer questions below.
Write your answers in the meessage to us:
Name:
Stay duration:
What languages do you speak?
Dietary requirements:
What are your motivations? Why would you like to join our project?
What are your special skills you would like to share with us?
Are there any new skills that you would like to learn/anything you would like to get out of your stay?
What are your wishes that you’d like to get out of your time with us?
(What do you wish to learn and experience?)
We are excited to meet you!
Gartenarbeit
Bauarbeiten
Handwerkliche Arbeiten
Kochen/einkaufen
Sonstige Arbeiten
Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten
Hausarbeiten
Hilfe bei Kunstprojekten
Hilfe mit Computer / Internet
Unterrichten
What ongoing projects do we have?
General:
-Building new spaces. We wan to build our knew green house, a space for different activities like workshops, activism, art or just to have a nice time. At any given time, we usually have a handful of building projects that need the help of a carpenter or two. Whether we’re fixing up an old wagon, re-building a stage, or creating new bedrooms in one space or another, we welcome carpenters and builders with a vision to come and help us out.
-Fixing and maintaining recycled bicycles. We have a wonderful bike shop equipped with tools and hundreds of bikes to fix! Copenhagen is a fantastic city for bike culture and we run our own workshop all year around.
-Hosting General Workshops. In our community, we aim to create a culture all about teaching and learning. If you have a skill that you'd like to share, set a day to host a workshop, post an event online, and welcome a small group of community members and city-dwellers to learn something new!
- "Gold Digging". Our project has the privilege of accessing material from our local recycling station, which means we're always on the lookout for volunteers to help us pick up, sort, and store useful material. Throw on a safety vest and jump into the big containers!
-Space Development. We have several workshops, storage areas, and general project areas that need a bit of attention every now and then! This isn’t just about cleaning; it’s also about coming up with creative ideas to improve an area and taking the initiative to make it happen.
-Planning future events. Whether you come here with a plan in mind or whether you get inspired during your time here, we encourage people with an idea to propose and plan awesome events where we can gather the public to learn more about the many uses of trash and have a great time doing it. Write up a plan gather a group and get the event rolling!
The Boats:
-The Cave Boat has been in the water since October 2010 and our Big Cat has been floating since June 2015, but there is a lot of work to do to maintain both catamarans! We plan to build and install a few more windmills on the catamarans. We want to design and build a new structure on our biggest catamaran one day, along with a kitchen and water filtration system. We need to work on sustainable waste disposal, improve our electric system, heating, micro-food production and maybe even make a bio-gas generator. We would like to expand the structure on the Cave Boat, finish insulating the tanks, lift the catamaran and paint it once again.
- The New Fleet
we are currently trying to build up a sailable fleet, this includes finding old boats and fixing them. These boats are to be used as rooms, and vessels for when we are traveling
-The Brown Boat is a lovely wooden boat we have floating in a different harbour to the Catamarans. It has room for up to six volunteers, however we usually host about 2 people there at a time. The bedroom upstairs is almost complete, but the lower cabin needs some attention. We need a pirate to come and help Brown Boat - tasks include: insulating the lower cabin, sealing gaps between floorboards, fixing up the sleeping area downstairs (getting rid of unnecessary fixtures and any rotten wood), re-anchoring the boat with the help of the rest of the fleet (4 neighbours), and maintaining a good relationship to the other residents of the harbour, as well as building more shelving units, painting and decorating the boat, and creating a chill-out area on the deck!
Special Areas:
-Fundraising. Despite how wonderfully free we feel most of the time, we're not out of the rat race yet. With several boats in the harbour and a warehouse full of workshops, material, and tools that use a lot of electricity, we have quite a few bills to pay. We're always looking for inspiring ways to raise money for maintaining our project.
-Improving our PR. This includes keeping our website and project page updated, documenting what’s going on (taking photographs, editing videos, etc), writing posts for upcoming events, publicise events on relevant pages online, contacting local newspapers, designing posters / flyers / stickers (and finding out how to print them in a sustainable way), sewing more copies of our flag (we always need more!), and screen printing / creating patches. Tasks for long-term volunteers might include: maintaining lasting partnerships with fellow organisations, applying for funds for long-term projects, or creating a campaign to raise awareness about our project in general and its needs (support, space in the city, etc).
-Mechanical / Electronic Engineering: Setting up step-up power converters for use with 12V batteries to power all sorts of devices. Preferably built using recycled components! Repairing and maintaining diesel motors and powerful electric boat motors. Working with old industrial motors, lead-acid batteries, and using a bit of creative thinking. Building windmills out of recycled material and fixing solar cells, etc.
Mandatory Tasks: There are only a handful of tasks we expect everyone within the community to take part in. Below we've listed them.
-Kitchen Duty. Everyone in the community is encouraged to cook for one day a week with the help of a small team. During kitchen duty, you would help to cook lunch and dinner for everyone - or clean the kitchen, if you prefer that. If you're feeling especially fancy, you could prepare some breakfast too. It's expected for you to help dumpster-dive with a group of others the night before kitchen duty.
-Maintaining your room. We expect people to enjoy fixing up and decorating their bedroom during their free time, to leave the space a little better than how it was before!
-Be your own boss! We aim to have a flat-hierarchy here, which means nobody is ever going to give you commands, so it’s up to you to figure out what you'd like to do, how to get involved, and how to stay motivated.
english, danish, polish, swedish, german, italian, russian,
Single or shared room on the catamaran and boats depending on the number of volunteers.
Warnings:
-Please don't come here if you're only interested in visiting or living in Copenhagen.
-The food we eat is dumpster-dived, which means we saved it from supermarkets! We cook for meat-eaters, vegans and vegetarians; we adapt our diet according to which volunteers we have, so please tell us if you have any special dietary needs!
-It's very hard to stay sane in this community for long if you have really high standards for cleanliness. Our workshops are often busy, we work with trash, we dumpster-dive, and if you don't want to swim in the sea there it's a bicycle ride across town to go take a shower. At the same time, we want everyone to take an active part in helping to clean communal spaces, to tidy up workshops when a project is done, and to never leave mess for others to deal with. It's all about finding a balance.
-We are a big community and have visitors around, so don't expect to be by yourself all the time! We would like you to be involved. :)
-This project has its roots in the punk/anarchist environment of Copenhagen, and we expect people to have a radical desire to change the world.
-During the winter, it can get really cold. We have blankets and lots of spare clothes, but be prepared as you can!
Rules:
-We have a policy of no alcohol or drugs within the community. The only exception is during certain parties or in private spaces, not during working hours and not to excess (you can drink one or two beers, but being drunk is frowned upon). Why? We aim for our community to be a safe space for everyone, including those who have struggled with drugs/alcohol in the past. If you’d like to party, we ask you to go to the city instead.
-We practice a hybrid of blunt honesty and non-violent communication. You can swear at your friends (affectionately!) But if you're involved in a conflict with somebody else, harsh words and shouting will not be tolerated. We expect everyone to resolve conflicts and to do it in a calm way - with the help of a friend or a host, if needed.
-We value respect, trust, honest communication and an atmosphere of cooperation. As part of our safe-space policy we oppose any form of discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, or economic status. We facilitate an environment where a critical examination toward capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy is appreciated and welcomed.
Further info:
Feel free to write to us. We hope to get back to you within 1-2 weeks.
Internet Zugang
Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang
Wir besitzen Tiere
Wir sind Raucher
zwei
max 5 hours, 5 days a week
