„Fab-Mobil - A moving art and digital laboratory for East Germany“

Starting position

In the rural, decentralized regions of eastern Germany there is a striking lack of cultural and artistic offers for young
people. There are very few committed and activating projects that address young people. Current emancipatory
issues of young people such as Creative Technologies, Digital Culture and Design / Media can not be adequately
conveyed, as there is no lively and open scene on site. The increasing migration of young people from rural regions
is one of the reasons and consequences of this youth and socio-cultural under-supply.

Project idea

The „Fab-Mobil“ is a moving, art and digital laboratory equipped with digital and prototyping technology. It offers
workshops, courses and an open media workshop regularly and regionally mobile for young people. The bus, which
is equipped with creative technology (3D printer, computer, robotics, virtual reality headsets, etc.), is accompanied
by a trained workshopper, and stops at schools, cultural centers and informal meeting places in East Germany.

Aims and methods

There is an extreme leeway in the field of cultural-political education and cultural education with new media. As
a society, it is our personal concern to make a socio-political and sustainable contribution to the improvement of
the cultural, artistic and social competence of young people. With the Fab-Mobil we are fully equipped and come
directly to the young people, which is a great advantage in decentralized area regions.
The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of digitality through regular experimental design using new
technologies while at the same time addressing cultural, social and socio-political aspects. In addition, the mobile
art and technology laboratory combines youthful smartphone professionals with work-oriented and partly retired
technicians in intergenerational offers. In addition, a transversal generation-based competence transfer is generated
by a continuous and regular learning process.
Through the mobile nature of the project, a closer networking of the individual culture and educational centers
distributed in the region is created. Course and workshop offers will be migrated, information material will be
distributed more widely and attention for a regional cultural offer will be generated. New networks emerge.
There is currently no comparable project known in Germany. We would like to be the first to offer mobile technology
and culture formats for young people prototypically in rural areas and to investigate exemplary transfer possibilities at
federal level.

Process

The project runs from July 4, 2010 to October 31, 2008 on 4 days a week, plus holiday, evening and weekend
offers, at varying locations in the Oberlausitz. The Fab-Mobil offers space and equipment for approx. 15 - 20
persons including the course instructor and possible social workers inside.

Project period: 01.07.2017-31.10.-2018
- Planning and organization: 01.07.-30.09.2017
- Fab-Mobil on Tour: 01.10.2017-30.09.2018 (including lectures, presentations, public relations)
- Billing and proof of performance: 01.10.-31.10.2018
The Fab-Mobil sees itself as a meaningful and mobile agent for extraordinary cultural and educational offers. A
deliberately open cultural laboratory, with a cosmopolitan and intercultural orientation for rural areas. It is about
the accompanying support and conscious transformation of the young people from the consumer to the cultural
producer. We promote cultural self-realization in the region, professional qualification and broad socio-cultural
participation. Mobile workshops, courses and creative and cultural experience offer a result-oriented experiment and
convey an open corporate image.
The Fab-Mobil offers the young future actors a stable and reliable open space with possibilities for the development
and testing of new location-specific, digital cultural formats. Project-based experimentation is important: the free and
supported experimentation, the joy of the experiment and the playful learning open up new perspectives.
Aims of the various workshops:
- Enthusiasm for technology-based and artistic cultures
- Mediation of emancipatory practices / Cultural education
- independent critique of new digital-technological trends
- self-conscious, creative, and socially-reflective approach to (online) technology
- Openly show what is possible with new creative technology and cultural methods

Project promoters and potential cooperation partners

Christian Zöllner, CEO of Constitute e.V., is a visiting lecturer for design methods at Burg Giebichenstein Halle and
heads up a design studio in Berlin. Jens Beyer, also a member of the board of directors, is a graduate designer and
a mechatronics engineer with a training certificate.
Since 2013, as a collective and private person, we regularly offer creative and technical workshops in the cultural
area of Oberlausitz. We show young people how they can realize their own projects with open source software and
3D printers. Since the beginning of 2017, we have been acting as a registered association Constitute e.V. with the
purpose of the statutes to carry new and modern cultural techniques into rural areas.

Through existing projects there is a lively exchange with theaters, cultural centers and medium-sized workshops in
the region, which will enable the Fab-Mobil access. This link is to be strengthened and further developed in order
to sensitize young people and families to the cultural landscape. In the preparatory phase, mutual cooperation
agreements are concluded with the schools and interested partners
Interested and / or already confirmed project partners are (selection:
- „Landeszentrale für politische Bildung“ Sachsen
- „Steinhaus e.V.“ Bautzen
- „Medienkulturzentrum Dresden“
- „Partnerschaft Demokratie“ und „Weltoffenes Sachsen“
- „Bundesvereinigung kulturelle Kinder- und Jugendbildung“
- „Kulturfabrik e.V.“ Hoyerswerda

Documentation and transfer of results

The project is carried out as an example in Oberlausitz and is being investigated and prepared for an adaptation for
further regions. Intermediate steps are documented and published on the project website. For teenagers, parents
and interested parties there will be an offer overview / timetable on the website.
Through the strong networking of the members of the Constitute in the German design, art, culture and technology
scene, as well as in the university landscape, we can present the results of the project at conferences, festivals and
cultural-political events. And thus, inspire, motivate and advise other supra-regional actors. Transfer partners can be:
RE: publica conference (6000 participants)
Competence Center for the Culture and Creative Industries of the Confederation
Tincon / Teenage Intenet Convention (1500 participants)
Retune Festival Berlin