Assembly 04: ZK/U Friends Summer Festival
Convivial Commons Assembly
13 SEPTEMBER 2026 / 11:00–20:00
ZK/U BerlinSiemensstr. 27, 10551, Berlin, Germany
The fourth Convivial Commons Assembly brings the ideas, proposals and decisions developed throughout the previous sessions into practice. What began as a collective inquiry into radical democracy, voting systems and shared economies now takes the form of the first ZK/U Friends Summer Festival.
Across the Moabiter Stadtgarten and the ZK/U, workshops, walks, installations, performances and collective meals explore how humans and more-than-human actors can participate in shaping a shared institution. Bees become models for non-hierarchical decision-making, trees enter conversations about urban politics, and the park is approached as a network of human, vegetal and animal relations.
The festival is both a public gathering and a practical experiment in collective organisation. Its programme has emerged through the Convivial Commons Assemblies and brings together artists, neighbours, initiatives and members of the evolving ZK/U Friends network. Rather than presenting a finished model, the Summer Festival puts the structures developed during the Assemblies to the test: through shared responsibility, collective use of space and encounters between different forms of knowledge and agency.
Program
11:00–12:00 _Moabees Bee Democracy Game – Round 1
What parallels exist between human behaviour and the organisation of a bee colony? In this participatory game, the artist collective Moabees invites participants to explore how a group can reach shared, non-hierarchical decisions.
With Elisa Dierson, Bärbel Rothhaar and Katja Marie Voigt.
Artistic collaboration: Fruzsina Puzstai.
Maximum 15 participants.
11:00–12:00 _Curiosity Glasses
Curiosity Glasses alter the way we see through colours, veils, grids, slats, grass and blurred vision. Led by Matthias Schnauss, the workshop invites participants to perceive familiar surroundings differently, expand preconceived ideas and practise an openness towards unfamiliar perspectives.
With Matthias Schnauss.
11:00–13:00 _Climate Walk
A walk through the Tiny Forest and the Moabiter Stadtgarten connects observations of the local environment with political action and collective visions for a climate-resilient neighbourhood.
With Simone and Kiezwald e. V.
12:00–13:30 _Neue Nachbarschaften im Park – Round 1
Through guided exercises, somatic practices and deep listening, participants explore the park as a living network of human and more-than-human relations. Moving between different locations and perspectives, the workshop creates space for shared encounters as well as individual observation.
The workshop begins at the Boulodrom.
Maximum 15 participants. Spontaneous participation is possible subject to availability.
13:30–14:00 _ZK/U Friends Collective Lunch
A shared vegetarian lunch on the ZK/U rooftop brings participants, contributors and ZK/U Friends together.
14:00–15:00 _Humus Garden Walk
How can healthy soil contribute to a more climate-resilient Moabiter Stadtgarten? Silke Riechert introduces humus building as a cycle connecting soil, leaves, clay and soil organisms, while presenting plans for a future humus garden at ZK/U as a place for experimentation and collective learning.
With Silke Riechert and Grüne Wege.
Meeting point: Tiny Forest in the Moabiter Stadtgarten.
14:00–16:00 _Sun Mask
A series of paper masks invites visitors to walk around the ZK/U and encounter the surroundings from the perspective of the sun. When held against the light, hidden messages become visible, allowing the sun to speak about its relationship with humans.
The masks can be borrowed independently from the Klassenzimmer and returned after the walk.
14:00–16:00 _Talking Tree
Talking Tree enables a crabapple tree on the ZK/U rooftop to describe the city from its own perspective. Using dice marked with symbols from nature, activism, urban life and politics, the tree and its human conversation partners develop unexpected—and sometimes absurd—narratives about the possibilities of urban design.
With Clemens Grüber and Lars Neckel.
14:30–15:00 _Neue Nachbarschaften im Park – Round 2
The observations and encounters made during the first part of the workshop are brought back into a shared context. Individual experiences and materials become part of a temporary collective presentation of human and more-than-human perspectives on the park.
15:00–16:00 _Festival of Curiosity
The second part of the Festival of Curiosity includes the reopening of the Pollinator Hotel on the wall facing the community garden and turns attention towards the park’s smallest inhabitants and their urban habitats.
16:00–17:00 _Moabees Bee Democracy Game – Round 2
A second opportunity to explore the democratic processes of a bee colony and test how groups can make shared, non-hierarchical decisions.
With Elisa Dierson, Bärbel Rothhaar and Katja Marie Voigt. Artistic collaboration: Fruzsina Puzstai.
Maximum 15 participants.
17:00–18:00 _ZK/U Friends Stage: Oh No Noh
18:00 _Collective Performance and Group Photo
19:00 _SUN Downer
A relaxed SUN Downer session closes the first ZK/U Friends Summer Festival.
The Convivial Commons Assemblies are part of EMCCINNO and are funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.