An oasis on Pankstraße

It is used for workshops with children and adolescents. 
Initiatives and associations use it for their own projects.

Model village – the insect hotel

Pupils from a school in Berlin-Wedding researched design principles of patterns in natural and cultural environment of Berlin. Subsequently, they developed their own patterns and sculpted them with clay, then fired them and glazed the models to colour them. The schoolchildren helped to erect a high wall of 2.80m x 4m made of loam and wood in the museum garden and attached their ceramic works to it. Because of the material used in the design, this outdoor installation doubles as a habitat for wild insects – a “village”.

Approximately 100 pupils from different school classes participated in the first project phase, together with the artist Bärbel Rothaar and the project leader Oliver Goldacker.

___________________________________________________________________

 Gesundbrunnen pump room replica

___________________________________________________________________

Workshop: Potato Day

For how long have potatoes existed in Berlin? What are the foods that contain them in nowadays? And what else can we do with them? 

We explore the secrets of the precious and inexpensive “apple of the earth” as the French and Germans also call the potato, play a potato game, print with potato stamps and last, but not least, we boil and eat the tuber just like Berliners have done for the last 100 years.

For more information, please click hier.

___________________________________________________________________

Since 2022 and 2023, a large part of the raised beds in the museum garden have been cultivated by clients of the KBS e. V., a centre for psychosocial support. 

The KBS e. V. centre is an organization for people with major mental health problems. Many of them can only immerse themselves in nature while they participate in group meetings at the support centre, since they spend the majority of their free time in a flat. This is why 
gardening in a protected environment is so important for them. 
Additionally, there are quite a few people with a migration background among them who experienced working in the garden or in a field as part of their daily lives when they were young, which is why working here often enables them to reconnect with previously obtained 
competencies or to develop new interests. 

The Mitte Museum is only a short walk away from the KBS e. V.

Particularly in good weather, many clients are keen to be outside, 
yet they are nevertheless in a protected space in the museum garden. 
In previous years, the support centre had its own allotment, but the 
advanced age and increasing physical challenges some of the clients faced made it impossible to use it. The raised beds also enable people with physical limitations to work in the garden. 

The employment and qualification organization “Schildkröte GmbH” made it possible to buy and build the raised beds. For over 30 years, 
the not-for-profit organization and its team of around 160 people has 
advocated for education, youth welfare, employment and integration and  for offering new career prospects. The “Schildkröte GmbH” supports, accompanies and advises adolescent and adults in various 
different projects.

___________________________________________________________________

"Eat the Kiez"

Citizens in a local area (called “Kiez”) can be local residents, but also institutions. In the spring, they plant everything, care for these plants throughout the year and make the harvest available to the general public. Some of the harvested produce is offered at the Joint Dinner at a KiezFest in September 2024.

Participating institutions are Mädea, Wilde 17, Lobe Block and the Mitte Museum.

Renewing and planting the 20 raised beds in the spring of 2024 was funded by the urban development programme Lively Centres and Neighbourhoods, jointly funded by the German federal government, 
the federal states and local authorities.