Merle Ibach on field trip into “reality-laboratories of transformation”
On a recent field trip, Merle Ibach explored the maker culture of rural Northern Germany as part of her research within the project Commons in Design. During two months, she was living with the project cooperative „Wir Bauen Zukunft“ and studied their practices, mode of action and the broader community network (Open Source Ecology Germany, CoWorkLand, Lebendiger Landbau, and others). The community comprehends the co-existence of human and environment as a design problem and therefore is organised in sociocratic ways, conducts permaculture design workshops, and prototypes different kinds of energy cycles, like tiny houses, compost toilettes and aquaponic platforms.
Led by the question, how principles like open source, sustainability and resilience materialise, Merle investigated the phenomenon of “reality-laboratories of transformation” – elaborated, self-initiated and digitally informed maker spaces with a strong focus on eco-social transition.
