Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking
E-WERK Luckenwalde
E-WERK Luckenwalde: empowering ecosystemic change
E-WERK (EW) is a not-for-profit cultural organisation established to empower ecosystemic change. EW is located in a former 1913 coal power station, which has been reactivated as a regenerative power station, contemporary art centre and research lab. The programme and national grid is powered by eco-energy ‘Kunststrom’ produced on-site. EW is a lighthouse project demonstrating how to transform our petro-cultural heritage into a regenerative future through sustainability, inclusion and aesthetics.
Germany
National
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
2019-12-09
Yes
Creative Europe. Small Cooperation Project 2022 - 2025
Horizon Europe. 2023 - 2026.
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
E-WERK is located in a former 1913 brown coal power station, which has been reactivated by artist Pablo Wendel and Curator Helen Turner as a regenerative power station, contemporary art centre and Kunststrom research laboratory. As a holistic ecosystem, E-WERK was founded to empower ecological change.
E-WERK generates 100% CO2 neutral heat and electricity, by reusing the historical mechanical infrastructure and grey energy of the former brown coal power station, through a solar and wood-gas pyrolysis process. Waste, locally sourced, spruce-pine wood-chips are transported via the 1913 original conveyor belt to the wood-gas generator where they are converted into heat and electricity. A sculptural solar field in the garden, additionally contributes to the generation of eco-power at E-WERK. All energy is then distributed to the building, to power the public facing contemporary art programme of exhibitions, festivals, workshops and artist in residency programmes, and multiple artist studios in the building. All remaining energy is fed into the national grid and distributed to E-WERK clients across Germany, who have switched their energy to ‘Kunststrom’ eco-power. The generation of Kunststrom electricity powers the project, and the commercial sale of electricity to the national grid finances the not-for-profit institution.
E-WERK was born out of a desire to change the system, to innovate an economically autonomous, and ecologically impactful institutional model that was no longer exploiting people or the planet. E-WERK drives change towards shaping circular, sustainable ecosystems, decentralising power to create more inclusive practices, and through its public facing programme, inspires eco-social action through aesthetics. E-WERK is a living example of how it is possible to innovate circular models that are simultaneously inclusive, sustainable and beautiful.
E-WERK generates 100% CO2 neutral heat and electricity, by reusing the historical mechanical infrastructure and grey energy of the former brown coal power station, through a solar and wood-gas pyrolysis process. Waste, locally sourced, spruce-pine wood-chips are transported via the 1913 original conveyor belt to the wood-gas generator where they are converted into heat and electricity. A sculptural solar field in the garden, additionally contributes to the generation of eco-power at E-WERK. All energy is then distributed to the building, to power the public facing contemporary art programme of exhibitions, festivals, workshops and artist in residency programmes, and multiple artist studios in the building. All remaining energy is fed into the national grid and distributed to E-WERK clients across Germany, who have switched their energy to ‘Kunststrom’ eco-power. The generation of Kunststrom electricity powers the project, and the commercial sale of electricity to the national grid finances the not-for-profit institution.
E-WERK was born out of a desire to change the system, to innovate an economically autonomous, and ecologically impactful institutional model that was no longer exploiting people or the planet. E-WERK drives change towards shaping circular, sustainable ecosystems, decentralising power to create more inclusive practices, and through its public facing programme, inspires eco-social action through aesthetics. E-WERK is a living example of how it is possible to innovate circular models that are simultaneously inclusive, sustainable and beautiful.
Regeneration
Grey Energy
Sustainability
Socio-cultural
Aesthetic experience
In terms of sustainability, E-WERK was founded with the objective to illustrate the potential of reuse and repair culture. By repurposing the building’s 19th century infrastructure, EW integrates the building’s grey energy—the embodied energy within its existing structure—showcasing how it is possible to work responsibly with heritage to pioneer sustainable futures. By integrating the building's grey energy to produce renewable energy E-WERK is a leading example of how it is possible to minimize the need for new materials, reduce CO₂ emissions, and preserve historical integrity.
E-WERK’s second sustainability objective is to be a symbiotic model for a permacultural institution. By generating its own renewable source of heat and electricity to power its operations, activities and public, which in turn finances the institution, E-WERK is an example of an economically autonomous and sustainably impactful ecosystem.
Thirdly, via its programme, E-WERK aims to infuse methodologies of sustainability into all facets of working and living, from what we eat to where we travel and how we consume in an effort to transform sustainability into a cultural movement. E-WERK has produced participatory art and design prototypes for sustainable living, including a CO2 neutral fire truck to transport visitors, locally sourced regenerative biodynamic bread recipe served in its low carbon cafe. E-WERK has also experimented with sustainable curatorial approaches, through a process of slow curating to champion a culture, not lead by speed and immediacy.
With rising climate catastrophe, economic uncertainty and a threat to democracy globally - culture needs to innovate autonomous and resilient models. E-WERK is a leading example of how culture can innovate alternative circular systems that are sustainable, both economically and ecologically.
E-WERK’s second sustainability objective is to be a symbiotic model for a permacultural institution. By generating its own renewable source of heat and electricity to power its operations, activities and public, which in turn finances the institution, E-WERK is an example of an economically autonomous and sustainably impactful ecosystem.
Thirdly, via its programme, E-WERK aims to infuse methodologies of sustainability into all facets of working and living, from what we eat to where we travel and how we consume in an effort to transform sustainability into a cultural movement. E-WERK has produced participatory art and design prototypes for sustainable living, including a CO2 neutral fire truck to transport visitors, locally sourced regenerative biodynamic bread recipe served in its low carbon cafe. E-WERK has also experimented with sustainable curatorial approaches, through a process of slow curating to champion a culture, not lead by speed and immediacy.
With rising climate catastrophe, economic uncertainty and a threat to democracy globally - culture needs to innovate autonomous and resilient models. E-WERK is a leading example of how culture can innovate alternative circular systems that are sustainable, both economically and ecologically.
E-WERK is committed to the idea that we need industrial solutions AND aesthetic transformation to combat climate change. E-WERK is a lighthouse example of how to combine industrial circular processes with aesthetic experience to foster sustainable solutions for transforming the built environment, and move audiences beyond sentiments of futility into eco-social action.
E-WERK offers regular free tours of the building, and its industrial processes. Through the power of narrative, aesthetics and processes of active-engagement E-WERK works to engage the public with the building’s history and future, and understand first hand what is possible when we repurpose extractivist industrial infrastructure to transport renewable sources of energy.
The majority of E-WERK’s public facing programme of exhibitions, festivals, symposiums, workshops are thematically based on sustainability. Since its inception, E-WERK has been committed to showing internationally acclaimed artists and works which have the aesthetic power to transform audiences. For instance in 2021, E-WERK presented the Golden Lion award-winning beach opera ‘Sun & Sea’ in its neighbouring Bauhaus city pool (1928). This opera, in which singers lie on a beach singing about humanity's casual impact on climate change, such as cheap flights and plastic food packaging, literally brought audiences to tears, as they became confronted with their own complicity in the climate catastrophe. As a result, E-WERK saw a steep increase in its audiences switching to Kunststrom eco-power, and changing their habitual activities to more sustainable ones.
E-WERK believes that even if we have material solutions, solving the climate crisis will only be possible if we combine industrial thinking with an artistic approach. After all, there is no action without emotion. By combining aesthetic experiences and material solutions, E-WERK aims to empower the public to move beyond futility into direct action to protect the planet.
E-WERK offers regular free tours of the building, and its industrial processes. Through the power of narrative, aesthetics and processes of active-engagement E-WERK works to engage the public with the building’s history and future, and understand first hand what is possible when we repurpose extractivist industrial infrastructure to transport renewable sources of energy.
The majority of E-WERK’s public facing programme of exhibitions, festivals, symposiums, workshops are thematically based on sustainability. Since its inception, E-WERK has been committed to showing internationally acclaimed artists and works which have the aesthetic power to transform audiences. For instance in 2021, E-WERK presented the Golden Lion award-winning beach opera ‘Sun & Sea’ in its neighbouring Bauhaus city pool (1928). This opera, in which singers lie on a beach singing about humanity's casual impact on climate change, such as cheap flights and plastic food packaging, literally brought audiences to tears, as they became confronted with their own complicity in the climate catastrophe. As a result, E-WERK saw a steep increase in its audiences switching to Kunststrom eco-power, and changing their habitual activities to more sustainable ones.
E-WERK believes that even if we have material solutions, solving the climate crisis will only be possible if we combine industrial thinking with an artistic approach. After all, there is no action without emotion. By combining aesthetic experiences and material solutions, E-WERK aims to empower the public to move beyond futility into direct action to protect the planet.
E-WERK is a groundbreaking example of a transdisciplinary societal model, which incorporates culture, industry, architecture, science, sustainability, history, art—making it accessible to all.
One of EW’s key inclusivity objectives is to build bridges, not borders between different backgrounds, disciplines and belief systems. Luckenwalde is located in a former East German city, and as such has borne witness to the atrocities of the second world war, and the German Democratic Republic. As such, sentiments of melancholia, devastation and resentment punctuate the city’s social fabric. The city's political demographic reflects this, with 29.5% voting for Germany’s far right political party, Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD). As an internationally facing institution, EW believes it is therefore even more important to ensure communities with opposing opinions are included. For what is the point of culture without discourse? EW regularly invites the diverse political parties active in Luckenwalde, to hear EW’s current and future plans, to provide opportunities for dialogue.
EW lowers barriers to accessibility by keeping its public programme free to citizens of Luckenwalde to ensure engaged participation at all levels, and build civic confidence. EW also hosts an affordable artist studio programme (25% cheaper than average studio costs in Berlin) which as studio prices continue to rise, ensures artists are still able to produce work.
EW hosts an interdisciplinary, intergenerational educational workshop programme, which aims to de-alienate technical concepts of sustainability in order to empower individuals with the tools to instigate change. This has included workshops for teenagers on how to design and build your own solar panels, a summer school for university students on creating your own bioregional materials catalogue in collaboration with Bauhaus Earth, and workshops between kindergartens and elderly citizens from the ‘Academy for the second half of life’.
One of EW’s key inclusivity objectives is to build bridges, not borders between different backgrounds, disciplines and belief systems. Luckenwalde is located in a former East German city, and as such has borne witness to the atrocities of the second world war, and the German Democratic Republic. As such, sentiments of melancholia, devastation and resentment punctuate the city’s social fabric. The city's political demographic reflects this, with 29.5% voting for Germany’s far right political party, Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD). As an internationally facing institution, EW believes it is therefore even more important to ensure communities with opposing opinions are included. For what is the point of culture without discourse? EW regularly invites the diverse political parties active in Luckenwalde, to hear EW’s current and future plans, to provide opportunities for dialogue.
EW lowers barriers to accessibility by keeping its public programme free to citizens of Luckenwalde to ensure engaged participation at all levels, and build civic confidence. EW also hosts an affordable artist studio programme (25% cheaper than average studio costs in Berlin) which as studio prices continue to rise, ensures artists are still able to produce work.
EW hosts an interdisciplinary, intergenerational educational workshop programme, which aims to de-alienate technical concepts of sustainability in order to empower individuals with the tools to instigate change. This has included workshops for teenagers on how to design and build your own solar panels, a summer school for university students on creating your own bioregional materials catalogue in collaboration with Bauhaus Earth, and workshops between kindergartens and elderly citizens from the ‘Academy for the second half of life’.
More than 200 local and international volunteers were actively involved in the inauguration of E-WERK, contributing their labour and knowledge. In exchange, these volunteers benefitted from an active learning experience at a transformative moment in E-WERK’s history. Many former workers of the brown coal station, now in their 80’s, were actively involved in the transformation of E-WERK. These Zeitzeugen possess invaluable, undocumented knowledge about the facility’s inner workings. Their first hand involvement, which included sharing historical blueprints and engineering plans with Wendel, was irreplaceable in understanding and navigating the station’s infrastructure.
E-WERK has significantly affected the socio-economic development of Luckenwalde and the region, by driving tourism there. By attracting thousands of regional and international visitors annually, E-WERK has supported local businesses, including restaurants, cafes, hotels etc. and encouraged families to relocate to Luckenwalde, as Judith Hartmann, explains: “In our search for a new place for our family to live, we looked very closely at several locations around Berlin. The E-WERK clearly tipped the scales in favor of Luckenwalde: With its world-class artistic program, international team and appeal to interesting visitors. Our thought at the time: “If people like Pablo and Helen have chosen to live and work in Luckenwalde, then we want to discover this place too.” We have never regretted it. And the fact that this is the case is largely due to E-WERK and the progressive community that it continues to create.”
The public facing programme has an engagement strategy of active participation. Through seasonal hands-on workshops, volunteering opportunities in performances, intergenerational education programmes and open discussion formats EW provides participatory opportunities for citizens of all ages and interests to engage with new communities and learn about topics of regeneration and sustainability.
E-WERK has significantly affected the socio-economic development of Luckenwalde and the region, by driving tourism there. By attracting thousands of regional and international visitors annually, E-WERK has supported local businesses, including restaurants, cafes, hotels etc. and encouraged families to relocate to Luckenwalde, as Judith Hartmann, explains: “In our search for a new place for our family to live, we looked very closely at several locations around Berlin. The E-WERK clearly tipped the scales in favor of Luckenwalde: With its world-class artistic program, international team and appeal to interesting visitors. Our thought at the time: “If people like Pablo and Helen have chosen to live and work in Luckenwalde, then we want to discover this place too.” We have never regretted it. And the fact that this is the case is largely due to E-WERK and the progressive community that it continues to create.”
The public facing programme has an engagement strategy of active participation. Through seasonal hands-on workshops, volunteering opportunities in performances, intergenerational education programmes and open discussion formats EW provides participatory opportunities for citizens of all ages and interests to engage with new communities and learn about topics of regeneration and sustainability.
The design and implementation of E-WERK relied on an interdisciplinary and translocal network of stakeholders—an ecosystem of belief, knowledge and skills.
E-WERK engaged the power station's former employees (‘Zeitzeugen’), who were significantly involved in the transformation of the brown coal power station into a regenerative one. These men were able to describe every step in the station’s working process, every danger inherent to the building, and together with Wendel they found solutions to reactivating the building’s 1913 mechanical infrastructure, to transport biomass, rather than brown coal. Their deep knowledge and technical expertise was invaluable. These men now regularly offer tours of E-WERK, or participate in the institution's programme of public discussions - adding idiosyncratic value to the history and context of E-WERK.
Local technicians, drawing from an East German tradition of repairing rather than replacing, contributed significantly with local knowledge, adding value to E-WERK’s ambition to repair and reuse as a priority of circular industrialisation.
In the spirit of collaboration not competition, E-WERK has engaged in a multitude of long term regional and international partnerships. As the coordinator for a Creative Europe project and beneficiary for a Horizon project, E-WERK has developed programmes with partners in France, Spain, Finland, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Czech Republic, amongst others. These projects have resulted in an artist in residency programme to develop prototypes for sustainable exhibition making, an international symposium series on system-change, summer schools on bioregional materials, and exhibition programmes focused on slow curating. Through this collaboration, E-WERK was able to develop toolkits on sustainable practices within the arts, adding longevity and added value to other international institutions wishing to make their own ecosystemic change.
E-WERK engaged the power station's former employees (‘Zeitzeugen’), who were significantly involved in the transformation of the brown coal power station into a regenerative one. These men were able to describe every step in the station’s working process, every danger inherent to the building, and together with Wendel they found solutions to reactivating the building’s 1913 mechanical infrastructure, to transport biomass, rather than brown coal. Their deep knowledge and technical expertise was invaluable. These men now regularly offer tours of E-WERK, or participate in the institution's programme of public discussions - adding idiosyncratic value to the history and context of E-WERK.
Local technicians, drawing from an East German tradition of repairing rather than replacing, contributed significantly with local knowledge, adding value to E-WERK’s ambition to repair and reuse as a priority of circular industrialisation.
In the spirit of collaboration not competition, E-WERK has engaged in a multitude of long term regional and international partnerships. As the coordinator for a Creative Europe project and beneficiary for a Horizon project, E-WERK has developed programmes with partners in France, Spain, Finland, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Czech Republic, amongst others. These projects have resulted in an artist in residency programme to develop prototypes for sustainable exhibition making, an international symposium series on system-change, summer schools on bioregional materials, and exhibition programmes focused on slow curating. Through this collaboration, E-WERK was able to develop toolkits on sustainable practices within the arts, adding longevity and added value to other international institutions wishing to make their own ecosystemic change.
Reviving a power station that had been inactive for over 30 years, and transforming it into a renewable energy facility and arts institution required interdisciplinary expertise in both its design and implementation. To transform the power station in a technical capacity, E-WERK collaborated with experts in thermo-electrical engineering, renewable energy systems, wood-gas, architecture, speculative design and solar energy. To transform a brown coal power station into one powered by pyrolysis required a close collaboration with Spanner RE², a pioneering company in wood gas. Their expertise ensured the efficient integration of new energy systems.
To establish E-WERK as a not-for-profit institution and energy provider, E-WERK required legal and corporate expertise to identify how, and if this was possible in Germany.
Beyond the technical realm, cultural professionals, artists, ecology experts and theorists contributed to shaping the station’s broader artistic vision to ensure E-WERK’s mission and vision were sustainable, inclusive and working to provide exceptional artists and practitioners with outstanding opportunities to raise awareness and catalyse change.
In order to communicate E-WERK’s pioneering model, the team drew on experts in the theoretical field of futurology, psychosocial studies, evolutionary biology, mycelium networking and permacultural modelling, in order to find the correct terminology to frame the project adequately. E-WERK also engaged a PR officer and communications assistant to ensure the project was disseminated on a global scale, to access far reaching audiences.
This interdisciplinary exchange between technical, artistic and historical disciplines enriched the project, merging innovation with heritage, function with aesthetics, and sustainability with history.
To establish E-WERK as a not-for-profit institution and energy provider, E-WERK required legal and corporate expertise to identify how, and if this was possible in Germany.
Beyond the technical realm, cultural professionals, artists, ecology experts and theorists contributed to shaping the station’s broader artistic vision to ensure E-WERK’s mission and vision were sustainable, inclusive and working to provide exceptional artists and practitioners with outstanding opportunities to raise awareness and catalyse change.
In order to communicate E-WERK’s pioneering model, the team drew on experts in the theoretical field of futurology, psychosocial studies, evolutionary biology, mycelium networking and permacultural modelling, in order to find the correct terminology to frame the project adequately. E-WERK also engaged a PR officer and communications assistant to ensure the project was disseminated on a global scale, to access far reaching audiences.
This interdisciplinary exchange between technical, artistic and historical disciplines enriched the project, merging innovation with heritage, function with aesthetics, and sustainability with history.
E-WERK is the first institution in the world to be entirely powered by the means of its own production. Born out of a deep frustration with institutional practice that exploits both people and the planet, E-WERK is an innovative example of how the system could be different; sustainable, beautiful and inclusive.
E-WERK is not a conventional eco-energy provider, purely focused on profit, efficiency and data. E-WERK is also not a traditional cultural centre, only committed to raising awareness and discussing the injustices in the world. E-WERK is a unique artist-led not-for-profit cultural institution that takes direct action, leaving the theoretical bubble behind, to create prototypic circular industrial solutions with the potential to replicate on a global scale.
As a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ sustainability measures and the aesthetic experience are valued equally at E-WERK, under the belief that transformative change is only possible through a material, ideological and cultural shift. E-WERK is a holistic model, an ecosystem in which industry, aesthetics and community are symbiotic, each aspect essential for the other to function.
Contrary to the zeitgeist, E-WERK also provocatively posits that there is in fact no energy crisis, but merely a crisis of imagination. A sustainable paradigm shift is possible, but only if we are able to transform social thinking.
At E-WERK, Art and industry unite to innovate ecosystemic solutions. Unlike mainstream industrial actions, E-WERK makes artistic thinking integral to its operations. E-WERK understands the value of artists and cultural practitioners, who are uniquely educated to creative problem solve, innovate and find ways to access a societal unconscious. By combining the virtues of aesthetics and infrastructure, E-WERK is a unique example of what is possible when we tackle a societal challenge with an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach.
E-WERK is not a conventional eco-energy provider, purely focused on profit, efficiency and data. E-WERK is also not a traditional cultural centre, only committed to raising awareness and discussing the injustices in the world. E-WERK is a unique artist-led not-for-profit cultural institution that takes direct action, leaving the theoretical bubble behind, to create prototypic circular industrial solutions with the potential to replicate on a global scale.
As a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ sustainability measures and the aesthetic experience are valued equally at E-WERK, under the belief that transformative change is only possible through a material, ideological and cultural shift. E-WERK is a holistic model, an ecosystem in which industry, aesthetics and community are symbiotic, each aspect essential for the other to function.
Contrary to the zeitgeist, E-WERK also provocatively posits that there is in fact no energy crisis, but merely a crisis of imagination. A sustainable paradigm shift is possible, but only if we are able to transform social thinking.
At E-WERK, Art and industry unite to innovate ecosystemic solutions. Unlike mainstream industrial actions, E-WERK makes artistic thinking integral to its operations. E-WERK understands the value of artists and cultural practitioners, who are uniquely educated to creative problem solve, innovate and find ways to access a societal unconscious. By combining the virtues of aesthetics and infrastructure, E-WERK is a unique example of what is possible when we tackle a societal challenge with an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach.
To ensure the project could reach audiences and inspire change, E-WERK understood that it needed a powerful story to tell. The transformation of a former brown coal power station into a sustainable one was a simple story to explain a complex concept. By adopting a storytelling methodology, E-WERK was able to break down complexity, and as a result create more inclusive parameters. E-WERK disseminated this story through an international and interdisciplinary press and communications campaign, securing press coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian etc.
E-WERK’s key approach is to bridge the gap between the aesthetic experience and sustainable change, through the combination of material solutions, active participation and powerful aesthetic experiences.
To achieve institutional sustainability, the E-WERK approaches sustainability from an ecological, economic and humanitarian perspective. To concretise its approach to institutional sustainability, E-WERK developed a comprehensive policy document, which describes the organisation's economic, ecological and humanitarian methodologies. To ensure long term economic sustainability, E-WERK achieved an interest-free mortgage and continually diversifies funding streams to fortify the income from electricity sales. E-WERK’s income streams also include studio rentals, venue hire and public funding.
E-WERK’s approach to humanitarian sustainability is a commitment to creating a safe space where discrimination based on gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion is never tolerated. In addition to legal obligations, E-WERK advocates for total action consent and the respect of others' boundaries. Disrespectful or harassing behaviour will not be tolerated. E-WERK requires that all staff, volunteers, collaborators, event participants and visitors consider and respect our zero-tolerance policy.
E-WERK’s key approach is to bridge the gap between the aesthetic experience and sustainable change, through the combination of material solutions, active participation and powerful aesthetic experiences.
To achieve institutional sustainability, the E-WERK approaches sustainability from an ecological, economic and humanitarian perspective. To concretise its approach to institutional sustainability, E-WERK developed a comprehensive policy document, which describes the organisation's economic, ecological and humanitarian methodologies. To ensure long term economic sustainability, E-WERK achieved an interest-free mortgage and continually diversifies funding streams to fortify the income from electricity sales. E-WERK’s income streams also include studio rentals, venue hire and public funding.
E-WERK’s approach to humanitarian sustainability is a commitment to creating a safe space where discrimination based on gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion is never tolerated. In addition to legal obligations, E-WERK advocates for total action consent and the respect of others' boundaries. Disrespectful or harassing behaviour will not be tolerated. E-WERK requires that all staff, volunteers, collaborators, event participants and visitors consider and respect our zero-tolerance policy.
E-WERK Luckenwalde is a lighthouse project on how to transform our petro-cultural heritage into a regenerative future through innovation, culture and education. As a prototype for a permaculture institution of the future, it is E-WERK’s intention to share its learnings, methodologies, and processes with other institutions across the world, wishing to make ecosystemic change.
E-WERK does this by consulting institutions around the world on how to transform their institutional models into a symbiotic one. Although an exact replica of E-WERK would not be possible, E-WERK’s system-led approach to developing ecosystemic institutions has high potential for transferability.
As part of its consultancy work, E-WERK has developed a set of elemental questions, as a catalytic tool for other institutions to begin their transformation. Examples of these questions include: Do you need to produce renewable energy 24/7, the whole year round, or can it be seasonal? What are your bioregional possibilities of working with (not against) the local environment? Are there opportunities to work with the grey energy of the building, thus finding a solution sympathetic to the history and mechanical infrastructure of the building. Who are your local resources? What knowledge is intrinsic to the project? What is your ‘power of narrative’, the aesthetic story you tell through your transformation? What are your overarching objectives? What are your financial resources? What are your networks of community, belief, skills? How resilient are they? What would make the system magic?
To create long term international impact, E-WERK aims to keep inspiring institutions worldwide to adopt an economically and ecologically symbiotic model by developing and distributing its prototypes on permacultural modelling.
E-WERK does this by consulting institutions around the world on how to transform their institutional models into a symbiotic one. Although an exact replica of E-WERK would not be possible, E-WERK’s system-led approach to developing ecosystemic institutions has high potential for transferability.
As part of its consultancy work, E-WERK has developed a set of elemental questions, as a catalytic tool for other institutions to begin their transformation. Examples of these questions include: Do you need to produce renewable energy 24/7, the whole year round, or can it be seasonal? What are your bioregional possibilities of working with (not against) the local environment? Are there opportunities to work with the grey energy of the building, thus finding a solution sympathetic to the history and mechanical infrastructure of the building. Who are your local resources? What knowledge is intrinsic to the project? What is your ‘power of narrative’, the aesthetic story you tell through your transformation? What are your overarching objectives? What are your financial resources? What are your networks of community, belief, skills? How resilient are they? What would make the system magic?
To create long term international impact, E-WERK aims to keep inspiring institutions worldwide to adopt an economically and ecologically symbiotic model by developing and distributing its prototypes on permacultural modelling.
E-WERK addresses one of the most pressing global challenges of our time—climate change—with hyperlocal solutions. By generating its own power, through local renewable energy sources, E-WERK is a striking example of how it is possible to take responsibility for climate change with local solutions that could be applied on a global scale.
The project combines local, historical infrastructure with internationally acclaimed sustainable engineering innovation to exemplify what a sustainable, regenerative and holistic institution of the future could look like. E-WERK is an internationally acclaimed institution, regarded as a pioneering example of a permacultural institution, which is 100% reliant on the knowledge and collaboration of local labourers, the station’s previous employees and historians. Without access to this hyperlocal knowledge and their experiences, the project would be impossible.
Climate change is an overwhelming and insurmountable global challenge when approached individualistically. By creating a community in Luckenwalde, composed of local citizens, international theorists, artists, scientists, E-WERK is an example of how it is possible to transform the issue of climate change into a tangible and actionable challenge through culture.
E-WERK has developed a bioregional materials catalogue to address the global challenge of climate change. This documents local natural (construction) materials and their supply chains, including the materials, their data layer with information about their extraction methods, infrastructural configurations, and global warming potential. While maintaining an ambitious international outlook, E-WERK is committed to prioritizing local and ecological suppliers, ensuring that our sustainability efforts have a direct impact on the region.
The project combines local, historical infrastructure with internationally acclaimed sustainable engineering innovation to exemplify what a sustainable, regenerative and holistic institution of the future could look like. E-WERK is an internationally acclaimed institution, regarded as a pioneering example of a permacultural institution, which is 100% reliant on the knowledge and collaboration of local labourers, the station’s previous employees and historians. Without access to this hyperlocal knowledge and their experiences, the project would be impossible.
Climate change is an overwhelming and insurmountable global challenge when approached individualistically. By creating a community in Luckenwalde, composed of local citizens, international theorists, artists, scientists, E-WERK is an example of how it is possible to transform the issue of climate change into a tangible and actionable challenge through culture.
E-WERK has developed a bioregional materials catalogue to address the global challenge of climate change. This documents local natural (construction) materials and their supply chains, including the materials, their data layer with information about their extraction methods, infrastructural configurations, and global warming potential. While maintaining an ambitious international outlook, E-WERK is committed to prioritizing local and ecological suppliers, ensuring that our sustainability efforts have a direct impact on the region.
E-WERK has achieved 382 pieces of coverage in the international press, including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, achieving 1.8M estimated views, 20.5K engagements and reaching 200M audience, with social media followers amounting to 10.2K.
Since 2019, EW has worked with over 100 artists and cultural practitioners including emerging artists, and established names such as Pussy Riot, the Golden Lion award winning beach opera Sun & Sea and Arthur Jafa. EW has also welcomed over 10,000 members of the public through its doors, who have participated in workshops, tours, exhibitions, concerts, symposiums.
Today EW is able to annually generate 400 MWh of Kunststrom heat and electricity, which powers the 10.000m2 building, contemporary art programme and 12 artist studios in the building. The remaining Kunststrom power is distributed to E-WERK’s network of eco-power clients (currently almost 100) across Germany, which notably includes Berlin galleries, Haverkampf, Chert Luedde and the studio of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Tomas Saraceno.
EW has borne witness to the socio-economic growth of Luckenwalde, with 7 new cultural enterprises opening since 2019, and the city's growth climbing by 1.9% for the first time since the fall of the wall. The success of EW has also ensured that the development of the neighbouring Bauhaus City Pool, abandoned since 1991, is now in the process of reactivation, thanks to a major grant from the federal government in Germany. This will be powered once again with the waste heat from EW, and programmed in collaboration with the artistic team, as a community focused cultural venue. EW has consulted 10 EU institutions including, The Hartwig Art Foundation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Vessel (Greece) and Mustarinda (Finland) on how to begin their own energetic ecosystemic transformation, in an endeavour to replicate the EW’s prototypic potential and empower ecosystemic change on a pan european scale.
Since 2019, EW has worked with over 100 artists and cultural practitioners including emerging artists, and established names such as Pussy Riot, the Golden Lion award winning beach opera Sun & Sea and Arthur Jafa. EW has also welcomed over 10,000 members of the public through its doors, who have participated in workshops, tours, exhibitions, concerts, symposiums.
Today EW is able to annually generate 400 MWh of Kunststrom heat and electricity, which powers the 10.000m2 building, contemporary art programme and 12 artist studios in the building. The remaining Kunststrom power is distributed to E-WERK’s network of eco-power clients (currently almost 100) across Germany, which notably includes Berlin galleries, Haverkampf, Chert Luedde and the studio of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Tomas Saraceno.
EW has borne witness to the socio-economic growth of Luckenwalde, with 7 new cultural enterprises opening since 2019, and the city's growth climbing by 1.9% for the first time since the fall of the wall. The success of EW has also ensured that the development of the neighbouring Bauhaus City Pool, abandoned since 1991, is now in the process of reactivation, thanks to a major grant from the federal government in Germany. This will be powered once again with the waste heat from EW, and programmed in collaboration with the artistic team, as a community focused cultural venue. EW has consulted 10 EU institutions including, The Hartwig Art Foundation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Vessel (Greece) and Mustarinda (Finland) on how to begin their own energetic ecosystemic transformation, in an endeavour to replicate the EW’s prototypic potential and empower ecosystemic change on a pan european scale.
