ORi

Right in the middle of Reuterkiez, Friedelstrasse 8. A retail store, where someone used to trade golden goods, another one was fixing washing machines, and which then was vacant for some time - more than five years ago, the ORi opened its doors here.

A group of young people, consisting of students at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie und Gestaltung, was looking for their own space to build up a laboratory for photography acting as space to present their works. A self organized project room came into existence, that equally serves as exhibition space and ideas workshop, bar and open space for artistic activities, cultural events and sociopolitical discourse.

The ORi – this is the people who visit the space, organize it, and shape it in aesthetic form and content. It is workshop for ideas, cultural meeting point, space for artistic debate, living room bar and stage. It is a changeable space, whose conditions, contents and boundaries are negotiated always anew.

The ORi conceives itself as a social space, open for everyone to visit, to interact, to realize their very own ideas. The artistic-cultural program evolves equally out of the collective of coworkers as well as through impulses from the outside - it is a space, who gives space to the ideas of other people.

Artists of all ages find a platform in it, for developing their very own creative ideas and visions, to realize and present them. Guests don't have to stay in the passive role of a consumer, but are invited to appropriate the space, to shape it and use it actively. Also, external groups and initiatives that lack an infrastructure can temporarily use the space. Though we aim at integration into the so called 'Kiez', so as to especially neighbors' perception the ORi is an open space. A corner stone for this are the regular opening hours.

The ORi is a nonprofit space, no one gets paid for their contribution, there's neither regular salary nor expense allowance. The costs of the operating service are solely covered by donations and additional bar revenues. For visiting the events there is no admission to be paid, and the usage of the space is free for external groups as well. The access to the ORi, its events and infrastructure shouldn't be linked to monetary requirements.