CCB Magazine

Nachgefragt with Christina Kyriazidi: "I adopted an elephant"

Photo: Jens Thomas

Christina Kyriazidi likes to tell stories - and she wants other people to tell stories, too - in exchange for a voucher that they can use to get a coffee or soup at cafés around town. She calls this "Story for Food." To this end, she has opened the BERLIN STORY HUB in Friedrichshain. In 2016, when the project was still in its infancy, she came to us with her idea. In part 6 of our "Nachgefragt" series, we not only want to know how the project has developed, we also visited the woman, who is actually from Greece, a director, playwright and actress, in Friedrichshain and let her tell us her very own story.
 

On site was CAROLIN MACKERT 
 

When I look through the large window pane of the BERLIN STORY HUB in Lighthaus, my gaze immediately falls on the many colorful headphones spread crisscross across a long table. It looks wild here, but somehow also cozy. It's almost like a living room, with a few armchairs in the room and a row of plants and a self-made bookshelf. So this is it, the Story Hub. A place of stories, as they say. Christina Kyriazidi, long straight hair, always a smile on her lips, has come up with all this. She comes to meet us, greets us and shows us around the rooms. Then she presses headphones into our hands. We take a taste of the raw material of her project: stories from ordinary people, as she says.

I hear the deep voice of a man. I have neither seen this man nor do I know his name. I listen to his very personal story about his father for seven minutes. Across from me sits another visitor, she too has headphones on. Silently, she looks at the tabletop in the room, she seems a bit spaced out, maybe she is just comfortable. Like my hands, hers also enclose a light blue MP3 player, the operation of which initially challenges my memory: MP3 players, oh yes, they still exist. Without ever having thought about how unnoticed MP3 players have actually disappeared from everyday use, it now awakens a strange nostalgic feeling in me.

While I listen to the man, Christina walks around the room and gathers a few things. After seven minutes, I'm done. I put down the headphones. Christina comes to me, I press the recorder and she tells me her very personal story.

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: Christina, you've got it cozy here. Did you create this all by yourself?

Christina Kyriazidi: Basically yes. But now we are eleven people. I'm very happy about that, because what we do here is really hard work. We move every month so that we can reach people from very different districts.

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: The name of your project says it all: Story for Food. People get something to eat when they tell their story. Tell us, how does that work? 

I want people to be able to pay with their stories in the future. I call this the Story Economy

Christina Kyriazidi: People record their stories into a recorder and receive a voucher - which they can then redeem at a café with which we cooperate, for example. So far, we have been able to win 14 partners - including many cafés from Berlin such as the YogaCafé, bRICK and Frollein Langen, but also bars, a cinema and a theater. We call this Story Economy.

Stories are fun, Carolin Mackert and Christina Kyriazidi in front of the Lighthaus in Berlin-Friedrichshain. Photo: Jens Thomas 

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: So what is the goal of Story for Food?  

Christina Kyriazidi: I want people to open up and exchange, I want to create access points. My goal is that in the future a real storytelling café will emerge, where people can even pay directly with their stories.

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: And how is that supposed to work? I suspect that people would rather have their peace and quiet when they go to a café.   

Christina Kyriazidi: After all, people wouldn't be texted. They go into a separate room, record their story there - and get soup in return, for example. I want to strengthen oral storytelling in society and encourage both the sharing of stories and listening and interest in them.

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: How did you come up with this - somewhat crazy - idea?

Christina Kyriazidi: Stories have always fascinated me; they have an inspiring power. Stories can encourage people and create relationships between them. I spent two years traveling all over Berlin, recording the stories of people I met. In return, they got chocolate from me. But the idea for the project actually came to me two years ago in Vienna, when I participated in the Citizen Artist Incubator program. Through the program, artists were encouraged to get involved in political or social projects. My stays in Argentina and Brazil also inspired me to do this project. There, it is often the people who are particularly poor who are rich in stories. Many of these people are really inspiring, they are almost mystical stories that the people there tell. I thought to myself that if these people could go to a restaurant and pay with a story, that would enrich other people in a completely different way.  

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: Does it matter what the stories are? Do you check the stories, or does everyone here just tell what they want? 

Christina Kyriazidi: Yes, everyone tells what he or she wants. We want stories from completely normal people. They don't necessarily have to be your own stories, they can also come from your grandma or a friend, for example, and stories about war, friendship or love are also possible. The important thing is that these stories have not been documented before. It's about the stories that you carry inside you, that make up you and your culture, and would otherwise die with you because you don't record them yourself.

Story For Food is about the stories you carry inside you that make up you and your culture, and would otherwise die with you because you don't record them yourself

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: How do you finance the project? Do you also earn money with Story for Food? 

Christina Kyriazidi: So far we're doing it all on a voluntary basis, I can't pay anyone yet. In return, I offer the people acting lessons if they work here. And I finance the project from my savings. Of course, this can't go on forever. I can't always just give, I have to get something back at some point. That's why we had also started a crowdfunding campaign. We also organize various extra events, whereby entrance fees from visitors also bring in a little money for the project. For example, we organize a "Foodback" every now and then, where stories are translated into culinary dishes. Otherwise, we organize our Story Cinema once a month: people sit in the cinema, stories are played in the original language, while the English translation is projected on the wall. Now and in the future, however, we need cost-covering and sustainable funding for the project.

Look and feel. Photo: Jens Thomas 
 

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: That's why you were at Kreativwirtschaftsberatung Berlin in 2016. What questions did you have back then? 

Christina Kyriazidi: I didn't know at all how to approach the project. That's why I went to Melanie Seifart at the Kreativwirtschaftsberatung. Melanie gave me lots of great contacts, for example to the Heldenrat, a coaching team, one of whom subsequently coached me free of charge for a year, for which I am very grateful. And I realized that the idea of a big storytelling café, which I already had back then, was probably still a bit too big. That's why we first spent two years collecting stories from people in Berlin. Today we have the BERLIN STORY HUB. Isn't that great?

I didn't know at all how to approach the project. That's why I came to Melanie Seifart at the Kreativwirtschaftsberatung

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: And now? Do you want to earn money from it yourself? For example, would people pay to record stories for you - and get a voucher for it that even pays off for them? Or what business ideas do you have?

Christina Kyriazidi: I don't have a concrete business idea yet. That's also difficult, because Story for Food is neither a pure art project nor a pure social project. It is a social art project. In the consultation, we had also already developed several ideas for financing. One idea, for example, is to organize story events for companies in the future. Funding would also be useful. That's why I'm currently applying for various funding pots, but I've already been rejected twice. But I'm not discouraged! My motivation to continue is also a responsibility for all the 240 stories in 14 different languages that we have collected so far. The stories have to be accessible so that others can hear them as well.

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: But do you think a story economy can establish itself in the market in any way? Can stories replace money?

Christina Kyriazidi: No, stories can't replace money, but they're not supposed to. That wouldn't work either, and people would value the stories. I don't want that. I want people to be able to exchange stories for something else, for a different service, for example, for a cab ride or a wash of clothes at the laundromat. My Story Economy also stands more symbolically for a new kind of exchange, for a new way of sharing and listening - and people should reflect on what else they exchange things for in life: namely, mostly for money.

Photo: Jens Thomas 
 

Kreativ Kultur Berlin: Christina, you've adopted an elephant in the meantime. What's next for you and the BERLIN STORY HUB? Do you have a dream?

Christina Kyriazidi: Yes, I have a dream! And yes, I have adopted an elephant, in Thailand! I just love elephants, they are even integrated into my Story for Food logo. My dream is that one day money won't dominate us so much. And I want to establish my Story Economy in many other cities. Recently, we have a new cooperation with Colaboradio and the radio station www.88vier.de. On September 25, 2018, we'll get started: at 8 p.m., we'll broadcast the "STORY-FOR-FOOD-Radio Show" on frequency 88.4fm for the first time and then in the future on every last Tuesday of the month. Here we play stories from our archive and invite guests to tell their story live on the radio. We are also developing a story app, which might be ready by January. This will allow people who don't live in Berlin to record their story using this app and in return get another story in the language of their choice. It would be great if these stories were soon available all over the world.

All information on Story for Food are here. 

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