Squats, Social Centers and Autonomous Spaces.
During my travels in Europe I am actively visiting a variety of collectively organized public spaces including squats, social centers, communes, collectives, co-ops, VoKus and other autonomous spaces. There are no hard and fast definitions here, and these places are quite varied in function, organization and activity. Some of them are residential squats that people live in; they provide free meals of rescued dumpstered food. Others are legalized former squats that are beautifully rehabbed and offer cafes, galleries, radio stations, theaters. There are cooperative restaurant/kitchens (VoKus) and even the huge 800-resident, 41-year old Freetown Christiania.
While traveling, I read the excellent House Magick Zine that went along with the ‘suitcase’ exhibit of House Magick that originated at ABC No Rio and traveled to Basekamp and the University of Trash, among many other places (website here). House Magick Zine 1 can be downloaded here and Zine 2 here. A website with many more resources and artist collectives can be found here.
These spaces have a long history in Europe and I think that many of us in the US can learn a lot about these spaces, what conditions help them to thrive or shut them down, and what are some of the possibilities for organizing more things like this in the USA. This is the first of many blog posts I’ll be writing about spaces in 5 countries. Many of them have long histories and yet some are still battling for their existence as governments attempt to close down these spaces that operate outside mainstream institutional frameworks. I witnessed this firsthand Sunday as I visited Budapest collective Kaszino as it was being evicted, a sad day.
Following is a preview of some of the posts and photo galleries I’ll be sharing in weeks ahead.
- At Kommune Karmitz, the 21-year old commune in rural central Germany, I lived on a farm and helped with farm chores. The members of the commune worked together preparing meals, sharing their money, making decisions, making apple juice, baking bread, having discussions, working on anti-nuclear activism, and still go out to alternative bars, community kitchens and social centers for dancing weekly!
- In Amsterdam, I received a tip from Ding Ren about (now-legalized) squat KNM (it houses people, has a gallery/studios, theater/concert hall…) and ate dinner at their VoKu. At this dinner I was befriended by several locals and had excellent conversation and cultural dialogue.
- In Copenhagen I visited social space Stroberiet for a community dinner. I visited one other social center whose name I can’t remember right now, for a huge mega party featuring carnival games, ride-the-bull, noise bands, balkan music, new wave bands, dubstep, and more with maybe 500 or 600 attendees.
- In Berlin I visited art squat Tacheles, a 21-year old squat that the city has attempted to evict many times. The city scheduled a sale of the building for early April and I have not heard yet or found info online on whether this has taken place yet and its current status.
- I visited Freetown Christiania, the 41-year old anarchist autonomous village in downtown Copenhagen. I ate there, went to the indoor skate park, talked with locals, sat along the waterfront, had lunch with new friends and attended a hip hop show.
- In Budapest I visited several alternatively organized spaces including a collective being evicted that held workshops and gaming nights, as well as alternatively run social center Fire Storage (this is a translation of its name in Hungarian) that houses a cafe, theater/concert hall, studios and even has residents. It was recently threatened with sale by the government but no one except for the current artist residents offered to buy it!
A squat in Amsterdam. Check out the N in a circle squatting logo on the building to the left of the McD’s.
Inside Tacheles art squat, a huge mega building of artist studios in a squatted building in Mitte.
Front of Stoberiet social space in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is a legal (not squatted) social center that grew out of a previous squat.
At the community dinner at Stoberiet.
Inside the Stoberiet social center. Various murals (in addition to all of the graffiti) show the history of the activities of the previous space that they were evicted from.
The ubiquitous graffiti’ed entrance of almost every social space in Europe! I can’t remember the name of this one (will find it!), but over 500 people attended a raging party at this space in Copenhagen.
Concert in one of the rooms at the space mentioned above in Copenhagen
Freetown Christiania anarchist village in Copenhagen, Denmark
Outside one of the barns (home to ducks, a bakery, hay storage, a bedroom and more). Also, I chopped some of the wood in this photo!
Dismantling a yurt during the eviction of the Kaszino collective.
At the “Fire Storage” social center in Budapest
