hi Folks, this is coming up -- if you know this scene and are here in NYC, please come on by and chat with us about it! best, -am
1. PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
_House Magic: Bureau of Foreign Correspondence_ process exhibition at ABC No Rio April 17 to May 10, 2009 evening events Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings
The social center movement in Europe will be the focus of a project exhibition at the Lower East Side cultural center ABC No Rio during later April and early May. Images and information, videos and discussion will engage the realities of this vital urban movement.
An outgrowth of political squatting, the social center in occupied vacant buildings was a key feature of the Italian Autonomist movement of the 1970s and '80s. Squats on the Lower East Side of New York City in the 1990s borrowed elements of the English and German social center models, including cafes, infoshops (library/bookstores), performance spaces and art galleries. These models also influenced the _infoshops_ of the anarchist movement throughout the U.S.A.. Across Europe, the often short-lived social centers became important organizing foci of the global justice movement during the first decade of the new century.
The "House Magic" exhibition will be an open structure, a channel for a continuous flow of information from the social centers themselves. Bulletins will be posted, banners will be painted, soup will be served. Video documentaries will be screened, and guests will discuss their experiences with social centers.
The social centers arose out of direct action squatting. In the new century, however, these actions have been less about housing, and more intended to create social, cultural and political space for action in the city.
In many cases, social center squatting is a response to gentrifying development in the city, an instance of "bottom up planning and architecture." The social centers are usually well integrated into the neighborhoods in which they are set up, and provide free space for cultural activities to take place. Many social centers work closely with immigrant groups, organizing, supporting and demonstrating to protect their rights.
From April 17 to May 10, we will be working the theme at ABC No Rio, processing and presenting information about the social center movement. A key node in global justice organizing, squatted social centers have sprung up in cities throughout Europe. They represent a new wave of activism, often highly theorized, with participation by both radical intellectuals and grassroots activists.Increasingly architects, urban planners and artists are joining political activists in this movement.
"House Magic" is the first step in an ongoing project which invites public participation as we share the stories and synthesize the lessons of the vivid life and often spectacular deaths of these temporary autonomous zones.
Among the centers and agencies past and present considered in the show are Bowl Court, Ramparts, CoolTan, ASS and 56a in London, El Patio Maravillas, Seco, Laboratorio, and Caracole (Madrid), La Casa Invisible (Malaga), Krax City Mine(d), (Barcelona), ESC (Rome), Rote Floria (Hamburg), ROG (Ljubljana), and many others.
references: "Social Center" on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_center blog of the show, called "Occupations and Properties" http://occuprop.blogspot.com
Films about squatted social centers and related questions will be screened on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, accompanied by discussions around a bowl of soup and bread _ an evocation of the VoKu (Volks Kuchen, or people_s kitchen) of German and Dutch squats. A $5 freewill donation is requested to cover the cost of the films.
schedule of events FINAL April 6, 2009
APRIL FIRST WEEK Tuesday 21 Germany -- German films to be announced Guest: Michel Chevalier, Hamburg
Wednesday 22 United Kingdom -- “Take Over,” directed by Jordie Montevecchi The film follows a group of Brighton, UK, squatters who take over an old church.
Thursday 23 Netherlands, Amsterdam – “The City Was Ours,” by Joost Seelen (time?; 1996; Dutch with English subtitles) Amsterdam squatting movement, 1970s to 1980s; short subjects
SECOND WEEK Tuesday 28 Spain, Barcelona -- Octavi Royo, "Okupa, Crónica de una Lucha Social" [Spanish & Catalan with English subtitles] Reflexión sobre el fenómeno de la okupación que empieza con el desalojo del Cine Princesa en Barcelona (1996) y termina en la actualidad; Dara Greenwald "Tactical Tourist" [English]; selected bangin' shorts from "Resistir es Crear: 10 años junto al Centro Social - Casa de Iniciativas de Málaga" Guests: Dara Greenwald, Brooklyn, others
Wednesday 29 Spain, Madrid -- "Laboratorio 3, Ocupando el Vacio" (66 min.; 2007; Spanish with English subtitles); music videos from Casa Iniciativas, Malaga
Thursday 30 Italy – program to be announced
MAY THIRD WEEK Tuesday 5 The Art Squat – “Dada Changed My Life,” directed by Lou Lou and Daniel Martinez (2004; time?) about the Zurich art squatting action that saved the Cabaret Voltaire Guest: Olga Mazurkiewicz (invited)
Wednesday 6 Open Date
Thursday 7 Denmark, Copenhagen -- “Christiania You Have My Heart,” directed by Nils Vest (62 min.; 1991; Danish with English subtitles) talk with Rebecca Zorach on her visit to the Copenhagen free town
A rotating selection of videos about squatted social centers will be playing in the gallery, as well as the following artists’ documentaries: Oliver Ressler -- “5 Factories - Worker Control in Venezuela,” 81 min., Span./Ger./Engl., 2004 {with Dario Azzellini}, and “Disobbedienti,” 54 min., Ital./Ger./Engl., 2002 {with Dario Azzellini}; and “What Would It Mean To Win?” 40 min. / 2008 / PAL / Engl./Ger./French (with Zanny Begg), Marcelo Expósito, "Primero de Mayo (La Ciudad-fábrica) [First of May (The City Factory)]" (61 minutes, 2004) Span./Engl.
2. basic CALL FOR MATERIALS
For _House Magic: Bureau of Foreign Correspondence,_ a process exhibition on squatted social centers at ABC No Rio in New York City April 17th until May 10th, 2009, we welcome self-representations of social centers worldwide, past and present. _House Magic_ is an attempt to show this vital and inspiring movement to an audience in the U.S. We welcome pictures, texts, videos (any format), zines, posters, stencil designs, and other media that express the special experiences of collective work to open, build and sustain these centers. We would love to receive objects -- but electronic files are okay. We will print them out and display them, and execute your stencil designs. In addition to pictures, posters and texts, the month of _House Magic_ will see continuous conversations at ABC No Rio about social centers, their work and possibilities for the future. If you are in town during that time, please let us know and come by to visit and share your experiences. (Travel venue presentation late April in Chicago for Version Fest 09; second iteration at Sculpture Center, July 2009.)
Send files to: housemagicabcnorio@gmail.com with a cc to: awm13579@gmail.com -- and packages to _House Magic_ ABC No Rio 156 Rivington Street New York, NY, 10002=2441 USA an organizer is blogging the show set-up at: http://occuprop.blogspot.com
Alan W. Moore
123 Scribner Ave SI NY 10301
cel : 917 574 8392
working this project: http://occuprop.blogspot.com
MWF video archive: http://www.brickhaus.com/amoore