in the summer of 1994, not minding the consent of authorities or owners, activists decisively started to look for premises.. several buildings were found, but the most appropriate one was the barrack of the bankrupted warehouse.. it was situated in an deserted area that used to be a warehouse-industrial complex..
initially, squat Rozbrat's role was a house similar to freedom communes.. some more serious actions that were creating and supporting the squat took place.. in summer 1995, it was still been adapted.. on one hand, it had only a residential function, one the other hand almost every resident of the squat was somehow active in social activity..
became an independent culture centre..
after the activities were created in a closed group a time for creating a wide coalition for sustaining and keeping the squat has come.. squat started to be treated not as a whole but as a part of activity.. a wider bunch of people not living at the squat started to get involved in Rozbrat, laying the foundations of new quality of the Rozbrat Collective..
in 1997 Anarchist Federation started their activity in Rozbrat.. since then, it has gathered the more active participants of Rozbrat Collective and plays very important role in shaping the place, both in ideological way and in material one.. meetings called the Liberation Feasts were initially a forum for both solving the problems of Rozbrat itself ant the outer activity.. the Anarchist Federation created the Anarchist Library in 1997, and in 2000 the Anarchist Club, were weekly meetings of AF still take place.. in 2001 another room was adapted for initiative "Lame Mule", where recitals, poetry evenings, discos and lectures take place.. the back of "Lame Mule" was transformed into the Gallery, that is open for all kinds of independed artists.. with time technical structure and management system based on self-governance was been created.. in 2005, a new cafe bar next to the Gallery was created.. it is a chill out zone.. all the time we are creating and improving the infrastructure.. with small steps we are developing the place engaging ourselves in it..
Rozbrat is peculiar centre of independed culture in Poznan, and actually in whole Wielkopolska region.. actions that are taken here would be very difficult in commercialised world.. we are creating a place based on independent social and cultural activity: without of donations, subsides, sponsors, outside of the system, outside of the good or bad economic situation, for ourselves, for propagating an independent thought, for building social consciousness..
that is how Rozbrat has changed its side and blended well into Poznans surrounding, for some people it has been a nice accent, for others been a thorn at their side.. the outside-of-institutions character of the place was attracting and still attracts people wanting to create culture in an active and independent way, and also undertaking others actions on social-political level..
free houses for free people..
squat is nothing but an uninhabited building, usually in a very poor shape, being occupied by a group of people who repair it, move in and create a certain kind of community.. therefore squat becomes home to them..
from the community...
the original idea of Rozbrat was to set up a commune composed of the people who did not approve of the world based on "the rat race".. then it has evolved and developed: the place itself was changing, different people get involved in the formation.. the goal has broadened from residing to carrying on cultural, social and political work.. the group, initially small, has grown larger becoming kind of "open community" with the aim to keep the place and build free ideas upon it..
...to revolutiontoday Rozbrat is the center of the alternative culture both in Poznan and the whole region called Wielkopolska.. this is the social space where the activities, which would not have happened in the commercialized world, do take place.. everything here is based upon the independent social and cultural activity: we don't get any donations, subsides, we are not sponsored by anybody, we are out of establishment and shady relations; we do it for ourselves and to spread the free, independent thought and rise social awareness..
the activities
for a start few words about Rozbrat's structure.. it is divided in several autonomic but altogheter integral pieces: the inhabited building - squat, the anarchist library, two rooms - concert hall plus another hall, the anarchist club and other smaller places.. the activists works in different groups but they cooperate with each other in the Rozbrat Collective..
the activity of Rozbrat collective is very wide.. the Technical Collective is very important here - it's in charge of of tehnical maintenance of Rozbrat (for instance recoonditioning and improving the infrastructure, raking up the lleaves in the autumn and so on) and it also coordinates the squat's activity..
from the very beggining Rozbrat has been a flat for the group of people; now there are 15-20 squatters.. there is broad cultural and social activity undertaken by Rozbrat, for example concerts, exibithions, festivals and many other events.. as individuals and as a group we are very often invited to take part in organizing some projects.. we reach the people by arranging the lectures and workshops; they can also see our ideas been carried into effect..
gigs
Rozbrat has allways been connected with music, actually, it was begining of its cultural work.. people setting it up were involved in the "independent scene" based on diy method, which applied to everything from organizing concerts, recording to releasing records; Rozbrat is also a fruit of this maxim..
the first concert took place spontaneously in the autumn of 1995.. Oi Polloi, legendary band from Scotland, had their gig in Poznan canceled, but they showed up at squat because of social contacts and played for a small group of people.. that was the begining.. next gigs were organized by inviting certain bands to play.. only squatters and activists friends knew about the concerts because it was a bit risky at that time to let unknown people come to Rozbrat.. then there were leaflets and posters spreaded, and now the info about gigs is fully official.. it took several years to make people respect us and the place.. but still we may refuse the entrance to some folks, some people praise us for it, but some find it pissing of.. well the place got its own specificty and it is of big importance in the chain of interdependences around us.. at the end of the day, every place got its policy and so does Rozbrat.. our aim is to influence the society through forming the alternative culture.. we are alternative to plastic pop culture, which patterns got nothing to do with building free and conscious society.. pop world is the world of neon signs and stars, spectacle and sham brilliance; it is expansive and effusive, because it is based on big dough.. in this world you can be a radical or an asshole, but still you are part of this system.. we don't mind popular culture, its creators and its consumers.. consciousness is the most crucial, the most important; how you act, what you do is your business - life is nothing but a constante choice!
we create ourown world here and now, without menagers and visagists; we do it because this is what we want and what we feel.. we might be unprofessional because of it (though it very often appears that we are more professional than it would seem to), but we feel good about ourself and people trust us..
on 18 september 2009 Rozbrat is celebrating 15 years of existance..
-Rozbrat squat at my space
-news about Rozbrat squat on english HERE
-download documentary film about Rozbrat squat HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment