Long Silent -- A Big Return

I have been silent on this blog nearly half a year... But we have all been very busy on the project of spreading information about the squatting movements. The SqEK group is planning a major conference now in Barcelona, Spain, May 21-24, 2015. (There is a call for participation on their website now; it will soon be posted to this blog as well). This writer has been working hard on a book for this conference, a report on cultural in squatted spaces. It is a final result of -- well, it is explained below!
Here is the table of contents of this forthcoming book, which will be posted on the internet as a PDF in the months to come. It's being designed right now by Alan Smart and Jack Henrie Fisher.
The cultural report of the Movokeur project is a final product of a 3-year research project on squatting in Europe, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and directed by Miguel Ángel Martínez López. This book concerns the cultural engagements of squatted spaces – the arts and cultures of occupations. The publication draws mainly on the 5 years of the House Magic journal, and the engagements of the two co-editors, Alan Moore and Alan Smart. The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest will publish and distribute the volume. It will likely appear online at the end of March, 2015, and in a printed form somewhat later. All materials will be freely available as a PDF on the internet.

Making Room: Cultural Production in Occupied Spaces
edited by Alan W. Moore and Alan Smart
Preface
by project director, Miguel Ángel Martínez López
Introduction to the Movokeur project. A short discussion of its methodology and ambitions.

Introductory section
“Urban Movements and Paradoxical Utopianisms,” by Miguel Martínez López
Reflections on squatter culture
“Mental Prototypes and Monster Institutions. Some Notes by Way of an Introduction” (2008), by Universidad Nómada in Transversal
Autonomous squatted spaces in relation to cultural institutions
“Whether You Like It or Not,” by Alan W. Moore
Some ways of considering cultural production in occupied spaces
“Beneath the Bored Walk: Autonomy and Self-Organization,” by Stevphen Shukaitis
a theoretical consideration
“Metelkova mon amour: Reflections on the (Non-)Culture of Squatting,” by Jasna Babić (2013)
Autonomous culture of the large Metelkova cultural squat in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and how it was challenged by institutionalization
“Telling Squatting History in New York City,” by Amy Starecheski (2014), excerpt from Oral History Review
museal and memory initiatives by NYC squatter artists

Amsterdam, Netherlands
“On Nomads and Festivals in Free Space,” by Aja Waalwijk (2012), from House Magic #4
The festival culture of squatters in the 1970s and its continuation today in a “network of free spaces.”
Interview with Geert Lovink, by Alan Smart
Lovink was editor of the 1980s and '90s squatter journal Bluff!, and currently director of the Institute of Network Cultures
“The Autonomous Zone,” (De Vrije Ruimte), by Vincent Boschma
Comparing projects in New York City and Amsterdam
“Our Autonomous Life,” produced with CASCO Projects in Utrecht, by Casco Projects
a soap opera based on research on squatters' lives

Copenhagen, Denmark
“Christiania: How They Do It and for How Long” (2010), by Jordan Zinovich, from House Magic #2
A timeline of significant events in the life of the long-lived Christiania free community, including changes in their governance and relation to the city and state governments
“Christiania Art and Culture,” Christiania Cultural Association, Britta Lillesoe
a manifesto from Christiania
“On the Youth House Protests and the Situation in Copenhagen” (2008), by Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, from Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, No. 6
“Bolsjefabrikken: Autonomous Culture in Copenhagen,” by Tina Steiger
text on the Candy Factory cultural squats and occupations

London, England
“Partisan Notes towards a History of UK Squatting (1980 to the Present), by Chris-X of the 56A Infoshop
“'Our Enemy is Dreamless Sleep': On the Cult-ish Creation of an Autonomous Network,” by Kasper Opstrup
Squatter communities following the band Throbbing Gristle, Dianetics, etc.

Paris, France
“Squats, Art and Politics: Situationism and its Influence on French Anarchist Squats,” by Margot Verdier
the influence of Situationist ideas on squatting in France,
“Mediated Emergence and Institutional Recognition of Artistic Squats in Paris,” by Vincent Prieur
introduction, and survey of government attitudes
Interview with the artists of La Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres, by Alan W. Moore (excerpt; 2011), House Magic #3
art squatters in central Paris were moved to the edge of the city
“A Truly Underground Movement,” by Jon Lackman (excerpt; 2009)
On the UX group of Paris, which did clandestine repair work on national monuments, and performances in the catacombs
“Vive la Miroirterie,” by Jacqueline Feldman
with the squatters of the music venue La Miroirterie, as they await eviction
French-speaking Switzerland – Geneva
Discussing the eviction of the Rhino squat (1988-2007) at “House Magic” exhibition (2009), from House Magic #1

Italy
Introduction to squatting in Italy, by Pierpaolo Mudu and Gianni Piazza
Bologna
“Telestreet: Pirate Proxivision” (2010), by Patrick Nagle, House Magic #2
Evolution of guerrilla street television connected to the social centers, and its beginnings in the pirate radio projects of the '80s
Milan
“Macao,” by Emanuele Braga
Rome
“Forte Prenestino,” by Alba Solaro (1992), translated by Steve Wright for Affinities (2007)> describes the workings of this enormous social center in an abandoned fortress v “Negative/Positive Aspects of the Social Centres” (1997), Senzamedia, translated by Steven Wright for Affinities
some results of a survey of 16 Roman social centers with written comments on the negative and positive aspects of the centers
“Teatro Valle Ocupato,” Rome (2014), by the assembly of Teatro Valle
This occupation project argued that culture is a commons, and that all places for culture should be considered commons; evicted in June of 2014, the collective continues

Germany
“We Don’t Need No Landlords” and “Squatting in East Germany,” by Azomozox
An overview
“Gender and Squatting in Germany since 1968,” by Azomozox
A view of the many projects undertaken by sex-identified squatters
“Activism and Camping in Documenta X, XI and XIII,” by Julia Ramírez Blanco
Major institutional engagements with direct action occupation projects
Berlin
“A Tour of the Regenbogen Fabrik/Rainbow Factory,” by Alan W. Moore (2010), from House Magic #3
Kreuzberg co-working squat of the 1980s
“Autonomy!” by Ashley Dawson (2010), from House Magic #3
the squatted street of Mainzerstrasse in the 1990s was a major center of Berlin squatter life and culture
“A Stay at the Rote Insel in Berlin,” by Alan W. Moore (2010), from House Magic #3
militant house project squat of the 1980s
Tobias Morawski, “Reclaim Your City – Urbane Protestbewegungen am Beispiel Berlins”
interventionist street art in support of squatting
Hamburg
“Gängeviertel Artists' Squat,” by Nina Fraeser
analysis of the successfully institutionalized artists' squat
Discussion about the Rote Flora silkscreen workshop, and the ARCHIV radical history project, by Michel Chevalier (2009), House Magic #1
texts from Park Fiction group, from the Creative Time “Living as Form” exhibition in NYC (2011), from House Magic #4
these panels discuss the Gängeviertel squat, the Unser! Areal popular development plan, the Right to the City network, and Park Fiction itself
German-speaking Switzerland – Zurich
“Zurich: Temporary Urban Paradises,” by Mark Divo (2011), House Magic #3
artist active in Cabaret Voltaire occupation discusses the scene

Spain
Madrid
“Necessary Squats” Miguel Ángel Martínez (2013), House Magic #5
Reflection on the life and times of the evicted CSOA Casablanca, Madrid
Patio Maravillas' Anti-Gentrification Campaign against the TriBall Group,” (2014), by Stephen Villaseca
“'Without Us the World Doesn't Move!': Presentation at the Eskalera Karakola” (2014), by Julia Lledin
two groups present at the squat which is home to Precarias a la deriva, a feminist collective of militant research on domestic and sex work; activity of an exhibition at Reina Sofia museum
“Ciclocostura: From the Engine to the Body” (2014), by Eli Lorenzi
“cycle sewing” sessions held in both squats and institutional spaces in Madrid to make clothes for urban cycling
“Managing their Own Image,” by Julia Lledin
alternative media in the Madrid squatting scene
Barcelona
“The Wall Poem,” by Stephen Luis Villaseca
The surprising end to an eviction in Barcelona

Annie looking through the window at a rave in Badalona, Spain, from the book 'Out of Order' by Molly Macindoe

Málaga
The Casa Invisible story, a legalized squat

International Movements, Project, Scenes
“Squatting for Justice: Bringing Life to the City,” by Miguel Martínez López
Why squatting is important in the development of the contemporary city
“The Struggle for Creativity: Creativity as Struggle,” by Tino Bucholz
the role of squatters in the discourse of the “creative city”
“Hacklabs and Squats: Engineering Countercultures in Autonomous Spaces,” by Maxigas
A major text on the evolution of computer centers in squats, and their contributions to the free software movement
“Puerto Rican Occupations in New York City,” by Alan W. Moore with Yasmin Ramirez
“Squatting and Migrants in Europe,” by Sutapa Chattopadhyay
The position of migrants in Europe today, and their relation to the squatting movement
“The Universal Embassy: A Place Open to the World” (2003) by Tristan Wibault, from Transversal
A project in Brussels in solidarity with migrants and sans papiers
“Squatting, Mainstream Media Discourses and Identity,” (2014), by G. Debelle dos Santos & E.T.C. Dee
“Fair Trade Music,” by Spencer Sunshine
The economics of the punk music circuit (important in the European squats)
“Squats and Parties” (2014), by Mujinga
Mass free festive culture that fed into the British squatting movement
Squatter zines (2014), by Mujinga
Squat films, by (2014), by Mujinga

And there's more! We're doing a big exhibition in Barcelona for that conference as well, and another issue of House Magic, concerning the conference, and material that didn't fit in the book.