April 25, 6.30 pm

Andreas Suttner

House Squattings: Klagenfurt goes Europe

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By tracing the history of the housesquatting movement, the Klagenfurt house squattings can be placed within an international as well as a national context. «Access to lawns» in Vienna, «rehab squattings» in Berlin, and the establishment of communication and cultural centers in Linz and Innsbruck were just a few of the many forms of action taken in the course of a New Social Movement that gripped nearly all of Europe in the mid-1970s. The goal of setting up new cultural and communication centers was to counteract the disintegration of social cohesion while simultaneously providing opportunities for grass-roots participation in social and political life. As a self-help-oriented form of action, squatting still serves in the new millennium to claim space for social experiments which is not normally set aside for them in a world dominated by institutions and party politics. … >>