Creative Platform Inde

Creative Platform Inde is an autonomous social and cultural centre set at the squatted site of an abandoned factory in the coastal city of Koper. Appropriated in 2014 by a multitude of local cultural activists, artists, students and others, the place is a collectively and horizontally run space that hosts a varied array of non-profit activities, be them sports, concerts, arts exhibitions, or just plain socialising. As such, it is a continuous social experiment and an initiative with aims wider than just those of a cultural or a youth centre.

Besides its concrete, spatial dimension, INDE is also a collective that is running the place by way of assembly meetings, and a web platform publishing politically informed articles and reflections (in Slovene, English and Italian).

U.P.I. INDE Koper from a 250 quadcopter by FotoVidx on YouTube

Background

From the very start of the nineties onwards, one of the main centres for alternative cultural expressions in the coastal region was the MKC Koper Youth and Culture Centre, run by the Association of the Friends of Moderate Progress. It functioned roughly along the lines of a youth cultural centre and was open for various outside cultural producers. The leading figure of the Association and head of the MKC, Marko Brecelj, was politically very active and vocal and as one can gather, this was never exactly appreciated by the local politicos. So in 2014 – despite a nation-wide public outcry – the place was reclaimed by the Municipality of Koper-Capodistria.

Consequently, the local cultural protagonists and initiatives that were hosted at the MKC were left without a domicile and so took things into their own hands. As many of them adhered to the punk and DIY ethics, squatting an abandoned factory grounds was a logical next step.

INDE used to be a factory which employed disabled peoples (hence the name, Invalidna delavnica – The Disabled Workshop) and which was run to the ground during the transition years and has stood abandoned since 2004. Spread by word of mouth, the act of renovating it into a new communal centre turned out to be a collective endeavour (with even people from Austria joining in) which led to cleaning up the place, fixing its basic infrastructure and preparing two halls with a stage, a DJ area, a lounge area and various other facilities. Some time later, a skate park was also built.

Currently, the squat and it protagonists are in the midst of legality issues, with the owners filing judicial actions against the squatters. How things will evolve remains to be seen.

Programme

The programme at INDE started in the winter of 2015, and since than, the place has had concerts (from HC and punk gigs to singer-songwriter recitals), the Club Marathon tour, DJ events (techno, drum'n'bass, dub, reggae), regular movie nights, numerous skate and BMX sessions and also competitions, table tennis matches, arts lectures, Magic the Gathering meetings, photography exhibitions, poetry evenings (modelled in the style of the Young Rhymes), board games and lots of other stuff.

External links

Creative Platform INDE website (in English and Italian)

Creative Platform Inde

Contents

Background

Programme

See also

External links

Operated by

Financed by