sixth months of autonomy

rampart | 12.12.2004 20:23 | Free Spaces | Indymedia | London

Born in the what may have been the final weeks of the wombles ex-grandbanks social centre, the rampART has been a space in time - a time in space - providing opportunities within the big smoke for autonomous alternative progressive non-hirachical self-organised self-motivated DIY culture....

Six months since opening, the rampART creative space and social centre is about to celebrate it's six month window of exisitance and invites you to participate, comment and evolve.

17th and 18th Dec will see a festival of celebration to which you are all invited...

During the last six months rampART has hosted free community cinema every week. Films shown include; Fight Club, The Forth World War, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, The Globalisation Tapes, Indefensible and Metropolis plus some of the latest blockbusters, such as I Robot and The Day After Tomorrow. On July 4th we premiered Michael Moores 'Fahrenheit 911' as part of an ‘Independence FROM America’ themed evening. At it's peak, 120 people squeezed in for a documentary about McLibel and a premiere of ‘Supersize Me’. As well as the regular cinema, rampART has been: a gallery for ‘a beginning...’, the first exihibtion of a young london artist; photo exhibition space for ZDO9; regular haunt of the European Creative Forum, including the massive free festival for peace with Peace Not War; venue for a week long ‘Venezuela Solidarity’ event; blown away for a cracking rising tide benefit gig to raise some dosh for climate change campaigning in London; homebase for the Laboritory of Inserectional Imagination during the European Social Forum plus laying on free food, a huge range of entertainment plus accomodation for 50 european visitors; space for the band Gertrude to record tracks for their next album; fortnightly queerT party; regular venue for bolivian and chillean solidarity groups raising money for political prisoners; braved issues of Africa with a weeklong series of talks, films, food and discussion; precarity ideas & direct action, and been streaming some wicked radio with spoken word, revolutionry tunes and local DJs/MCs on the decks nearly every night.

A two day fesitival of autonomy with workshops, presentations, peformance and music is planned for the 17th and 8th of December. The aim is to breath life into the concept of autonomous spaces for 2005 and to raise funds for the continuation of the rampART in this current tempoary space and perhaps beyond.

For various reasons it is expected that the rampart will hit the wall around march and other spaces on London open around the same time. The rampART needs a little injection of cash to pay a few essentials in order to make it through to this period of transition.

Hence the ramPARTY...

The two day event includes an open day on saturday afternoon (18th Dec) with a variety of workshops being laid on by groups and individuals who have used the rampART space during the last 6 months. Other autonomous spaces and projects from around London and beyond are encouraged to come and make presentations, thus helping to raise awareness of the various cool things that are happening and which people can get involved in. Please contact rampART if you'd like to get involved. (mailto:

rampart@mutualaid.org)

rampART benefit festival programme [full programme on www.rampart.co.nr]

Friday 17th Dec

7pm: Freegan food and alt fashion show
8pm: Open mic and spoken word
9pm: The Rub and Angel
10pm: Surge - live electronic set with visuals from
11pm: DJ Milo (Oldskool elktro & funk vibes)
12pm: DJ Fusie (UKG)
1am: DJ Syo (Hip-hop & rap classix)

VJ's mickey- freedom, james- x, silent eclipse, eykon

Saturday 18th (open-day from midday)

Workshops:
1pm: open source software (creative media lab - 1st floor)
1:30: social centres network (library - 1st floor)
2pm: stenciling (painting room - 2nd floor)
2.30: subvertiseing (painting room - 2nd floor)
3pm: video editing (the hub - 2nd floor)
3.30: screenprinting (painting room - 2nd floor)
4pm: DIY fashion and costume making (costume room - 2nd floor)
4.30: radio workshop (recording studio - 2nd floor)
5pm: drumming and juggling (hall ground floor)

6pm: Food & Schnews Movies, Undercurrents and Real2Reel
8pm: Acoustic music and spoken word.
9pm: Cabaret with Saddam and the Lookalikes
10pm: Colin Halliwell (loud one man four piece rock and roll band)
10.30 Lower Depth (punk)
11pm: Davidcronenbergswife (alternative)
12pm: DJ Sexyrubbersole (d'n'b)
1am: dj Chakmig (breakbeat/d'n'b)

Exhibitions: photos, paintings and mixed media paintings around the building

SOOOO!!!! this is your party, your event, your space, your time...!

We need, want, YOU!

As well as the need for cash to pay electricity, water and internet connecttion... we need, (WE as in the wider MOVEMENT (if such exists)) energy, input and involvement.

SO!!! this is NOT a ramPARTY! it is YOURparty! We want and need to hear from YOU!

Tell US and the WORLD! what this space has meant to you and 'the movement'.

Comment NOW on how the rampART has contributed to the move towards autonomy and a better future (or not!)...

PLEASE!! promote and network the dates 17th / 18th Dec for the ramPARTY!. Not just for the immeadiate need for cash for bills, but also the need to continue the energy, space, initiative and possibilities of SPACE in london and beyond.

THIS IS OUR TIME/SPACE and WE NEED TO ENSURE THE FUTURE by our own participation!

nothing else will do. this is DIY culture

so

please

spread the word

A N D

B E T H E F U C K I N G F U T U R E !

tell us your story. how has the rampART contribued? What use have you made? ESF stories? This is your thread....

rampart

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

basque best!

12.12.2004 20:35

awsome entertainment, best of the esf period had to be the basque street protest band that had the rampart stomping to the revolutionary beat with 300 sweaty people mashing it up beyond the borders of capital.

video cli from russia indymedia uploaded soon

ESF rampart remembered

12.12.2004 20:52

How is RAMPART doing? I hope everything is Ok and you are satisfied...

I love to write and in my free time I use do it. I would like to write a short book with my thoughts about the time I spent in London and I have already started...

So I have somethig for you but it's in italian.

INIZIAVA IL MIO VIAGGIO

Ho imparato a scontrarmi
col destino delle altrui vite
Incredula negavo la forza
delle energie condivise
Porte sprangate nella mia torre
d'avorio
Scrutavo dall'alto
Curiosità divorava ogni giorno
brandelli di carne
Risucchiava dall'ampolla
la poca aria rimasta
Poi l'impeto dalla troppa insoddisfazione
Salto.Nel vuoto.
Mi son lasciata
libera di volare.
Fluttuare.Atterrare.
Ho riposato tra genti comuni
Nutrita da piatti succulenti
delle più diverse tradizioni
Succhiato per bene
ogni osso,scheletro
delle loro esistenze
Divorato i loro racconti
dal sapore esotico e lontano
senza mai troppo credervi
Gustato in silenzio
deliziosi infusi
dai magici poteri
E allorchè il sonno mi concedeva
una tregua
lasciava la veglia condurmi
nel buoi,in punta di piedi,
quanto più vicino alle loro stanze
a far tesoro dei loro
segreti costumi.

Si libravano di nuovo
i miei pensieri
non più incastonati
saldi come pietre
nelle pieghe della terra
Ma dalla terra sospinti
di nuovo nell'etere.

Iniziava il mio viaggio.

enrica

I find what you are doing in RAMPART very useful and interesting.
Continue on this way and good luck...

the rampart

12.12.2004 21:50

rampart street

We spent about a week at Ramparts in the beginning of June. We had our
very own room next to the kicthen. The bathroom was an experience! We
never really understood how to make the bath-water warm without waking
everyone up, so needless to say, we have our memories of sitting there
in the freezing cold water. We even visited the next door neightbours
who invited us for a cup of tea while waiting for the door to be opened.
They had a lovely roof, so we ended up hanging on the roof. At the first
day Essi arrived, there was a nice filmnight, (which she of course
missed) and the day we left there was another one (we missed that one
too). We had a really great time and we wish to visit there again.
Thanks for letting us stay there! Tuuli and Essi (FIN)

rampARTS esf video basque clip

12.12.2004 22:38

here are the clips basque music night from the rampART with police surveillance and party

rov

rampart basque esf video clip

13.12.2004 00:38

here is some clip of rampart basque band event night

Autonomous community

13.12.2004 14:04

Best space to build community networking!!!!

jerome

Video of rampart

13.12.2004 18:19

For me, the venezualan event was a brilliant example of the potentional of autonomous social centers, providing social space for discussion, films, food, music and other entertainment over the week long event.

The ESF period was another whirlwind of activity which was very inspiring for me. Looks like indymedia is doing its common trick of refusing to upload multimedia content so the basque video hasn't appeared above. However, this link

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/08/296292.html goes to an early video

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2004/08/296294.avi about the rampart. It was made shortly after the Venezualan Week of Solidarity and shown at an ECF event.

Anyone care to upload some photos?

real

FIT up framed

13.12.2004 18:24

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/300909.html

Photos take outside rampART during ESF

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/11/300909.html

hoy

Nice place, wonderful people, great events

13.12.2004 20:15

Yeah, the Rampart...
I`ve spend great summer in this place, met lot of interesting people, saw the social centre growing, developing. Now i come here again, after of couple of months abroad, and i see lots of changes, for better obviously :D. Its nice to see that plenty of people are dedicating their time and effort to make things "go". Get there to the party, support the place with You being here, its worth it, believe me. Most strange and wonderful things happen around this place, i swear :). See You all here, Raf.

Raf
mail e-mail: kierownikrw@poczta.fm

rampart opened 6 months ago,

18.12.2004 06:16

... and Whitechapel was never the same again. Suddenly buses Nos. 15 and 115 were fuller up to New Road, and the locals would indicate the way to rampart street even before asking them.

Suddenly there was this backstreet in London that every one outside the city knew, "ah yes, I stayed there for a few days..." "Yes, of course I've heard of Rampart, how couldn't I" "Isnt there where they do the radio?" "I've heard that they have this machine there, that you put a disk in and ... amazing"

Even the cops paid a visit, but then you are not a proper "anti-social space" if you don't get them, do you?

The ESF and beyond would not have been the same without RampART, and so many other things were possible thanks to its energy.

It is one of those things that simply "are" there, and you wrongly take for granted, and you think about it and you wonder what was life like before it, how could you actually manage to live before you had it.

Let's see where this takes us...

nke

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