centro sociale

One of the best parts about this weekend was my experience at the centro sociale in Bologna called Crash. A centro sociale, or social center, is essentially a "public" space that students and young people have occupied and use to throw parties, have concerts, protest any number of things, and generally just hang out. I use the word "public" in quotation marks because in the case of this centro sociale, as with many, it is not so much public as it is abandoned.

This is a phenomenon that I find incredibly interesting. As Chiara explained it to me, the students occupy these spaces because they find it outrageous that in order to go out to dance or drink in Italy, you have to pay a cover for a club or discoteca and then more money for drinks, which, depending on the city and the venue, can end up adding up to anywhere from 25 to 50 euro for a night out. So they occupy these spaces as a protest against these institutions. In my opinion, this is an effect of the vast difference between the university experience in Italy and that in the USA. At college in the US, you generally go out to dorm parties or parties thrown by friends, and at most you pay for the alcohol you buy for yourself (and maybe late-night pizza). Since there is no real dorm life in Italy, this inexpensive option does not exist, and thus, the need to create one.

Another difference, however, is the concept of the active response. When I'm home in NYC, if I don't have the money to do something, I simply don't do it. I'm not outraged that I can't afford to go to clubs, I just don't go. There has been no active effort that I know of to occupy an abandoned building and create a free party space. Maybe there is, and I don't know about it. But I think there are certain cultural restrictions as well. First of all, there aren't that many abandoned buildings. Second of all, they're very close to inhabited buildings, which means someone would notice right away if you occupied one. Lastly, the centri sociali are fairly functional; this one had a bar with beer taps and a full stage with a sound system. Chiara tells me that they had these things built and are in the process of paying off their debts to the people who built them. Could you even find someone in the US to build a bar in an abandoned house? And would they do it without any kind of reimbursement?

So many questions!

Anyway, here is a link to the headlining performance, Kaos One. I couldn't understand a word, but the crowd at Crash went crazy for him...