House! Society for People and Spaces

Contact

Hiša! društvo za ljudi in prostore

Orožnova 7, SI-2000 Maribor

http://www.ziva-dvorisca.si/

Katja Beck Kos, President

katja@drustvo-hisa.si

Set up in 2010, House! produces and fosters several culturally and socially invigorating programmes. As its full name – Society for people and spaces – implies, their activities often tend to address public spaces, foremost those in the city of Maribor. It is involved in the Actors of Urban Change project, led by the Robert Bosch Foundation, and its aim of achieving "sustainable and participatory urban development through cultural activities" holds for House! as well.

Its first and still ongoing initiative is the Living courtyards programme of reviving various urban spots. It is integrated into the summer festival Lent, as are some other society's initiatives. Among them are street performances, for which House! also collaborates with the Ana Desetnica International Street Theatre Festival.

Programmes

Together with Vetrinjski dvor House! is organising the Maribor line of the well liked seasonal events of Ana Desetnica, the Ana Frost and the Ana Blaze. Another notable project run by the House! society is the CGU Printmaking Art Centre, an on-going international workshop for printmaking art, located at Vetrinjski dvor.

It also collaborated with the Maribor National Liberation Museum and several local educational isntitutions, researching and presenting the industrial heritage of Maribor.

Living courtyards and Living town

Living courtyards, a year-round program, has brought to life several abandoned semi-public spaces, the Maribor backyards in the city centre, giving an opportunity to artists to revive courtyards in collaboration with the local community. The project has won the best international collaboration prize at the BIO 50 (Biennial of Design (BIO)) and has been extensively applied during the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012 project.

Živa Dvorišča - Dvorišča Plešejo / Dancing Courtyards by Bostjan Selinsek on Vimeo

Living town programme aims at revitalization of deserted or forgotten streets of the city in co-operation with the local clubs, street theatre, craftsmen and residents. Widely popular Koroška Live brings dozens of activities to the Koroška Street temporary turned into a pedestrian zone during the Lent Festival).

Rajzefiber biro

The Rajzefiber office provides an alternative tourist offer, tailored for individual guests and presenting the less obvious spots, sights and activities around the city. It is developing various new ways of how tourist services can be done and is set to continuously discover new local curiosities.

Re:Ciklama by Niko Poljanšek on Vimeo

International projects

As of 2017 House! leads an international joint project financed by the Creative Europe fund, called LUCity and bent on "bringing communities and artists together on an international level". In a way it is an ambitious expansion of the already existing Living courtyards and Living town initiatives.

House! is recognized as an innovative local community initiative (Award InLoCom 2013), and received two Challenge Future Summit 2013 awards in the category of social enterprises and the main prize of Maribor. It is invovled in the Erasmus Youth Mobility programmes.

See also

• CGU Printmaking Art Centre
• Ana Desetnica
• Lent Festival
• Vetrinjski dvor

External links

• Living courtyards website
• Living City on FB
• Rajzefiber biro website
• Rajzefiber biro on FB
• Rajzefiber office presentation on BIO 50, 2014
• Actors of Urban Change website

Gallery

Located at the GT22 cultural hub, the CGU Printmaking Art Centre runs different workshops on printmaking art, 2017

The Ana Mraz (Ana Frost) festival is – in a way – the winter edition of the Ana Desetnica Street Theatre Festival. Held across Slovenia and co-organised by various producers, the House! Society takes care of it in Maribor, 2017.

The Spoken Word Maribor is an open stage. It is available not only to musicians but also to others who'd like to share their work or their thoughts. The venue in question is theRajzefiber biro, led by the House! Society, 2017

The Pošta Maribor Cultural and Arts Society traditionally presents the works created during its annual art course during the Lent Festival, 2017

A poetry reading and painting exhibition, held in one of the courtyards in Maribor and organised by the House! Society, 2017

A travelogue lecture at the so called Rajzefiber biro, 2017