Story of Pekarna in Maribor

The story of Pekarna started in the 1980s during the civil society movement in the former Yugoslavia. At that time Maribor had quite a strong alternative scene. This included different bands which were just looking for rehearsal spaces as well as movements which were struggling for civil rights. In the 1990s, sometime after Slovenia‘s independence, all these groups had enough of empty promises from the municipality and they decided to squatt the former bakery in 1994. So the begining of Pekarna is really nothing big. People just had enough of promises which weren’t being kept and they decided to take what they thought belonged to them. Those were unhappy times but people were full of enthusiasm, they still had direct democracy, they dealt with all the concerns through discussions in open forums. Things have changed over the last decade. For some people Pekarna became an open space for creative work and for changes in the world, and for others Pekarna became just a free space where everything is possible and the municipality pays for it. Around 40 different subject (associations and individuals) are using this space today but many are no longer connected to the idea that stood at its begining. That is why in 2007 when the Mayor of Maribor suggested Pekarna could receive legal status, we decided to take his offer seriously. We decided the time has come to renovate and improve the production spaces and also to change the way we work here. In 2007 they wanted to move us out of Pekarna to build flats and a shopping mall in its place but we simply said no. They offered us new spaces on the other side of the town and we said no - Pekarna can happen only here. They tried to build public pressure against us. At some point the Mayor came to a public debate we organised in Pekarna, together with his people from the Department of Culture. The hall was very crowded and after 3 hours of a very heated debate, with people challenging him, shouting and laughing, he saw he didn’t have the people under his control and he eventually changed his mind. The moral of the story is very simple. You have to have a good number of people behind you and you have to get organised. And don’t be too naive. The people behind you will never fully be into your story but they will provide you with the support of bodies, with the public statement of support. And that’s it. Don’t demand too much, but demand everything.

CultureFighter

Story of Pekarna in Maribor

Gregor Kosi

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