ABC No Rio

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The ABC No Rio is a cultural center in the district of Lower East Side in New York . It was founded in 1980 and played an important role in establishing the second wave of New York Hardcore in the 1990s .

history

In the 1970s, there was an increase in the vacancy rate of residential property in the Lower East Side, accompanied by a devaluation of the district and the relocation of residents. Around 1980, due to cheap rents, an opposite trend began that brought musicians and other artists to the area. One side effect of this influx of mostly young, poorly financially strong people was squatting. The foundation of ABC No Rio was preceded by an exhibition sponsored by the artist group Colab on the topics of gentrification and vacancy management, which opened on January 1, 1980 in an occupied house on Delancey Street, one of the main arteries of the Lower East Side, and officially opened the following day has been closed. Media interest led to negotiations with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the exhibition organizers were offered the rent of a building on nearby Rivington Street, the property of which was due to outstanding tax payments from the The previous owner had fallen to the city ("In rem jurisdiction"). This building was named ABC No Rio by the exhibition organizers . The name comes from an only partially legible billboard that was attached to the building when the building was occupied and originally contained the words "Abogado Con Notario" (Spanish for "lawyer and notary"). The artists, including the German Peter Mönnig , initially only occupied the ground floor, the upper floors initially remained living space and were later vacant. In the early days it was the aim of the cultural center to provide artists with space for work and self-organized exhibitions. Exhibiting and regularly performing artists included Kembra Pfahler , Michelle Shocked and Beck Hansen .

Around 1990 a generation change took place in the administration of the cultural center. The center of the New York hardcore scene was by then the CBGB was that the Sunday Hardcore - matinees hired because of escalating violence in the concerts and in the environment of the club in December 1989th ABC No Rio took over the format at the insistence of Mike Bromberg, singer of the band SFA , but tried to avoid big names and bands with dubious or ambiguous statements on political and social issues when selecting the bands. As a result, the club was primarily associated with these hardcore concerts in public, especially since the concert promoters, including the bands Go! and Citizens Arrest , quickly took power on the organizing committee. The City of New York saw this development with concern and in 1994 canceled the lease to sell the building. After an unsuccessful evacuation attempt, people from the area around the center occupied the upper floors of the building, which prevented evacuation for the following years while both parties sought an amicable solution. In 1998 the user community fought for a kind of right of first refusal , which provided for a purchase price of one US dollar in the event that ABC No Rio presented a realistic renovation and financing plan. In 2004 the organizing committee presented the plan, which was approved by the HPD in 2006. The purchase took place a few months later. At this point, the building was so dilapidated that renovation seemed disproportionate, and planning for a new building began. Funds were raised over the years through donations and art auctions, including works by Claes Oldenburg and Yoko Ono donated by the artists ; Boy Sets Fire , I Hate Myself and Saetia took part in a benefit sampler in 1999 . When the demolition of a neighboring Matze factory , which had existed since 1925, was announced in January 2015 , the new building was started, as it was assumed that the building fabric of the ABC No Rio would not survive the neighboring construction work. By June 2016, exhibitions, offices and workshops moved to various alternative quarters. At the beginning of 2017, the collective had collected about 80% of the budgeted funds for the new building, including 1.5 million US dollars from private donations and own funds and 4.8 million dollars from the City of New York and other municipal sponsors, according to other sources even a total of 8 million US dollars -Dollar. There is no precise schedule for the construction and the inauguration of the new building. The demolition work began in March 2017.

use

ABC No Rio has been a venue for music concerts, cabaret and readings since 1980. In the 1980s there were also theatrical performances, including pieces by Rainer Werner Fassbinder . A tradition that has existed since 1989 is the hardcore matinees, which enable younger fans to attend hardcore concerts. Occasionally concerts are recorded; Saetia's live album Live At ABC No Rio achieved a greater reach . ABC No Rio has an art gallery, a fanzine library, a screen printing workshop, a darkroom for developing photos, and a public computer lab. ABC No Rio offers space and infrastructure to various organizations and groups, according to the New York section of Food Not Bombs . The cultural center's annual budget is approximately $ 80,000. The managing director is the only permanent employee of the center. The ABC No Rio facilities have been scattered across New York since mid-2016, as the old building is being torn down and replaced by a new one.

literature

  • Alan Moore, Marc Miller: ABC No Rio Dinero. The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery . ABC No Rio, New York City 1985 (English).
  • Alan W. Moore: ABC No Rio an an Anarchist Space . In: Tom Goyens (Ed.): Racical Gotham. Anarchism in New York City from Schwab's Saloon to Occupy Wall Street . 1st edition. University of Illinois Press, Champaign 2017, ISBN 978-0-252-08254-2 , pp. 201-220 (English).

Web links

Commons : ABC No Rio  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NewYorker.com: Fish Tales. Retrieved March 13, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Vice.com: "This Is Hardcore Not ABC No Rio!" - Looking Back on 25 Years of DIY Punk in New York City. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b BrooklynRail.org: ABC No Rio. Retrieved March 13, 2017 .
  4. ^ NYTimes.com: Punk Institution Receives City Money for New Building. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  5. ↑ NYTimes.com: ABC No Rio Gears Up for a Razing and a Brand-New Home. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  6. ↑ ABCNoRio.org: A New Building. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  7. ^ Artforum.com: ABC No Rio Scheduled for Demolition and Rebuilding. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  8. ^ VillageVoice.com: ABC No Rio's Beloved Hardcore Scene Transcends Its Physical Space. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  9. ↑ BoweryBoogie.com: Demolition of ABC No Rio's Former HQ Commences on Rivington Street. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Spiegel.de: The rich Jew in Manhattan. Retrieved March 18, 2017 .