engleski

Independent Cultural Scene as an Actor of Changes in the Urban Space: The Example of Zadar

Since its inception in the early 1990s, the independent cultural scene of Croatia represents a civically engaged field of agency which has left a permanent mark on the sociocultural development of Croatian society. In accordance with its cultural, artistic, and societal agency, often characterized by do-it-yourself ethics and activist and progressive practices, the independent cultural scene is often perceived as a driving force behind the civil resistance to the dominant forces affecting the commonality of the urban tissue. The presentation brings the results of the research dealing with the independent cultural scene of the city of Zadar, whereby the emphasis was placed on the spatial aspects of independent culture’s functioning. The continuing efforts of the scene’s actors to achieve their right to space and thus their right to the city are perceived from the theoretical perspective of critical urban theory. Focusing on the perspectives of the actors situated towards the more autonomous end of the non-institutional culture continuum, the research aimed to gain an insight into various aspects of the struggle to achieve the right to space of functioning. The research employed a qualitative approach in the form of semi- structured interviews and included twenty-one interlocutors. The results indicate that the spatial problematic of alternative and independent culture delineates broader mechanisms of relation towards spatial resources and space as a public good, thus further confirming the scene’s societal relevance. Lastly, the presentation offers an insight into the most recent changes powered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which additionally affected the scene’s precarious operating conditions.

independent cultural scene ; the right to the city ; urban actors ; Zadar ; critical urban theory

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