Monika Neverauskaite
Poortgebouw
Poortgebouw is a ‘gatebuilding’. Poort stands for ‘gate’, gebouw - ‘building’. It is an extraordinary building located on the south bank of the river Maas in Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid district. The monumental house was built in 1879.
Poortgebouw was used for various different purposes and needs. It was amongst others the Holland America Lijn, a meteorlogic station, and for the longest time the Port of Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Havenbedrijf).
In 1978, the port was relocated and so the building was abandoned. In 1980, October 3, the gatebuilding was squatted. The idea of new incomers was to transformate the building from an abandoned office space into an autonomous zone, a living space, a youth center where various social, cultural and political activities could take place. They believed in the benefits of more social and communal forms of people living and working together. In 1982 September the official organization was founded - Vereniging Poortgebouw.
Since then, Poortgebouw became a home for international people consisting of artists, musicians, activists, craftmen, etc. It gave not only the residential needs but also hosted social and cultural events and interactions as non-profit orientated activites. It became a living space based on an open-mind and do-it-yourself attitude. As a community it has “rules” to make the house function that are principally non-hierarchical, built upon foundations of tolerance and peace, awareness of the needs of the other one and the freedom of thought and self-expression.
Today it is known as a collective of about 30 inhabitants organized as members. All of them are personalities coming from different countries, with different nationalities, different knowledge, education, experience and points of view. By living together, they exchange and share ideas. Being a member of the Poortgebouw does not mean only living in the house and using the space only for a residential benefit. It is also a contribution to the building by any action, activity or initiative.
Open Stage
Open Stage is a new platform for free and independent circus development. It is an independent event where everything is based on organizer’s and artists’ good will and initiative to create, share and perform together with people and for people. No other official organization, institution or community is involved.
Main focus is on circus arts, though any other performing art, including dance, music, theatre, etc., is more than welcome. The idea is to gather circus students, graduates, amateurs, becoming or already existing artists together with their own acts and to perform them on the stage. This project is based on artists’ solo, duo or group pieces that create a show of different performances with different circus disciplines. Some of the acts are completely finished and have been performed many times, some are still in “work in progress”
This project started in 2012 May at the building of Poortgebouw in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since then it has been organized every two months with a summer break in between.
CirqueGebouw
CirqueGebouw is a bunch of circus artists who come together as a troupe. They have one name but there are always different people in the group. All artists have their own solo or duo acts that create one big show of different performances with different circus disciplines.
CirqueGebouw was founded in 2013 September when they had their first performance outside Poortgebouw. The troupe participated in 'New Circus Weekend' festival in Vilnius, Lithuania. They brought the same concept of Open Stage and performed in a real theatre among other professional circus troupes and companies, like Gandini Juggling (UK) or Circo Aereo (FI). More tours followed in the same festival in 2014 and in Theater de Kapel in Groningen, the Netherlands.
