Rog (factory)

{{Infobox building

| name = Rog

| native_name = Avtonomna tovarna Rog

| native_name_lang = Slovenian

| image = Rog trekk by enterance to Rog factory (Ljubljana, Slovenia).jpg

| image_size =

| image_alt = Bike in front of logo

| image_caption = Rog logo

| coordinates = {{coord|46.0514|14.5151|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| former_names =

| location =

| address =

| location_city =

| location_country =

| completion_date =

| owner = City of Ljubljana

| website = {{URL|tovarna.org}}

}}

Rog Autonomous Factory (Slovenian: Avtonomna tovarna Rog), known as Rog, was a squatted bicycle factory in Ljubljana. It was used as a cultural centre and self-managed social centre from 2006 until 2021. The complex housed a music venue, a skate park, a medical clinic for asylum seekers, a football pitch and artist ateliers. After years of debate over its future, the centre was evicted by the city council in January 2021.

History

In 1871, Ivan Janeš bought the triangle of land in Ljubljana now bordered by the Trubarjeva, Petkovškovo and Rozmanova streets and set up a tannery. Karel Pollak purchased the land in 1900 and enclosed it, building a villa. The bicycle manufacturers Rog constructed the factory in 1951 and used it until 1991, when the site became derelict. It was recognised as a monument of national heritage in 1998 and bought by the city council in 2002, but remained empty apart from occasionally being used for events.{{cite news |last1=Mrevlje |first1=Neža |title=Deset let legendarnega Roga: Janković bi ga naredil na novo, uporabniki ga ne dajo (foto in video) |url=https://siol.net/trendi/kultura/deset-let-legendarnega-roga-jankovic-bi-ga-naredil-na-novo-uporabniki-ga-ne-dajo-foto-in-video-414780 |access-date=5 February 2021 |work=Siol |date=25 March 2016 |language=sl}}

Occupation

File:Old Rog bike factory (6702575545).jpg

The factory complex was squatted in 2006 and kept the name Rog. The occupiers declared "As a non-formal network of individuals we believe that our actions are completely legitimate and well-grounded, although, at the moment, lacking official permission".{{Cite web|url=http://tovarna.org/node/111|title=Collective Statement About Opening Rog to the Public|website=Factory Rog|archive-date=2016-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805181113/http://tovarna.org/node/111|url-status=live}} The centre was run by assembly and hosted different activities, functioning as both a cultural centre for art and a self-managed social centre. It hosted concerts, lectures, refugee support activities and other events.{{cite journal |last1=Centrih |first1=Lev |title=The Rog Autonomous Factory: A Conflict between Post-Socialist Self-Management and Public-Private Partnership |journal=Lex Localis - Journal of Local Self-Government |date=2018 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=379–394 |doi=10.4335/16.2.379-394(2018) |url=https://doi.org/10.4335/16.2.379-394(2018) |access-date=2021-02-04 |archive-date=2021-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204222330/http://pub.lex-localis.info/index.php/LexLocalis/article/view/16.2.379-394%282018%29 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

The centre was used by many groups, such as Antifašistična fronta (Antifascist Front), Nevidni delavci sveta (Invisible Workers of the World) and the Anarcho-Queer-Feminist collective.{{cite book |last1=Oblak |first1=Teja |last2=Pan |first2=Maja |title=Lesbian Activism in the (Post-)Yugoslav Space |chapter=Yearning for Space, Pleasure, and Knowledge: Autonomous Lesbian and Queer Feminist Organising in Ljubljana |date=2019 |pages=27–59 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-77754-2_2|isbn=978-3-319-77753-5 |s2cid=158718413 }} There was also a medical clinic for asylum seekers. Volunteers built the largest skate park in the Balkans in a previously derelict hall.{{cite news |last1=Košak |first1=Klemen |title=Skejterski ponos v tovarni Rog |url=https://siol.net/novice/slovenija/skejterski-ponos-v-tovarni-rog-244261 |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=Siol |date=21 February 2011 |language=sl |archive-date=11 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211184053/http://siol.net/novice/slovenija/skejterski-ponos-v-tovarni-rog-244261 |url-status=live }} Another hall housed the concert venue and there were also the "Blue corner", a football pitch, a circus space, artist ateliers, galleries and a graffiti workshop.{{cite news |last1=Brdnik |first1=Žiga |title=Janković bo rušil, rogovci imajo svojo rešitev |url=https://www.dnevnik.si/1042735035/lokalno/ljubljana/-jankovic-bo-rusil-rogovci-imajo-svojo-resitev |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=Dnevnik |date=4 May 2016 |archive-date=9 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809120325/https://www.dnevnik.si/1042735035/lokalno/ljubljana/-jankovic-bo-rusil-rogovci-imajo-svojo-resitev |url-status=live }}

Conflict with city council

Mayor Zoran Janković threatened to evict the squat in 2010, but the support of the local community and organizations dissuaded him.{{cite news |last1=Jesenšek |first1=Mojca Zabukovec, Maša |last2=Zabukovec |first2=Mojca |title=Rogovci v boj proti še eni mestni gradbeni jami |url=https://old.delo.si/novice/ljubljana/rogovci-v-boj-proti-se-eni-mestni-gradbeni-jami.html |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=Delo |date=7 April 2016 |language=sl-si |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204222331/https://old.delo.si/novice/ljubljana/rogovci-v-boj-proti-se-eni-mestni-gradbeni-jami.html |url-status=live }} In 2010, the city of Ljubljana participated in the Central European project A Second Chance: From Industrial Use to Creative Impulse, joining the cities of Nuremberg (former AEG factory), Leipzig (HALLE 14 of the former Cotton Spinning Mill), Venice (the Arsenale), and Kraków (a tram depot). The project aimed to upgrade former industrial sites into cultural hubs, and to make Rog into the Rog Centre for Contemporary Arts.{{cite news |last1=Staff writer |url=https://www.dnevnik.si/1042638832/dom/arhitektura/tovarna-rog-se-bo-razvila-v-center-sodobne-umetnosti|title=Tovarna Rog se bo razvila v center sodobne umetnosti|date=2010-12-21|work=Dnevnik|archive-date=2016-08-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809085802/https://www.dnevnik.si/1042638832/dom/arhitektura/tovarna-rog-se-bo-razvila-v-center-sodobne-umetnosti|url-status=live}}

In 2016, the squat celebrated its ten-year anniversary with concerts, exhibitions and debates.{{cite news |title=Tovarna Rog: Desetletnica zasedbe opuščenih prostorov in napovedano rušenje |url=https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/drugo/tovarna-rog-desetletnica-zasedbe-opuscenih-prostorov-in-napovedano-rusenje/388997 |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=RTV Slovenia |date=24 March 2016 |language=sl}} In June, the city council unsuccessfully attempted to evict the centre, bringing a digger to start demolishing in the middle of the night. It was later sued by the centre.{{cite news |last1=Sabina Jelenc Krašovec, Urša Černič, Jasna Mažgon, Barbara Šteh, Marta Gregorčič, Damijan Šefanc, Mojca Kovač Šebart, Andreja Hočevar, Marjeta Šarič, Katja Jeznik, Robi Kroflič, Petra Gregorčič Mrvar, Vesna Podgornik, Princes Nevenka, Klara Skubic Ermenc, Jana Kalin, Danijela Makovec Radovan, Marko Radovan, Roman Kuhar, Anja Zalta, Jože Vogrinc, Primož Krašovec, Milica Antić Gaber, Gorazd Kovačič, Damjan Mandelc, Ana Vogrinčič Čepič |title=Proti rušenju nekdanje tovarne Rog |url=https://www.mladina.si/174658/proti-rusenju-nekdanje-tovarne-rog |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=Mladina |date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=4 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204222328/https://www.mladina.si/174658/proti-rusenju-nekdanje-tovarne-rog |url-status=live }} A demolition permit had been signed in 2011 and extended in 2014, and was due to run out with no possibility to extend it again. The Rog collective then presented its own vision of how to develop the factory complex.

Eviction and Demolition

{{Update section|date=March 2024|reason=A monument to the Erased has been unveiled,{{cite web | url=https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/odkrili-so-spomenik-izbrisanim-v-obliki-crke-c/ | title=Odkrili spomenik v obliki črke Ć, posvečen izbrisanim }} and there have been numerous protests against the "gentrification" of the site{{cite web | url=https://n1info.si/novice/slovenija/odpira-se-center-rog-kateri-lokali-in-trgovine-bodo-tam-in-kaj-se-bo-na-voljo/ | title=Odpira se Center Rog: Kateri lokali in trgovine bodo tam in kaj še bo na voljo? | date=15 October 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/blazic-ljubljana-ima-problem-zamida-postali-smo-strelovod-nestrinjanja-z-mestno-politiko/686461 | title=Blažič: "Ljubljana ima problem." Zamida: "Postali smo strelovod nestrinjanja z mestno politiko." }}{{cite web | url=https://radiostudent.si/politika/kultivator/neorog | title=Neorog }}}}

Rog was evicted in January 2021 by the city council, which claimed it was empty and abandoned at the time. The centre argued that the people ordered to leave the site following a court case had indeed left but other people were still using the space since in total there were between 100 and 200 participants, tolerated by verbal agreement with the council. The centre was given thirty days to appeal the judgement.{{cite news |last1=Staff writer |title=Občina nadaljuje rušitvena dela. Odvetnik rogovcev: Za nekatere ljudi ni pravne podlage za izgon. |url=https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/obcina-nadaljuje-rusitvena-dela-odvetnik-rogovcev-za-nekatere-ljudi-ni-pravne-podlage-za-izgon/549609 |access-date=4 February 2021 |work=RTV Slovenia |date=20 January 2021 |language=sl |archive-date=20 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120163601/https://www.rtvslo.si/slovenija/obcina-nadaljuje-rusitvena-dela-odvetnik-rogovcev-za-nekatere-ljudi-ni-pravne-podlage-za-izgon/549609 |url-status=live }} Twelve people were arrested as they tried to stop city workers beginning the demolition of the site and eight were later charged with various offences. Afterwards a man was charged with burning down a tree at Prešeren Square.

The city of Ljubljana then proceeded with plans to set up a cultural centre called the Rog Centre in the former factory lot, funneling an additional budget of 1.85 million euros towards the project. In June 2021, the Marco 5 construction company won a contract over 14.2 million euros for the construction of the project.{{cite news |title=Center Rog bo gradilo koprsko podjetje Makro 5 gradnje |url=https://n1info.si/gospodarstvo/center-rog-bo-gradilo-koprsko-podjetje-makro-5-gradnje/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |work=n1info.si |date=30 June 2021 |language=sl}} Construction of the new Rog Center was finished in October 2023, housing various manufacturing workshops, lecture halls, a library and residential areas on four floors totalling 8000 m².{{cite web |title=Center Rog je odprl svoja vrata |url=https://www.ljubljana.si/sl/aktualno/center-rog-je-odprl-svoja-vrata/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |date=27 October 2023 |language=sl}} Squatters that had occupied Rog for many years sought out other sites around Ljubljana and occupied the former canteen of the bankrupt Ljubljana Road Company, forming a new squatter zone known as the Participatory Ljubljana Autonomous Zone (PLAC).{{cite web |title=Center Rog bo gradilo koprsko podjetje Makro 5 gradnje |url=https://en.squat.net/2022/09/07/ljubljana-plac-new-autonomous-zone-squatted/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |date=7 September 2022}}

References

External links

[http://tovarna.org/ Rog factory website]
[https://ambasada-rog.si/ Ambasada Rog / "Embassy of Rog" (slovenian)]
[https://archive.org/details/ROG_-_smo_zacasni_-_we_are_temporary_-_documentary Rog – We are temporary], a documentary about the Rog factory