Squatter Dani must have left the former Petit Théâtre at the Kunstwerf by Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the latest. The examining magistrate decided this on Wednesday evening a few hours after a hearing.
Dani must then have made way for the design and marketing company Llorem Ipsum, which has signed a contract with Carex.
The Petit Théâtre, a jazz café located in the monumental regulator house of the former gas factory, recently went bankrupt. The squatter moved in alone with the plan to found a creative place, with film, music and food for people with little money.
Place for daydreaming and hard marketing
The Groningen Monument Fund (GMF) filed a report, just as the owner. The fund disbands itself, after which the building is transferred to the municipality, but has still engaged Carex to find a user until a final tenant (or buyer) arrives. Carex ended up at Llorem Ipsum, which describes itself as a ‘colorful group of young designers, makers and creatives’, a combination of ‘daydreamers and tough marketing bosses’. The young company was looking hard for suitable space and had been working from home until now.
Dani, an anarchist philosophy student who rejects the right to private property, still hoped that the examining magistrate would take into account that Carex and Llorem Ipsum only concluded their contract after he had squatted the building, and not before. That argument turned out to be subordinate to the law introduced in 2018 that simply prohibits squatting. With that law in hand, the examining magistrate decided that the regulator’s house must be empty and available on Friday afternoon. The squatter reacted disappointed. ,,Shame. And now I’m homeless again.” This last argument also turned out to be legally subordinate.
Llorem Ipsum will undoubtedly be happy to stay there for a longer period of time. A construction project is planned near the monument in the coming years. No final destination for the building is expected before this is completed.