On the night of September 5, 2013 and during the following day, over 200 empty buildings in Riga acquired bright yellow stickers with a daring message "OCCUPY ME". The aim of the campaign was to highlight the absurd situation that almost every fifth building in Riga is unoccupied while hundreds of social and creative initiatives lack space. Unexpectedly, the idea gained enormous popularity and gave birth to the FREE RIGA movement with the aim to bring together creative and social initiatives that need spaces, with the owners of empty buildings that need support for their improvement.
That the FREE RIGA idea is not merely a utopian dream was demonstrated by the already re-vitalized territories – the Maskava suburb’s culture-point Līksnas 26 and Brasalona, which occupied an abandoned garden surrounded by factories at Gaujas street, behind the Brasa station. Various discussions, workshops, performances and presentations were organized throughout September, keeping in focus the ever-urgent issue of Riga’s abandoned buildings.