Bottom-up cooperation between the independent cultural sector and domestic and European institutions can lead to both the decentralisation of cultural production and the democratisation of culture. So says Katarina Pavić of the Croatian cultural hub organisation Culture 2 Commons.
Culture and the commons is a cooperation between Eurozine and European Cultural Foundation's (ECF) Connected Action for the Commons, a network and action research programme coordinated by the ECF together with cultural organisations in Croatia, France, Poland, Moldova, Spain and Sweden.
More from the Eurozine Culture and the Commons Focal point:
Could alternative interlocal forms of mobilisation around the commons revive solidarities and keep the prospect of a common Europe alive in an age of austerity? Read more about the new focal point, created in partnership with the ECF and Eurozine.
Commoning strategies are often improvised even in the liminal spaces that emerge in the cracks of Fortress Europe, says urban anthropologist Jayne O. Ifekwunigwe. In a text based on her September 2015 talk at the ECF's annual Idea Camp, Ifekwunigwe calls for a new commons that embraces both the mobile and the settled.
There are a raft of major challenges that complicate the creation of the commons today. The researcher and writer Charlie Tims considers some of the most pressing of these challenges – in combination with landmark efforts to regain control over domestic and international modes of governance, as well as to reclaim resources, public space and housing. The following text is based on his September 2015 talk at the ECF's annual Idea Camp.
Received notions of artistic and social practices belonging to separate spheres of society are fading away, writes Agnieszka Wiśniewska of Krytyka Polityczna (Poland). The commons is where cultural and social activists meet with the broader public and, together, create a genuinely participatory culture.
We are thrilled to start a new partnership with Eurozine as part of our Connected Action for the Commons programme. Drawing on our common affinities, we launch a new focal point exploring the prospects for a commons where cultural and social activists meet with a broader public to create new ways of living together.