We would like to cordially invite you to DOXA's next event at Chisenhale on Saturday 16 April. It is an open conference and round table on models and practices of the commons. Cultural practitioners, researchers, students and industry professionals are welcomed to bring or contribute examples and case studies for sustaining the commons today.Â
Hope to see you there!
- DOXA
AMASS: TOWARDS AN ECONOMY OF THE COMMONSÂ
Saturday, 16 April 2011, 1:30-5:30pmÂ
Chisenhale
64 Chisenhale Road, London E3 5QZ
RSVP:Âmail@chisenhale.org.uk
FB:Âhttp://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163869593668098
In the face of mass cuts to public services (particularly to arts and education), emerging forms of governance rampantly colonising intellectual resources in the digital domain, the privatisation of public space in urban development, and new narratives of the BigÂSociety in the UK, what does the commons mean for us today? How can we approach a new protocol for the commons under such circumstances?Â
AMASS is an open conference that invites organisations, collectives and individuals working in the cultural sector to discuss past experiences, present practices, and futureÂambitions concerning mutual aid, pooled knowledge, networked infrastructures and modes of self-organisation. Through examining these varying perspectives concerning the commons, AMASS aims to address the following key themes:Â
Open Source:ÂA way of working that is free from individual concern and notions of property in a process of shared learning.Â
Sustainability:ÂAs a collaborative, and socially minded endeavour, rather than self-reliance or preservation.Â
Self-organisation:ÂWhat meaningful self-organisation manifests through artistsâ informal working methods.Â
Precarious Labour:ÂHow to protect the rights of creative workers in an increasing atmosphere of insecurity and unpredictability.Â
Through these exchanges we wish to collectively investigate our strategies, successes, and failures, considering the obstacles and potentialities for the development of the commons. Following the event, all materials will be collated into an open online archive,Âwhich will serve as a generative research database for future endeavours.Â
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SCHEDULEÂ
1:30 â 2:00 â Opening - Tea, coffee and bagelsÂ
2:00 â 2:30 â Introduction to the commons (Stevphen Shukaitis)Â
2:30 â 3:15 â Amateurist Network (Eva Weinmayr and Sion Whellens)Â
3:15 â 3:30 â BreakÂ
3:30 â 4:15 - ...ment (Anthony Illes ; University for Strategic Optimism)Â
4:15 â 4:30 â BreakÂ
4:30 â 5:15 â DOXA (collected cases, interviews, and open analysis)Â
5:15: Closing â Please join us for drinks and social
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Contributors to AMASS include:
Stevphen ShukaitisÂis a lecturer at the University of Essex and a member of the Autonomedia editorial collective. He is the author of Imaginal Machines: Autonomy & Self-Organization in the Revolutions of Everyday Day (2009, Autonomedia) and editorÂ(with Erika Biddle and David Graeber) of Constituent Imagination: Militant Investigations // Collective Theorization (AK Press, 2007). His research focuses on the emergence of collective imagination in social movements and the changing compositions of culturalÂand artistic labor.Â
Eva WeinmayrÂis an artist, lecturer and co-director of AND, a new platform for experimental publishing. ANDâs current activities include the Piracy Book Project producing new collections for the Byam Shaw Library. Recent and upcoming exhibitions by Weinmayr include The Cult of The Difficult 2011; The Institute of Mental Health Is Burning Newport Museum and Art Gallery 2011.Âhttp://www.andpublishing.org/Â
Sion WhellensÂis Client Services Director at Calverts, a common ownership worker co-operative. He also works in co-operative development, particularly within the creative and cultural, arts and communications fields and is an elected member of the UK Co-operative Council and a Director of Co-operatives UK.Âhttp://www.calverts.coop/Â
Anthony IlesÂis a contributing editor to online and quarterly print magazine, Mute,Âhttp://metamute.org/. He is also Co-editor with Mattin of the recent book Noise & Capitalism, San Sebastian: Arteleku, 2009 and co-author with Josephine Berry Slater ofÂNo Room to Move: radical art and the regenerate city, published by Mute in October 2010. He writes on the instrumentalised role of culture within the current stage of 'culture-led urban regeneration', and notions of the 'Creative City' in global economics and policy.Â
The University for Strategic OptimismÂis a political and cultural activist group based in London who has organised various actions, lectures and disruptive activities in the publicÂspace following the drastic cuts of the public sector in England. The group promotes a fairer access to public education whilst offering an alternative based on the principle ofÂfree and open education.Â
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OPEN CALL
We welcome case studies concerning organisations, projects and initiatives from cooperatives, autonomist groups, gift economies, open source projects, new pedagogical models and others.Â
Those who cannot attend, but would like to contribute interviews, text, or films, can email their submissions, which will be presented and discussed during the event. Please email a brief description of your experiences, along with your location, comments, links, and contact details to:Â
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AMASS brings together:Â
DOXAÂis an international research collective of artists, theorists, designers, architects, and engineers. Through an on-going project called 'Creative Space', DOXA facilitates cross-disciplinary dialogue through open discussions to generate research and approach new practices and visions of culture for the future. DOXA (ÎÎÌÎÎ) is a common belief, as opposed to knowledge, and Âis associated with community, dialogue and truth. More:Âhttp://www.doxacollective.org
Without a manifesto or definitive constitutionÂthe Amateurist NetworkÂforegrounds talking as a self-sustaining currency. Through a series of collective discussions it aims to strengthen the impulse to self-organise across disciplines, and furthermore to assert the rights of workers operating with this radically open or precarious approach. More:http://amateuristnetwork.wordpress.com/
âment, Âa new online journal for contemporary culture, art and politics based in London and Berlin. Through a multi-disciplinary set of editorial forms, the journal aims to reflect on current societal issues and debates. ...ment acts as a field for enquiry, dialogue and experimentation, and is committed to emerging forms and ideas. More:http://www.journalment.org
The event is supported byÂOpenvizor, an international organisation and platform that initiates and supports critical exchange of ideas in arts and cultural practice and the active development by practitioners of partnerships and projects around the world that engage people, places and the forces of change from the ground up. More:http://www.openvizor.com/Â
doxacollective.org