BLOCK 2016/III: COMMONS

postgraduate program

Nicolas Galeazzi BLOCK 2016/III: COMMONS

5 September-4 December 2016

Fisheyed apass panorama

This block investigates commons economies in the context of the arts.

We work together, every now and then, some more than others. Even if the neoliberal ideology continues to run political and economic structures according to the principle of competition and privatization, there exists a wider acknowledgement that cooperation promises more success than competition. But what surplus – other than the sum of the parts – is created while working together? What is the promise of cooperation actually about? What is the philosophy and politics behind it? How does it position the individual towards the social, and what is the concept of ‘success’ that we would cooperate for? Finally, how does radical cooperation affect the idea of ourselves and of the social bodies we are part of?

The structure of the commons gives a perfect framework to experiment and reflect upon the basic notions of individuality, sustainability and forms of social organization.

Commons are cultural or natural resources, that are held in common responsibility, not in privatized ownership. The commons stays in contrast to the market economy. The market distributes and privatizes goods onto different stakeholders who then come into trade with each other. The commons understands goods not as owned by someone but cares for them in shared responsibility. Commons structures can be found in all societies and are applied in many debates over forests and waters, knowledge, or outer space. In the wake of the 2008 economic crisis(es) the commons is widely discussed again as a possible economic and political alternative to the capitalist system.

But interpretations of the commons are many, and bellow the surface of the debate, we discover the diverging ideas of what Marx described as the ‚social animal’.

The block is an experimental setup to expand the notion of economy in general and the commons in specific, and appropriate it as an artistic practice. We will model our own specific commons economy based on a shared responsibility for our individual researches.

Declaring artistic practices as common goods and searching for a form of organizing artistic processes, is questioning the position of the individual, of resources and of the social. We will investigate the common pool of our researches and see how this reflects back on our individual trajectories.

information, postgraduate program

ENGAGING IN THE BLOCK

Collective moments (opening week, half-way-days, and end week) are compulsory for everybody

Beside the collective moments you should engage in alt least 2 workshops proposed in thes block, of which one should be b-workshop. B-workshops are this block Vladimir’s ‘Theory Under The Commons’ workshop and Mala’s ‘With I+II’ workshop.

In order to participate in the Common Conference at the end of the block, you should at least take part in half of the Friday open space sessions.

In order to keep the a.pass archive alive, we have to feed it! Therefore, we would like to introduce the concept of the Caretaker: all a.pass event – workshops and common moments – should be hosted and documented by participants.

You will have one coordinator’s mentoring with Kristien to orientate yourself within a.pass and your own research.

During the block you normally have two meetings with either 2 or 3 mentors of your choice. Please read the specific mentoring strategies for this block.

postgraduate program, workshop

ECONOMY, AN INTRODUCTION

13-13 September 2016 / Kate Rich

Nodnol2

A one-day sortie into the darker macro arts of Economics, a field in which artists are regularly and perhaps wilfully unschooled.
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performative publishing, project

Change Log of Common Things

14 September-4 December 2016

common thing - 1

This page is a log board for tracing the canges and alternations of common things (or 'item') that has be brought in to the common space as a common research good.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Nicolas Galeazzi Friday Open Space

16 September-25 November 2016 / a.pass

The Magna carta Manifesto

Every Friday of this block - from 16th September till the Common Conference - we will come together for a concentrated commoning session. In oder to concretely practice and practically inquire the general question of the block - what is created in common? - we try to establish an open space practice that allows pursuing the individual research interests while focussing at the same time on interrelations amongst these researches and the common interests.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Mala Kline “WITH I/II”: Communal Dreaming

19 September-17 November 2016 / a.pass

Commons_rasterfahndung

In two complementary workshops at the beginning and towards the end of the block, we explore the practical and theoretical implications of working with the concept of the “With” (Nancy) with-in the affective relational space between singularities. In the process of co-articulation of singularities to be “with” is to be exposed, at the limit of oneself, entangled with another singularity and distinguished from it.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Vladimir Miller THEORIES UNDER THE COMMONS

26-30 September 2016

Commons is_

This workshop will be an attempt to „come to terms“, to create shared reference points within the commons discourse among the workshop participants. We will read discuss and map a selection of texts which lay the groundwork for understanding the commons debate today and we will make ourselves familiar with a reader, which can be a further reference for discussions and in depth reading throughout the block.
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end presentation, performative publishing, postgraduate program

Isabel Burr Raty; Thiago Antunes; Esteban Donoso UNDER )o( MINING

27-30 September 2016 / Zsenne Artlab

cover_logo

Three research will be presented: "Beauty kit focus group": Isabel Burr Raty will be presenting bio-products that she fabricates from a variety of substances collected from her womb. "Welcome and please do not turn the page": A reading game performance around authority, obedience and participation, inspired by civic integration programs. By Thiago Antunes. "Table Movie": Esteban Donoso hosts a moment of collective fiction; to create an imaginary film using our senses as recording devices.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Agency ASSEMBLY WITH THINGS

10-13 October 2016 / a.pass

Thing 001390, and Thing 001652

Bildschirmfoto 2016-08-30 um 07.07.59

For this workshop Agency proposes an Assembly with two Things that are directly connected to questions of the commons Commons. Discussing and unfolding the problematics of these cases we try to localize the gray zones in our own researches, our relationship to objects and the reality that create ‚us and them’.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Einat Tuchman & VK COMMUNAL GARDENS

31 October-3 November 2016 / VK (Vaarkapoen, Molenbeek)

Bildschirmfoto 2016-07-24 um 16.38.46

Vaarkapoen is a community center in the heart of Molenbeek, quite near of a.pass. One of their projects is to develop communal garden as an open space for a general public use in connection to an artistic residency place. During the workshop we will examine the existing and the future garden through each ones personal artistic researches.
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postgraduate program, workshop

Michael Bauwens / KaaiTheater Ten New Practices of the Great Transition

14-14 November 2016 / a.pass / KaaiTheater

michel_bauwens

The KaaiTheater kindly invites us to participate in a one day Workshop with of the most experienced activist, philosopher and commons advisor in Belgium. He is working as much with gras root movements as he advises e.g. Ecuador in reorganizing parts of their state structure as a commons.
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conference, postgraduate program, research center

a.pass, KaaiTheater The Artist Commoner : Public Meeting

25-26 November 2016 / KaaiStudios - Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Vaakstraat 81 // 1000 Brussel.

(self) Education of new subjectivities

the artist commoner

During a two day event, a.pass welcomes a gathering of researchers, artists, a.pass program participants and public to engage with the struggle of being an artist commoner today, and the role of (educational) institutions in bringing this subject about. Two days of presentations, exchanges and commoning practices. Two days of ateliers, books launches, performances, workshops and discussions.
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conference, performative publishing, research center

Between what is no longer and what is not yet

26 November 2016

retrato johnny

Performance in the context of a.pass’ public meeting The Artist Commoner. (Self) Education of New Subjectivities

Dominguez wants to suspend events and create an interval of time in which he can try to integrate his past into his future. He will translate his visions and his desire to encounter the unknown through language. Dominguez is working alone for the first time in 14 years. Back then, he choreographed his work with labeled cards. Now, he’ll speak himself and give rise to a self-portrait that cites himself and some of his friends.

Limited capacity! 8/10/12€.

Tickets via Kaaitheater:

Open Call