The kick-off of Open Field is less than a month away and we’re getting excited about the night we have planned to commence our summer-long experiment to create a cultural commons on the Walker green.
We’re working with the folks at Works Progress, a local collective of cultural programmers and general smarties, to put together a three-part launch (two parts party, one part interactive presentation) to set a stage for the conversations we’ll have over the course of the next three months. We have a full slate of presenters who will contribute a flurry of ideas, questions and examples of both digital and analog commons. Innovations such as a digital museum commons, a barter system for artists and creative types, and a collaborative online environment for creating art, code, and texts will be discussed alongside ideas about landscapes of public and private space, and ringtones, the music industry, and race. Come back here for more posts on each of the speakers.
In addition to these presentations, the night will begin with drinks and an interactive felt board installation that invites you to help us define and redefine a “cultural commons”. For starters, there is this thought from Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt:
“…so much of our world is common, open to access by all and developed through active participation.”
And this question from Josh McPhee of Just Seeds:
“What does it mean to be creative as a conscious social activity–to create a commons rather than individualizing creativity?”
What is your definition of a cultural commons? Come over on June 3 to share.
Get Walker Reader in your inbox. Sign up to receive first word about our original videos, commissioned essays, curatorial perspectives, and artist interviews.