Sub-theme 8. Opportunities and challenges of digital commons

PANEL 8.7. June 20, 2023 09:00 (10:00 CEST)

New approaches to commons governance from the blockchain ecosystem

Co-Chairs: Seth Frey (University of California Davis, USA) and Andy Tudhope (Independent scholar and practitioner, South Africa)

3. Technological Tools for the Commons. Dissident Algorithms’ Organizations

Emanuele Braga (Institute of Radical Imagination, Italy) and Maddalena Fragnito (Coventry University, UK)

This paper focuses on relational and technological tools for self-organization that have been developed within movements for the commons during the last 10 years between the financial and the pandemic crisis and beyond. Within the self-managed spaces taken into account, horizontal, non-hierarchical decision-making processes have been developed, mostly based on the sharing of means of production, and a supportive and non-competitive distribution of knowledge.
This research would like to update the concept of DAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization, in the context of the process of commoning. In the international debate, DAO contains the challenge to shape the life of an organization on the basis of the set of tools using mainly blockchain technologies to automatize different autonomous peer initiatives. I would like to raise the question: which of these sets of tools is really sustainable to foster collaboration instead of competition by going beyond the capitalistic mode of production?
The project aims to introduce a survey and map the most interesting tools and methodologies in use within the European panorama of activism for a post-capitalist ecological transition. The survey and the mapping process aim both at making technological tools available and experimenting with them in the specific context of the Institute of Radical Imagination’s productive and collaborative platform.
The Institute of Radical Imagination was born in 2017 as a monster/alternative institution by artists, activist researchers and cultural operators.

Sub-theme 10. Local institution building and radical futures for the commons

PANEL 10.12. B June 20, 2023 11:00 (12:00 CEST)

From the governance of the commons to a wider commons-inspired governance: obstacles and institutional changes inside the State and the Market

Co-Chairs: Margherita D’Andrea (University of Naples Federico II , Italy) and Giuseppe Micciarelli (University of Salerno/DISPC, Italy)

4. Intersections between arts, militant research and the commons

Institute of Radical Imagination, Italy

What is the relation between artistic practices and the commons? Is it just a matter of providing cultural opportunities for the community and those that are not able to have access to it? Could art practices in the commons open up to popular cultures? Could this coming together foster new publics, opening new possibilities for appreciating a variety of cultural productions? Does it aim to create contradictions in the cultural production system? Is it a way to give asylum to productions outside the market? Or all these things together? As the Institute of Radical Imagination, we are a group of curators, activists, scholars and cultural producers with a shared interest in co-producing research, knowledge, and artistic and political research interventions for a transition to post-capitalism. We will discuss issues we face with our artistic, academic and political activism: How do the voices/careers of artists who approach the commons intersect and/or change and transform their art, performances, and way of sharing? How does artistic education affect the way that artists can engage with the commons? How do IRI or other forms of activism based on culture, arts and commons influence the policies of traditional cultural institutions? Is it possible? Can we imagine an alternative way to create festivals that are not mere exhibitions of ideas, or that are not connected to and based on mainstream proposals? Are there some interesting case studies on distributing resources and opportunities in a horizontal and non-hegemonic way between commoners even when individual careers, productions, and lives are involved?