Commonism at The Swamp School

From September 24 to 29, 2018, the Swamp School, Lithuania Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, will host its final chapter of activities, Commonism.

Curated by artists Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas and commissioned by Pippo Ciorra, the Swamp School highlights the vital urgency of human cohabitation with other forms of life. Reproducing the hybrid and inclusive environment of wetlands, the Lithuanian Pavilion functions as a learning lab and an ever-changing and open-ended platform for experimentation and research on the future of living. The Swamp School program was inaugurated by the Swamp Radio workshop (May 23–27, 2018), which was focused on transmitting, and followed by the Futurity Island workshop (June 25–30, 2018) on symbio-poetics and new forms of living.

Through contributions by theorists, designers, and artists, Commonism will interrogate the commons as an ideology—an aesthetic of the real—as a way of giving a form to society and our contemporary human condition. With an understanding of aesthetics as “the art of thinking beautifully,” as a way of seeing a better, more beautiful world, this chapter will learn from the reciprocating movements for the commons, asking questions such as: how is the commons constituted in society, how does it shape our reality of living together, and what strategies and what aesthetics do artistic commoners follow?

The investigation of speculative forms of citizenship and cohabitation between people, and between humans and nonhumans, will unfold in a six-day program of events that brings together a radical diversity of viewpoints, from commonism as a new ideology of the real to methodologies of eco-commoning. During the days, contributors and participants will engage in a series of workshops accompanied by lectures, presentations, and book launches. In the evenings, a program of film screenings, lectures, and performances will complement the Swamp Soup Kitchen dinners.

Commonism will see the collaboration of numerous international schools and platforms—MIT School of Architecture and Planning, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), CCQO group at the University of Antwerp, Visual and Curatorial Studies NABA (Milan), University of Iceland, visual and curatorial studies IUAV (Venice), Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vytautas Magnus University, Contour Biennale 9 (Mechelen), St Lucas School of Arts Antwerp, Higher Institute for Fine Arts (Ghent), and a.pass (Brussels)—and the contributions of tutors and interlocutors from around the globe: Marco Baravalle, researcher and activist (Italy), Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, STS scientist (UK), Giuliana Ciancio, PhD researcher (Italy), Santiago Cirugeda (Recetas Urbanas), architect (Spain), Nico Dockx, artist (Belgium), Lara Garcia Diaz, PhD researcher (Spain), Pascal Gielen, sociologist (Belgium), Tinna Grétarsdóttir, anthropologist (Iceland), Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson, anthropologist (Iceland), Monica Hutton, architect (USA), Valentina Ivancich, plant neuro-psychologist (Italy), Brandon LaBelle, sound artist (Germany), Hannes Lárusson, artist (Iceland), Eric Kluitenberg, media theorist (The Netherlands), Lilia Mestre, artist (Portugal) Cadine Navarro, artist (Japan/France), Toni Negri, philosopher (Italy), Dimitris Papadopoulos, sociologist (UK), Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou (AAA), architects (France), Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, curator (France), Mark Požlep (Slovenia), Aroon Puritat (The Land Foundation), architect (Thailand), Marco Scotini and Andris Brinkmanis, curators (Italy), Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir, architect (Iceland), Pelin Tan, sociologist (Turkey), Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, artists and curators (Lithuania/USA), Judith Wielander and Matteo Lucchetti (Visible), curators (Italy), Adva Zakai (a.pass), artist (Belgium), and Gary Zhexi Zhang, artist (UK).

The full program of Commonism can be found at www.swamp.lt

Commonism is produced by Architektūros Fondas and presented by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, with support from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST), The Nordic Culture Fund, and Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA).

Info
info [​at​] swamp.lt

Production coordinators: Adelė Dovydavičiūtė, Indrė Ruseckaitė
Producer: Architektūros Fondas (Sandra Šlepikaitė)
Presented by: Lithuanian Council for Culture

With support from: MIT School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST), The Nordic Culture Fund, and Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA).