An Exhibition On The Commons

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After the festival “Temps des communes”, (October 2015), a small group has decided to ​​produce an exhibition on the commons. The idea was to do a light, self editable and easy to use collection of posters. It is dedicated to places that welcome an audience that is not particularly sensitive to the commons. We were thinking for example of community centers, libraries or schools. After a few exchanges, notably around the game Commonspoly, which had been prototyped by ZEMOS98 a few months before during a European meeting, we produced an exhibition of 12 posters that explain and illustrate the commons.

 Expo Les communs page1 CC-BY-SA.

Expo Les communs page1 CC-BY-SA.

The exhibition proposes to discover the common through their definition and concrete illustration. The panels make us walk through different facets of the commons: the fragility of natural commons, the relationship between use and ownership, the role of hackers in the renewal of commons, the place of knowledge, and the reconquest of political space by commoners. Finally, it also proposes resources based on other cultural initiatives: Communauthèque, a best of bibliography of the 50 books on the commons, the game C@rds in common or Remix the commons of course!

This exhibition is a collective work leaded by Thierry Pasquier, and edited by Rosie Howe, with the support of Espace Mendès France at Poitiers, a center for scientific, technical and industrial culture in New Aquitaine, Vecam, and Remix the commons. The publication under the license “Attribution – Sharing under the same conditions 3.0 France (CC BY-SA 3.0 FR)” allows free imagination for the diffusion and adaptation of the exhibition to each context … and languages. The next step will be to set up a dedicated website that will allow each to publish according to his/her needs. We will give you news of this project in the coming months!

The PDF light version of the exhibition is available on the wiki Remix the commons. In the next few weeks we will install a wiki with the content, including Pdf in high definition, texts images that can modified, as well as all associated media and InDesign sources. Do not hesitate to ask us for any specific request or offer your help.

Thierry Pasquier et Frédéric Sultan