Art Collaboratory announces its 2nd Assembly taking place in Senegal this April, following the enriching and mind opening 1st Assembly in Indonesia in 2014 last May. The 2nd Assembly is co-organized and co-hosted by the partners and two Arts Collaboratory participants based in Dakar: Kër Thiossane and Raw Material Company.

Since its founding in 2007 Arts Collaboratory not only provides financial support to socially and politically engaged art initiatives from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, but also acts as a unique collaborative platform for knowledge sharing and alternative community building among these initiatives. From autumn 2013, this vision for a commoning process intensified seeing over 20 organizations become involved, along with DOEN Foundation and Hivos as the initiating partners and Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory as a facilitating partner.

During the week of encounters, participating organizations explore future plans and actions in developing four collaborative projects conceived at the 1st Assembly in Indonesia that address alternative pedagogy, notions of utopia, lobbying practices, and organizing a co-contributing film festival. This collaborative work simultaneously considers Arts Collaboratory’s own future—thinking and writing scenarios for what it might do next and what form it could take if self-managed in common by the involved initiatives. Could it be a network, a community, or something yet unknown?

Public forum: “Commons, Networks, and Models of Alternative Organizations in Culture”

Monday 13 April, 18–20h

Librarie Athéna
33 Rue Jules Ferry
Dakar

Presentations: Cráter Invertido, Stefano Harney, KUNCI Cultural Studies Center, Kër Thiossane, and Abdourahmane Seck.

Moderation: Ibrahima Wane

With the bankruptcy of neoliberal forms of organization, management, financing, and social relations, new movements and models in these areas are emerging. During this conference the Assembly takes the opportunity to open up discussions to the public, with Arts Collaboratory participants including Cráter Invertido (Mexico City), Kër Thiossane (Dakar), and KUNCI Cultural Studies Center (Yogyakarta) sharing their ongoing commoning practices that provide alternative models. Accompanying the presentations are talks by sociologist Stefano Harney on diverse governance strategies in organizations and their implications for broader social change, and by anthropologist and historian Abdourahmane Seck on traditional practices related to the Senegalese history of the commons and how these might inform contemporary collective movements.

Free entrance. No reservation required.

Arts Collaboratory project support 1st call in 2015, deadline: 31 March 2015

Arts Collaboratory invites artists and arts organizations from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East to apply for support either for projects or multi-year programs, both focusing on research or development of new perspectives on specific social, cultural, economic, and climate issues, or for the development of new forms of collaborations and co-productions. More information is available here.

With further inquiries about Arts Collaboratory or the Assembly, please write info@artscollaboratory.org.

www.artscollaboratory.org