Facebook, Airbnb and other companies, whose business models are based on the commer­cialization of social relationships, have transformed words like “community,” “sharing” or “us” into empty concepts­ that no longer represent solidarity or a progressive social agenda, but rather form the basis for an emerging platform capitalism. This economic development is accompanied by a global political shift fueled by traditional community notions of identity and affiliation, exclusion and discrimination.

Against this background, the exhibition and publication project An Atlas of Commoning aims to recapture and redefine the open and emancipatory space of “us” as a concept. The project focuses on urban commons—here commons are to be understood as a set of practices dealing with the production and management of (material and immaterial) collective resources and spaces in gene­ral, rather than with the resources themselves, hence “commoning”, the verb, takes center stage.

The starting point of the exhibition is an « atlas », a visual archive with a diverse selection of contemporary and historical case studies­. The Atlas, which is being developed by ARCH+ in collaboration with the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, will consist of 25 projects related to commoning.­ This initial selection will be complemented with new ones, to be added in collaboration with local partners as the exhibition tours from city to city. As a result, the Atlas of Commoning continues to grow as an open knowledge archive, producing an invaluable documentation of local grassroots projects from all over the world.

From the Atlas, the exhibition develops along three axes of investigation, each one illustrating the tension inherent in practices of sharing. The resulting chapters are: Ownership – Access, Production – Reproduction, Right – Solidarity. Artistic works open up further access to the subject and reflect the interrelationship between individual, community, society, and world. Through this interplay of projects and formats, a network of ideas unfolds: ideas for a solidly united and emancipatory commons, one that doesn’t bring individuals into line within the community but turns the unique, the different, and the special into decisive qualities of togetherness.

Part of the exhibition is an edition of ARCH+ magazine that provides a broad insight into important theoretical positions and practical examples.­

With contributions from:

Morehshin Allahyari & Daniel Rourke; Assemble and Granby Workshop; Iwan Baan; Brandlhuber+ Christopher Roth; DAAR Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency; Theo Deutinger; Eureka; Manuel Herz; Sandi Hilal, Philipp Misselwitz, and Anne Misselwitz; Immo Klink; Kotti & Co; clemens krug architekten und Bernhard Hummel Architekt (Team: Oliver Clemens, Anna Heilgemeir, Bernhard Hummel, Emma Williams); Kuehn Malvezzi; Angelika Levi; Golan Levin (F.A.T. Lab) & Shawn Sims (Sy–Lab); Makoko Waterfront Community; Tukano Maloca; Miethäuser Syndikat; National Union of Sahrawi Women; NLÉ Architects; PlanBude Hamburg, Svenja Baumgardt, and Sylvi Kretzschmar; Common Ground e.V. und Nachbarschaftsakademie; Quest – Florian Köhl and Christian Burkhard; Martha Rosler; Harald Trapp / Robert Thum; Urban-Think Tank, Chair of Architecture and Urban Design ETH Zürich; WiLMa GmbH; Samson Young.

The Atlas of Commoning also includes works by:

Airbnb; ARGE ifau | HEIDE & VON BECKERATH; Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée; BARarchitekten; Bau- und Wohngenossenschaft Spreefeld Berlin eG; Carpaneto Schoeningh Architekten; City in the Making; FATkoehl; Die Zusammenarbeiter; El Campo de la Cebada; Genossenschaft Kalkbreite; Genossenschaft Kraftwerk1; Go Hasegawa and Associates; IBeB GbR; Müller Sigrist Architects; Refugee Accommodation and Solidarity Space City Plaza; Schneider Studer Primas; Stiftung House of One – Bet- und Lehrhaus Berlin; Gemeinde Yoshino; ZUS [Zones Urbaines Sensibles]

Drawing collages by:
Ernest Bellamy, Tamara Cartwright, Connie Chang, Nickie Cheung, Yidan Gong, Paul Moscoso Riofrio, Sujan Das Shrestha, Chun Zheng, Lu Zhu (CMU Pittsburgh) sowie Christine Bock und Ulrich Pappenberger

Models by:
Aaron Barnstorf, Sarah Baur, Sebastian Georgescu, Alexander Grams, Mirko Hahn, Nicolas Herre, Gerrit Jasper, Rosanna Just, Jakob Köchert, Laura Lüttje, Miriam Möser, Stefan Neumaier, Daiki Ori, Canan Öztekin, Luisa Pöpsel, Nadine Reppert, Selina Schlez, Hans J. Walter (TU Berlin), Martin Edelmann (ifa) und Quest – Florian Köhl und Christian Burkhard

An exhibition by the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) in cooperation with ARCH+ Journal for Architecture and Urbanism. The exhibition will be presented in Berlin in cooperation with Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien.

The exhibition will then tour internationally for about ten years. Overseas premiere: 2019 in Pittsburgh (USA) in cooperation with the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.

Curatorial team: Anh-Linh Ngo, Mirko Gatti, Christian Hiller, Max Kaldenhoff, Christine Rüb (ARCH+); Elke aus dem Moore (ifa / Akademie Schloss Solitude); Stefan Gruber (CMU)

Research partners: School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, and TU Berlin, Institut für Architektur, Fachgebiet Prof. Rainer Hehl

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