Future Commons: From individuality to symbiosis

Museums are considered reliable sources of information across societies, capable of bringing people from different backgrounds and interests together. Therefore, they should allow dialogue and experimentation.

Primarily, we suggest the implementation of participatory opportunities in decision-making in terms of governance, administration, programs and exhibitions. We propose a symbiotic understanding of a world where we are always “becoming-with” (in the words of Donna Haraway). Symbiosis would replace the concept of individuality and neoliberal systemic approaches that have characterised the Western world.

Restructuring museums as spaces for “unexpected collaborations and combinations” (following Donna Haraway) would empower the public to become active agents of change, both individually and collectively. This restructuring would transform museums into fair and tolerant grounds: grounds for commoning, reappropriating museums as congregational spaces to support climate action and deliver climate justice.

Exploring concepts of ecopsychology and multispecies ethnography, we aim to ‘blur’ the boundaries between nature and culture, human and further species. Through the following steps, we intend to simplify scientific concepts through common experience:

Mourning: exposure to nonhuman experiences of loss and mourning rituals during the era of the Anthropocene.

Passionate Immersion (after Anna Tsing): a spatial entanglement between humans and further species aiming to transform perspectives and build empathy.

Human Agency: activism and engagement aiming to transform care into a political act.

Project Team

Camila Vidal, Beatriz Lobo Britto, Martha Panagiotopoulou

Project Name

Future Commons: From individuality to symbiosis

Team Location

Scotland, Glasgow / Greece, Athens

Category

Arts, curatorial and creative practice