We are delighted to present COMMUNE a new decentralised, micro-festival of art, ecology & community action for the whole family launching at Tate Exchange on Friday 26th July, 12-6pm. COMMUNE seeks to explore the post-capitalist potential of the Commons, rooted in the common good for each other and the planet, through workshops, discussions & communal creativity that nurture unity and equity, including “articulating our political voice through improvised sound to hear what the Commons power-shift might sound like, in harmony with each other.”
Throughout the day there will be performances, art, singing, workshops and ideas exchanged around Permaculture principles (Earth care, People care and Fair share), circular economics, land, food waste, and common resources. The Festival is part of Public Works’ School of Civic Action’s week of events from Thursday 25th – Sunday 28th July at the Tate Exchange.
Co-designed by Common Unity and the Makeshift Commons Project, both students of the MA Design for Cultural Commons. Commune brings together a collaboration of artists and creative enterprises at the Tate Exchange including, Undergrowth Collective, Extinction Rebellion, HAHA Sounds Collective, Lauren Baker, Daisy Newdick, Debunk Collective, XR’s LUNG performance, Permablitz London with Susannah Hall, Alisa Ruzavina and Daisy Dickinkson.
Within this playful space expanding their collective imagination, various liberties will be afforded to experiment with ideas and strategies hinting towards a post-capitalists society. With the current ideology’s extractive methods causing ecological, economic, and social decay which seeks profit at all human and natural cost, COMMUNE will instead catalyse a shift towards enacting the commons.
We can all agree that we are at a unique tipping point in the Global Climate and Political crisis, which poses both threat and opportunity. Commune’s concept of creating temporary cultural spaces as ‘rehearsal for the real’, aims to equip and empower ordinary people at all ages with knowledge & skills for ecological renewal and community resilience, in-order to urgently respond to climate injustices and shape sustainable, self-sufficient communities.
Fed up with the rapid gentrification of her community of Hackney Wick, Artist Kandice Holmes founded Common Unity in 2017 whilst living in an off-grid Desert community in Joshua Tree, California, as a method of combining direct action, sustainability and art to gather performance Artist to Permaculturists. Commune Festival was first hosted in London in September 2018 which led Kandice to be invited to an MA in Design for Cultural Commons by Public Works. The Festival now aims to become decentralised, as a way of sharing knowledge and solutions between trans-local communities, co-creating a Cultural Commons and we look forward to seeing you there.
