THIS RecIPE is for

Instigating a collective, locally grounded experience by opening up forgotten, abandoned infrastructure and setting up a structure through which local inhabitants can share their thoughts, while exploring the concept and affect of the individual experience of a private space that is in every aspect the opposite of the safe, clean, light and warm housing spaces the new neighborhood is offering.

RECIPE SOURCE

This recipe is derived from Black Water and composed by the Contemporary Commoning initiative. Black Water took place in a large, abandoned silo originally built as part of the city’s sewage treatment plant. By carefully adding a few elements such as sand, water and a system to regulate daylight and dripping water RAAAF sought to create a unique opportunity for silence, darkness and contemplation.

Background, situation & credit

Black Water was developed in the context of Contemporary Commoning. Contemporary Commoning is a two year research project investigating the many ways in which ‘commoning’ can contribute to new forms of public space, in the physical as well as the digital realm, and new spaces for public action. This research takes the potential contribution of design and art in these processes of ‘commoning’ as the main point of departure. The research is a collaboration between the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Sandberg Institute, Waag: Technology and Society, University of Amsterdam’s Center for Urban Studies, Casco Art Institute and Studio René Boer. The research project is grounded in Amsterdam’s Zeeburgereiland, an island on the city’s eastern fringes currently being developed, and will result in a toolkit of ‘recipes for the commons’. This project is made possible through the support of NWO, BPD and Nautilus.

THIS RecIPE is for

Collectively creating legal instruments drafted for and by communities and stakeholders for the use of unused spaces

RECIPE SOURCE

This recipe is derived from The Convention on the Use of Space and composed by the Commons • Art team. The Convention on the Use of Space held public meetings to write a functioning, legally-binding convention on the use-value of housing with a focus on squatting, while problematising the manner in which law functions in relation to citizenship, democracy and precarity. In collective drafting assemblies a group of participants - including lawyers, activists, academics, squatters, researchers, and cultural workers - gather to work towards developing a piece of movement perspective legislation. Each of the five meetings focused on a different aspect of the law and produced different amendments. The topics discussed included: the legal form, de-criminalizing the subject, the right of use, modes of re-imagining and property as theft. The Convention on the Use of Space is a legal instrument drafted in response to the housing crisis: the lack of affordable homes, absence of provisions for those without legal rights to stay, rising rents, and the criminalisation of squatting. Its public drafting assemblies allowed for a discussion on the current status of housing in the context of The Netherlands, and for the concrete development of a legal tool towards making housing more equitable. Unlike other spaces where legislation is made, it actively invites those people to the table who are otherwise excluded, including: students, squatters, sans-papiers and precarious workers.

Background, situation & credit

The development of the The Convention on the Use of Space took place in the context of the exhibition White Paper at Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons in 2015. This exhibition was commissioned in collaboration with Beirut. Research for developing White Paper was supported by the European Cultural Foundation and the Kamel Lazaar Foundation. Production support was granted by the European Cultural Foundation Idea Camp, Young Arab Theatre Foundation, De.MO./Movin Up 2014, Italian MInistry of Culture and Tourism, Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists, and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.

THIS RecIPE is for

Redistributing private, surplus material into a shared, regenerated resource that is not contingent on financial ability.

RECIPE SOURCE

This recipe is derived from The Library of Unread Books and composed by the Commons • Art team. The Library of Unread Books asks questions about ownership and the relationship between wealth and knowledge. It brings to light once-hidden-away titles to emphasize shared knowledge, and functions as a common resource pool of knowledge that is not contingent on financial means. It also brings together a network of worldwide, lifetime members of this library.

Background, situation & credit

The Library of Unread Books was developed in September 2016 by artist Heman Chong and producer and librarian Renee Staal in the context of a residency at NTU Center for Contemporary Art in Singapore, where it remained until May 2017. The Library then travelled to the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila (August-November 2017) and landed at Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons in November 2017. It has also been presented at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai (November 2019-January 2020).

THIS RecIPE is for

Redistributing of (financial) resources through a collective lottery system organized for and by organizations and their members and communities.

RECIPE SOURCE

This recipe is derived from Parasite Lottery and composed by the Commons • Art team. Parasite Lottery is intended as a tool for any community and collective looking for ways to redistribute (financial) resources. Following this system small organisations get funds from bigger institutions, while the big institutions get money for deviation. It turns to new strategies to face a lack of funding needed in the arts and elsewhere.

Background, situation & credit

Parasite Lottery is initiated by artist and cultural activist Wok the Rock & Casco Art Institute. Drawing events took place in the Netherlands at Platform BK, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Das Spectrum, and Casco Art Institute. The project responded to the austerity measures following the financial crisis in The Netherlands resulting in public funding cuts whilst cultural funds from lottery ticket sales remained stable. The Parasite Lottery Album was made by Wok the Rock in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Frau.