D. Commonwealths

(And what we are going to do to be commonly wealthy)

Arts Collaboratory generates and sustains itself through commonwealths. Commonwealths do not only include money and knowledge but also: affection, care, energy, time, aesthetic opinions, critiques[9] and other tangible and intangible resources. We go beyond money and knowledge in order to subvert the concept that the (so called) ’global south’ ‘lacks resources’. We believe that resources are not lacking: it’s just that the definition of resource lacks ethics and radical imagination.

Arts Collaboratory believes that commonwealths are co-owned and co-generated by all. Arts Collaboratory is an eco-system that generates its wealth through intra-action and inter-action with other parties. Each member is regarded as an autonomous node while at once being interdependent with the others. Differences such as time, value, distance, language, empathy and silence, are rooted in our various contexts and are acknowledged as valid and human factors to shape and inform the modes of contribution of each member to the network. Arts Collaboratory is not a static pocket but a rhizomatic living system that intra-acts and inter-acts with new external things.

There are a variety of ways to contribute to the commonwealth. We propose that ‘funding applications’ be replaced in order to decolonize “art and culture by developing new and interdependent forms of critique and aesthetics, as well as new art forms themselves and attention to experiments in indigenous traditions.”[10] Based on new paradigms we work towards a sustainable future for our organizations and towards a future that is full of commonwealths.