Arts and the Commons
* Conference Proceedings: Free Libre Technologies, Arts and the Commons. University of Nicosia Research Foundation. An Unconference about Art, Design, Technology, Making, Cities and their Communities ; 30 May – 1 June 2019. Phygital Project, Nicosia, Cyprus
Summary
This text introduces a reading of how community focused social arts pracces relate to ideas underpinning the free soware movement, the politics of the commons and maker cultures. It arises from the key concepts proposed by the Unconference Free/Libre Technologies, Arts and the Commons as well as the wider University of Nicosia Research Foundaon’s participation in the Phygital project (Phygital 2017-2020). Phygital is itself a play of words between the words physical and digital , and as a project it explores the processes of groups of people engaging in do-it-yourself (DIY) acvies through access to digital fabricaon tools in community centered makerspaces. In its Cypriot iteraon the project is informed by how commons orientatedcollecve hacking and making approaches relate to social art pracces, and will take a physical dimension in the form of a makerspace hosted in the premises of the Lakatamia Community Centre.
Drawing from the experience of the Unconference and what the people who were there allowed to develop this text invesgates the melding of free and open source technologies, social art pracces and the commons drawing from the research and acvies of the wider Phygital project in Cyprus. In addion, the noons of community and the commons are explored in order to consider the wider social context and theory that influenced both the rise of the social art method of pracce as well as the formaon of the free and open sourcesoware movement. Both in the Unconference and in these proceedings these threads are interwoven in order to reect on increasing debates around makerspace cultures and the politics of making, on the commons in times of digital realisms and boom-up collaborave structures, and on how we think of commoning pracces inrelaon to social art and free technologies."