Charging the CommonsCharging the Commons

The current ecological crisis can be traced back to humanity’s distorted understanding of the world around it, with its human-centred notions of ownership, control and domination. How can we re-imagine these relationships to acknowledge the deeply intertwined connections we humans have with each other and with the more-than-human world, from living things to planetary systems? And how can we approach these relationships in a spirit of stewardship and mutual benefit?

• Moderator Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (researcher at the Nieuwe Instituut and Zoöp initiator) welcomes the participants and introduces the topic.
• Martijn de Waal (head of the Civic Interaction Design) research group at the AUAS) explains relational technology and relational interfaces on behalf of Charging the Commons.
• Designer-researcher Yin Aiwen introduces the relational board game Liquid Dependencies.
• Fang-Jui Chang and Calvin Po present some examples of relational interfaces that Dark Matter Labs is using to promote an alternative civic economy.
• The guest speakers will then discuss challenges around cultural change, including ownership, governance and self-management, and conflict mediation.
• Finally, a Q&A session invites the audience to contribute to the discussion.

The evening will present three proposals for relational interfaces – social and technological infrastructures, models and protocols – to help put new theories of the commons into practice. How do we organise a commons that includes more-than-humans? And, moving from bounded territories to relational networks, how do we reconcile the situatedness and unboundedness of ecosystems?