Playing for the Commons: Commoning as a Game Form

A two-day hybrid event · Online and in Florence

Playing for the Commons brings together the joy of play and an experiential process that shares the basics of commoning: not through lectures, but through games.

Organised by Studio Alter'azioni with the support of School of Commons and our Alumn* Network.

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Saturday 24 October

Online session, 16:00–18:00

Join via zoom.

16:00–16:10 · Welcome and introduction by Alter'azioni collective

16:10–16:55 · The Seven Generations Brainstorm, facilitated by Gabriel Hensche (Germany) A playful brainstorming and role-playing game that brings seven generations into the room (three before us, three after us) to invent new projects from our own passions and those of our ancestors and descendants. Based on the 7-Generation Principle of the Lenape and other Indigenous communities. In English and German, for ages 6 to 99.

16:55–17:00 · Break

17:00–17:50 · Game-Changers: The Game, facilitated by Rok Kranjc (Futurescraft) A board game and game show in which two teams battle over contested futures, such as Green Growth vs. Degrowth, putting political buzzwords under pressure. The audience scores moves in real time and can contribute new prompt cards.

17:50–18:00 · Closing

In person at Studio Alter'azioni

18:30 · Exhibition opening: "Studio, Open, Praxis, Commoning?" Artworks, public space interventions and performances exploring commoning and the everyday relationship between art and society, with contributions by The Glorious Mothers, Kilroy (Stefano Bonifazi), The Common Views collective (Dan Farberoff & David Behar Perahia), Giovanni Pietracaprina, Lisa Lazzarini & Stefano Bruschi, Massimo D'Amato, Marina Seghetti, Chiara Mignani and Alex Maze.

19:30 · African social dinner

📍 Studio Alter'azioni, Via Felice Cavallotti 31/11R, Florence, Italy

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Sunday 25 October

Game circles in the park, 10:00–14:00

📍 📍 Parco delle Cascine, Florence. The exact meeting point will be shared closer to the day.

10:30 · Gathering

10:45 · Commoning game circles, curated and facilitated by Alter'azioni collective:

• The Reverse Musical Chairs Game by Alekos Pantazis (P2P Lab, Greece). Chairs are removed each round, but no one is eliminated: the group must find a way for everyone to sit.
• (d)estructura by El Puente_Lab (Juan Esteban Sandoval & Alejandro Vásquez Salinas) and Mariangela Aponte Núñez (Colombia). A collective structure grows or shrinks as players negotiate what to name, add or take away.
• Zip, Boing, Shiva, a folk theatre warm-up game, contributed by Alter'azioni collective.
• Authentic Relating Games with Micol Degl'Innocenti (Italy). Curiosity Game, Impulse Game and Human Sculpting: playful practices for meeting one another with presence and honesty.
• Eclipse, a group movement game from Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non-Actors (Brazil).
• Spaghetti Commoning by Lisa Lazzarini. Participants connect with one another by balancing strands of spaghetti between them, without letting go and without breaking them, for as long as possible.
• The Fox and the Rabbit, a cooperative game from the New Games movement (USA).

13:00 · Bring-and-share social picnic. Bring something to share!