The Commoning Lab: Prototyping Commoning Processes for Environmental Reconciliation

The Common Views collective will be sharing insights and reflections from their recently held two-week-long Commoning Lab, which took place in Naples this summer. The Commoning Lab welcomed artists and activists from Naples and abroad to explore Commoning processes, approaches and structures, focusing on water as a collectively shared resource and relating specifically to Naple’s water environment and heritage.

Lab participants were invited to join in a common exploration, engaging in a collaborative exchange that allowed for a horizontal discourse, in an atmosphere of inclusion and diversity, encouraging the sharing of knowledge and skill-sets. Together, we advanced Commoning perspectives for Naples’ urban environment, drawing on the overarching themes of interconnection, complexity and emergence. Some of the inquiries and collective explorations we engaged in included: the enclosure of Naples’ water resources; the generating of public participation and engagement; water-related sustainability; urban water utopias; more-than-human water perspectives; hacking of existing systems and novel approaches and technologies; the underground water commons; animating local water histories; cultural water landscapes; developing collaborative working methods, and more.

The Common Views collective, founded by artists David Behar Perahia and Dan Farberoff, addresses social-ecological concerns at sites-in-conflict.