Practices of Commoning is an initiative facilitated by Daniëlle Bruggeman, Professor of Fashion, and Pascale Gatzen, Head of MA Practice Held in Common, ArtEZ University of the Arts.

The Reading Group ‘Practices of Commoning’ is inspired by David Bollier’s work on ‘the commons’. Together we are reading about, exploring, studying and initiating practices of commoning.

David Bollier was a keynote speaker at the Fashion Colloquium in Arnhem in June 2018. He offered the framework of the commons to think through and put into practice alternative/parallel social and economic systems in order to move beyond the ‘hyper-capital-driven marketplace that now prevails’.

We have invited practitioners and academics internationally to read with us in any setting they choose. In June 2019 we will hold a gathering–a coming together–to exchange experiences, thoughts and ideas, and to inspire each other towards a greater awareness of what it means to build our practices and our lives inspired by the framework of commoning.

Our foundational text is David Bollier’s book Think like a Commoner.

The Fashion Colloquium was a two-day conference, held to collectively investigate how to move towards a fashion reality that addresses ethics, inclusivity and responsible consumerism in a more engaged way. The Fashion Colloquium explored how we can transition to a more resilient future of fashion together.

David Bollier is an activist, author, and blogger whose work focuses on the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics, and culture. He is currently Director of the Reinventing the Commons Program at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics (Massachusetts, US).