I’ve been on a bit of a personal creative development bent for most of this last year, and this week I start talking publicly about some of the ideas I’ve been playing with. If you’ve been following my ‘lateral drift‘ ramblings, you won’t be surprised to hear that “it’s all about The Commons” :)
Nov 18-25th – Memefest Symposium: Melbourne
The two-day symposium at Swinburne University from Tuesday 18 November to Wednesday 19 November explores this year’s Memefest theme Radical Intimacies: Dialogue in our Times. We will relate it to issues that affect social movements generally and, in particular, dialogues between Aboriginal activists nationally and the broader community. We all have a lot to learn from each other.
My talk is on Tues 18th Nov at 5.40pm: “A Return to Commons Sense”:
Contrary to the shameful displays of our so-called ‘leaders’, humans are by default generous spirits. Communities have an innate ability to support each other during bushfires, contribute to the dreams of their peers via crowdfunding, stand on the shoulders of giants due to knowledge sharing, work side by side in co-working spaces and grow collective meals through permaculture. All these elements have a basic footing in historical culture: The Commons. Nomadic geek artist, Fee Plumley, invites you to return to a philosophy of common sense through a renewed and contemporary sense of The Commons.
Read the schedule and speaker bios then head on over and register!
Nov 20th: Restructure2014
A one-day conference to discuss the current re-structuring in the arts, culture, creative sector in Australia, organised by Hugh Davies & Jan Hendrik Brueggemeier at La Trobe University.
This conference looks at the current state of the arts, and considers alternative modes of culture and knowledge production within times of shrinking public expenditures. Featuring participants from performance, fashion, creative arts, gaming, media and community intervention, the event explores both broader sustainable strategies as well as “clever partial solutions” to cultural and knowledge production in a post-public sector environment.
I’ll be talking on a panel at 1.45pm about Internet / Cultural platforms with Trent Kusters and Rick Chen and then summarising the day’s discussions on a panel with Stephen Healy and Maria Miranda from 5.45pm.
Read more and book via http://restructure2014.net.