CRAFTING THE COMMONS
June 2019 – December 2021
Funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council
Principal Investigator: Dr Amy Twigger Holroyd (Nottingham Trent University)
Co-Investigator: Dr Leila Dawney (University of Exeter)
Project partner: Craftspace
In recent years an array of community-oriented craft initiatives have emerged, including makerspaces, online networks and campaigns to repair, rather than replace, consumer goods. Enabling peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge, tools and materials, these non-capitalist initiatives disrupt industrial production and resist the individualisation inherent in consumer culture. Their ethos of openness places them within the realm of the commons: a versatile concept of collectivity being explored in a multiplicity of practical and academic contexts.
The Crafting the Commons network brought together makers, curators and academics to creatively interrogate intersections between craft practices and emergent academic research on the ideas, stories and politics of the commons to develop new understandings of craft and generate further practical craft-as-commons propositions.
The network informed the development of We are Commoners, a major touring exhibition by Craftspace. Academics with expertise in craft/design and commons participated in the network alongside the exhibition’s curators and commissioned makers.
In summary, the network investigated three research questions:
The exhibition and accompanying catalogue, network blog and online ‘Crafting Worlds in Common’ symposium disseminate the network’s findings.
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As well as leading the network, I also created an installation, ‘A Temporary Outpost of the Blue Fashion Commons’, for the We Are Commoners exhibition. Visit conceptual projects for details.
The Crafting the Commons network brought together makers, curators and academics to creatively interrogate intersections between craft practices and emergent academic research on the ideas, stories and politics of the commons to develop new understandings of craft and generate further practical craft-as-commons propositions.
The network informed the development of We are Commoners, a major touring exhibition by Craftspace. Academics with expertise in craft/design and commons participated in the network alongside the exhibition’s curators and commissioned makers.
In summary, the network investigated three research questions:
- What forms of commons can be created or animated through craft, making and repair?
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What are the political dimensions of these practices, and what is their transformative potential?
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What mythologies and narratives are drawn on in the creation of these ‘craft commons’, and how are these translated into social and material practice?
The exhibition and accompanying catalogue, network blog and online ‘Crafting Worlds in Common’ symposium disseminate the network’s findings.
As well as leading the network, I also created an installation, ‘A Temporary Outpost of the Blue Fashion Commons’, for the We Are Commoners exhibition. Visit conceptual projects for details.