As part of the Preennale gathering in Naples, Common Views will be holding a two-week-long Commoning Lab in which artists and activists who work in the field of Commoning will be taking part in an open exchange, with the intention of advancing new perspectives for Naples’ urban environment, drawing on the overarching themes of interconnection, complexity and emergence. Commoning Lab participants include persons whose work, individually or as part of existing collectives, involves social and environmental practices, site-specific and participatory practices, community-engaged arts, creative interventions and performance in public space.

The Commoning Lab program includes group sessions as well as extended periods for creative research and self-practice. Lab participants will have the opportunity to work individually or in groups towards a presentation of their work, reflecting their contribution and explorations of the themes examined during the Lab, and to present these as part of a concluding Preennale exhibition, as well as in Naples’ outdoor public spaces.

Some of our proposed inquiries for the Commoning Lab’s collective explorations are:

• 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.