Curator of Allmänningen/The Common Room

Allmänningen/The Common Room was a Vinnova-funded project at the Faculty 
of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, Gothenburg University (2018–2021). 
The aim of the project was to begin to develop and pilot a new public model for collaboration and usership between the university and society. Referring directly to the Swedish commons concept of Allmänningen and illustrated through terms such as Allmän (general), Allemansrätten (right of public access), Allmänheten (the general public), the commons can be viewed as not only a right to public access, but a relation between societal institutions and the individual citizen. A relation which within the context of Sweden, could and should naturally be applied and extended to the publicly funded university as a common societal resource. Although there are differences between the natural commons studied by influential figures such as Elinor Ostrom and the university as ‘commons’, the analogy stresses the relational dimensions between viable and sustainable institutions, and the public trust in the commons & its resources.

Through a series of residencies in 2021, Allmänningen (The Common Room) began by inviting practitioners, collectives and organisations to help think through questions of what kind of common resources are produced within the university? How can these resources be developed as public commons? In what sense are these resources enclosed, vulnerable and at risk of exploitation? By addressing these questions, the residencies through scholarship and practice piloted and began to suggest alternative modes and models for university collaboration and usership. Allmänningen/The Common Room prototyped residencies with Sandi Hilal (DAAR), Post Workers Theatre, Kulturhuset Blå Stället and Åbäke.

A publication with four posters including edited interviews, transcriptions and commissioned texts provides a comprehensive overview of the residency outputs and intentions.

Graphic Design: Åbäke