Week 1 – Everybody in the place

Starting back in studio this semester we began by going over the brief “Everybody in the place”. Split into three parts (Observing/Participating, Intervening/Interfering and Originating/Founding) this brief has a strong focus on looking at the relationships within a space and of the space itself.

We began by discussing what is a “social space”:
– a space where people gather
– shared space
– space that is encouraging to a conversation/group/activity etc
– we shape spaces and spaces shape us and space is socially produced (Henri Lefebvre)
“Social space” gives emphasis on relationships and behaviours that happen within spaces and to de-emphasize the “built environment”
“Social spaces” are mobile, space follows/forms relationships and is not fixed to a certain physical point.

Next we discussed what are “The Commons”:
– known to community/shared by a community
– belonging to two or more individuals
– something that occurs frequently “it’s a common sight”
– best/well known or seen
– widespread “common knowledge”
– lack of privilege or social status “common people”
“The commons” – Noun: Peer to peer knowledge, resources held by a community, managed by people who use them, publicly owned green spaces.
Verb: Self governance, engaging in relationships that have been diminished under capitalism, a continuing reliance on learning from and commitment to one another.
(if a space is governed by someone else (privately owned) instead of by a public group then the spirit of that space isn’t a “commons”)
Commons is about sharing resources.

After discussing the brief and the connections between social spaces and the commons we were given our task for our next class.