Learning Commons

A talk by Design for Cultural Commons MA course leader Torange Khonsari.

“Self-governance requires collective action combined with knowledge." – C Hess and E Ostrom

For new models of cultural and urban commons to emerge and have followers, there needs to be new arenas for learning. Learning towards new models of sociability which include collaboration and co-production rather than competition.

This lecture, delivered by the Design for Cultural Commons MA course leader Torange Khonsari, will illustrate the tensions between current institutionalised knowledge and more fluid platforms where learning can happen. Communities of reflective learners and knowledge producers are essential for sustainability and development of the commons. Here, Khonsari will talk about the paradox between learning within an academic environment and the public works' initiative, School for Civic Action – an informal and non-institutional platform for learning commoning practices.

Torange Khonsari co-founded the art and architecture practice public works in 2004, an interdisciplinary practice working in the threshold of participatory and performative art, architecture and related fields of anthropology, always engaged with collaborative methods and notions of civic in the city. Her collective practice is a vehicle that tests the academic research undertaken within her university teaching. Torange has taught at the Royal College of Art (RCA),Umeå School of Architecture (UMA) School of Architecture in Sweden and is currently course leader of Design for Cultural Commons MA at London Metropolitan University and visiting Professor at the Barbican and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has published in academic books and journals, given keynotes at conferences and invited to chair panels at symposiums internationally. She has been a consultant to UNHabitat on participation and current consultant to the Greater London Authority (GLA) – the London Mayor's specialist assistant team on community development.

Tickets are free and all are welcome.