Communitism is an open community of creative professionals experiencing practices of commoning, which was based at Kerameikou 28 in central Athens.
Operating as an association, we revive abandoned or under-utilized cultural heritage buildings, transitioning them into cultural commons entrusted and operated by active communities, by building a cooperative relationship between owners and community members. We consider collaborative artistic expression as a generator of common knowledge and practice. We believe space can shift behaviour and transform character. Art is the methodology to invite people used to acting as individuals into common practices transcending into active citizenship.
Communitism is based on sharing spaces, means of production, competences and time through practices of cooperation, solidarity and mutualism. Inspired by civic use principles, we grant accessibility, usability, fairness, inclusiveness and common decision making process in the use and care of spaces. Communitism recognises itself in the rejection of any form of fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism through active policies of inclusion and respect to singularities, rejecting fear as a way of approaching reality, through implementing practices of love.
In the 1200 sq.m. building we have been granted by the owners from March 2017 until June 2023, we have established a gallery, an incubator, a cinema, a makers space, a clothing donation shop, an artists studio equipped with fabric processing and painting/sculpture workshop as well as space for two residencies. We also have commonly shared spaces for team processes and our offices. Each space is organized independently and all activities are coordinated by the members of the Communiteam. We hold weekly permeability processes for new people and communities to be able to know us and get involved. We share the space with 5 more communities, we host on average 10 sociocultural projects yearly and receive an audience of around 250 persons per week. An average of 50 collaborative artistic productions is conducted every year. The project has involved 93 people as members of the team in the 4 years of its existence. The international sociocultural center we have organically developed in a period of 3 years is developing as a training center in commoning.
Since 2017, Communitism has been offering non-formal and informal learning programmes on communitybased heritage management, solidarity-based art practices and development & management of inclusive spaces. We also provide training for youth, e.g. our alternative professional orientation & capacity building program aims to help younger generations in identifying professional paths within the fields of arts and cultural management. Our space hosts diverse learner identities since it is known to be a safe queer space, is closely connected with local migrant/refugee communities (particularly Syrian) and has establishe cooperations with international artists and civic engagement organizations. Therefore, our learners belong to a wide range of nationalities, gender & sex identities and sociocultural backgrounds. Our learning programs are designed for three main target groups. The first target group consists of members of the building and sociocultural center we currently operate, the members of our association and associates. They are mostly artists (musicians, sculptors etc.), architects and cultural managers, but also craftsmen. Programmes on community art are designed for artists (local or international) and the wider public. Staff of other organizations & academics from universities active in areas such as heritage management & civic engagement form our third group of learners. Ages range from 23-55.
Further information: