The Museum of the Commons (2022 – 2027)

The Museum of the Commons (MoC) is a 4 year programme developed by the European confederation of contemporary art museums, L’Internationale. The MoC encourages contemporary museums and cultural organisations to act as open source tools for new sustainable forms of cultural co-creation, contributing to environmental, social and artistic transformation. For over two centuries, museums have been the custodians of heritage and memory. However, in recent decades, they have become key spaces of the public sphere in which major challenges are addressed and discussed, such as climate change, social inclusion and equality.

Understanding the cultural sector as an ecosystem formed by organisations of different scales, impacts and target audiences, the MoC establishes sustainable cooperation between 7 museums, 3 academic institutions, 4 art organisations, and 2 associated partners, performing specific roles in the art sector across the whole European continent (N, E, S and W). The Museum of the Commons contributes to making the arts ecosystem broader, healthier and more inclusive.

The MoC project is organised into three thematic threads:

1. Climate: tackling the questions of environmental sustainability
2. Situated organisations: questioning the role of art institutions as spaces of inclusion and diversity
3. The past in the present: addressing history and heritage as tools for social justice. To do so, the museums of the MoC provide the 5 interrelated elements that represent the central core of their operations as protectors of European heritage and memory: art collections, archives, libraries, audiences, and sites.

These elements are the raw materials to be used as common goods by all the partners in order to develop the programme.

The MoC aims to reach 2 million European citizens by producing 6 exhibitions, 4 artistic assemblies, 5 residency programmes, 6 nomadic schools, 50 workshops, 5 community garden projects, 1 online platform, 3 digital archives and 41 digital publications.

Irish Partners

NCAD (The National College of Art and Design) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country.

IMMA Dublin (associate partner) connects audiences and art, providing a ry space where contemporary life and contemporary art connect, challenge and inspire one another. IMMA shares, develops and conserves the Irish National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art for now and for the future.

Further Information

Since 2013 L’Internationale Online is the common platform for research, debate and communication for the confederation. L’Internationale Online is a space where commissioned texts, research and artistic projects intersect with the activities, collections and archives of the members’ institutions. It includes a growing library of publications produced by the platform, as well as by the partner institutions, available for download. L’Internationale Online is also a platform for the network to publish statements and opinion pieces on topical cultural and political debates.

• The Museum of the Commons / L’Internationale