To think about The Common Room : A Refuge From A Condition That We Cannot Escape beyond the workshop and the confines of MAGCD alone, I decided to create a social Face Filter that will allow for reflection and exchange including questions that were raised and discussed during the workshop.
Below are a few responses from those who have used the Reflective Q&A Face Filter by The Common Room:
1. Rebecca Li – Womenswear Fashion Designer
2. Teresa Fogolari – 3D Designer and Creative Director
3. Precious Opara – Fine Artist and Art Director
Offprint @ Tate
I also presented and sold 5 copies of ‘A Condition That We Cannot Escape: Dialogues Exploring the State of Creative Labour Under Crisis Capitalism’ at Offprint London @ the Tate Modern.
I see The Common Room expanding beyond the boundaries of MAGCD. Whether it’s through circulating the printed ephemera that results from the process of research and dialogue, or creating a social platform where the progress of The Common Room is being shared with others in the hopes of involving others and building a community around the exchange of ideas, knowledge and purpose of The Common Room.
Based on the results, dialogues and materials collected from the workshop, I developed a two part poster series titled ‘A Map to The Future of Creative Pursuit.’
First: I used each individuals’ manifestos and their notes from the dialogues prompted by excerpts from my publication, ‘A Condition That We Cannot Escape: Dialogues on the State of Creative Labour Under Crisis Capitalism,’ to develop a collective manifesto for The Common Room.
Second: I used each person’s ‘Present – Future Graph’ to plot the trajectory of the hopes and fears for future of creative pursuit.
I chose to continue working with text as a diagrammatic form to reflect the collaboration, complexity and reflective exchange that took place during the collective discussion at The Common Room Workshop.
In the publication the diagrammatic cadence matched the flow of dialogue between two people; whereas the manifesto and the plot are born out of a collective conversation that holds a multiplicity of voices. Also reflected in the choice to use layered Risograph printing techniques.
Riso Printing ProcessRiso Printing ProcessRiso Printing ProcessTactile Engagement with the PosterRisograph Scraps
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The workshop helped me think about this project beyond the publication and dialogue; I now see The Common Room as a starting point to build a community around.
The Common Room is a refuge from A Condition That We Cannot Escape. A condition of polycrisis under exploitative capitalism.
Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s, A Room of One’s Own, The Common Room aims to reshape our understanding of the barriers we face in pursuing sustainable creative work as not just being our own – but as systemic issues we face collectively.
Below is a text excerpt of the full manifesto that lays out the guiding principles and purpose of The Common Room.
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the purpose OF The Common Room IS To create space, build community, initiate dialogues and make demands that can allow us to take control of OUR FUTURES and shape the conditions of CREATIVE LABOUR UNDER CAPITALISM IN POLYCRISIS.
THE COMMON ROOM IS A COLLECTIVE METAPHORICAL SPACE: IT CAN TAKE MANY SHAPES AND FORMS. THE PURPOSE OF ITS SHAPE IS ONE that can unify us as a community of creative WORKERS AND THINKERS with common interestS.
THE COMMON ROOM AIMS TO BUILD frameworks and STRATEGIES that enable us to imagine and demand economically, psychologically, ecologically and creatively sustainable MODES OF WORKING.
WHILE IT MAY inevitably BE NECESSARY TO WORK WITH OR WITHIN THE LIMITS OF EXISTING institutions, SYSTEMS AND POWERS THAT BE; THE COMMON ROOM hopes to PUSH beyond the constraints of the failures of SUCH OPPRESSIVE systems of power THROUGH CRITIQUE, DIALOGUE AND IMAGINATION.
THE ETERNAL GOAL, HOWEVER, IS not TO seek PLAIN reform of existing bodies, but TO DEVELOP an active method to REVEAL new MODES of operating. THAT IS, TO build a totally different system of creatIVE LABOUR AND PRODUCTION.
USE THE COMMON ROOM AS A SPACE TO QUESTION EXPLOITATIVE AND OPPRESSIVE SYSTEMS. WE SEEK PATHWAYS TOWARS LIBERATION.
THE COMMON ROOM CELEBRATES GAPS, UNCERTAINTIES AND UNKNOWNS. GAPS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR IMAGINATION. THEY ARE SPACES TO BE FILLED.
THE COMMON ROOM AIMS TO FOSTER A COMMUNITY OF MUTUAL SUPPORT. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR GATEKEEPING. ALL KNOWLEDGE IS SHARED FREELY IN THIS SPACE.
BOUNDARIES OF THE COMMON ROOM ARE ALWAYS SHIFTING. ITS IS A SPACE FOR PERPETUAL CONTINUITY, CHANGE AND REINVENTION.
ONLY IN COMMUNAL DIALOGUE CAN WE RECOGNISE THE PROBLEMS WE FACE AS NOT JUST OUR OWN, BUT AS RELATIONAL TO SYSTEMIC FAILURES. THE COMMON ROOM ENCOURAGES DEEP REFLECTION AND MUTUAL EXCHANGE THAT MAY ALLOW US TO ABANDON THE LONELY PUSUIT OF INDIVIDUAL ACTION IN EXCHANGE FOR A COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS.
AS THE BARRIERS TO CREATIVE PURSUIT GET STEEPER, THE COMMON ROOM AIMS TO UPLIFT THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO STRUGGLE WITH ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE AND OPPORTUNITY.
PRODUCTIVITY DOES NOT COME FROM STRUGGLE . CREATIVE WORK REQUIRES SUPPORTIVE SYSTEMS AND CONDITIONS THAT ALLOW FOR productivity WITHOUT BURNOUT.
THE COMMON ROOM DEMANDS A FUTURE WHERE WE ARE NOT SACRIFICING OUR MENTAL WELLBEING TO MEET OUR MOST BASIC MATERIAL NEEDS.
THE COMMON ROOM BELIEVES THAT FINANCIAL SECURITY IS NOT A LUXURY. NO MORE WORKER EXPLOITATION, UNPAID WORK, LOW WAGES AND UNFAIR FEES.
AS TRADITIONAL CREATIVE JOBS AND CAREERS DISAPPEAR. AND PEOPLE ENGAGE IN A MIX OF BOTH FREELANCE AND EMPLOYED WORK, THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE SUPPORT FOR THOSE ENGAGING IN SUCH FLUID MODES OF WORK. INSTABILITY CANNOT BECOME THE NORM FOR CREATIVE WORKERS.
THE COMMON ROOM SEES AI AS A TOOL TO ENHANCE, NOT REPLACE, HUMAN COGNITION. APPLICATIONS OF AI MUST PROTECT THE NEEDS AND RIGHTS OF PEOPLE OVER PROFIT.
THE COMMON ROOM DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT EVERY CREATIVE AND CRITICAL ENDEAVOUR NEEDS A CLEAR PATH TOWARDS RESOLUTION. ENGAGING SOLELY with questions where the path to resolution can be preemptively laid out REQUIRES THAT WE ONLY DEAL WITH THAT WHICH CAN immediately BE solved. THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN ENDING UP WITH A CULTURE THAT ONLY FOCUSSES ON PROBLEMS THAT ARE EASY TO SOLVE.
AT ITS CORE, THE COMMON ROOM TREATS CREATIVE EXPRESSION AS THE ESSENCE OF BEING ALIVE.
For this term I wanted to understand how the dialogues captured in the publication from earlier in the unit could prompt further discussion and action amongst an audience.
My enquiry : how can dialogue help us make sense of the current state of creative labour and production in context of an economy in crisis under digital capitalism and prompt us to take control of our own futures as we cope with these conditions?
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To do this, I decided to conduct a workshop with a group of students at CSM MAGCD. I decided to keep this initial workshop small as it is an initial test. Therefore it made sense to initially set a boundary of common discipline and similar experience.
However, I see this expanding beyond these boundaries as the idea of The Common Room grows; the eventual aim is to unify creative labour across disciplines and levels of experience.
Since the MAGCD cohort brings people with varying practices and backgrounds – this still maintains the broader definition of creative work.
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The Workshop Invite
The Common Room Reflective Workshop, Conversation and Free Snacks!
The Condition Capitalism has encroached into every facet of our lives. Our ecologies are collapsing. Wealth and power are held at the hands of a few. Wages are stagnant. Social safety nets are non-existent. The idea of community has been destroyed. We. Must. Be. Productive. Every minute must be monetised. If it is not commercially viable it must be sacrificed. Studio space is expensive. Rent is due. We’re all burnt out. And apparently we’ve all got to worry about AI taking over?!
Give us a break.
It feels as if we’re stuck in a condition that we cannot escape. Doesn’t it? How do we cope with this condition? What does it mean to pursue a life in the creative industry at this moment in time? Are you anxious about the future that awaits us? Where do we find supportive creative communities? The Workshop I know I’ve painted a bit of a bleak picture of the world. But there is good news. Whatever the condition is that we find ourselves within; we are not alone. We’re lucky to find ourselves at university, amongst each other, experiencing these anxieties together. But we only have a short while before we’re all out in the real world.
So, if you find that you share some of these anxieties, I would love to have you join The Common Room. The Common Room is a refuge; it will be an introspective workshop that allows us to take some time to think about our creative practice in relation to the world. With some free snacks, sweet treats and conversation, you will be encouraged to reflect on your practice, connect with others, exchange perspectives and come up with ways to cope with the future.
The workshop will feed into the construction of a Manifesto for Creative Work that will make up part of my final project and I would be extremely grateful for your participation and input!
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The Workshop Structure, Prep & Materials
I created a 4 part workshop structure to guide participants’ reflections, dialogues, positioning and future projections. I also created worksheets for each part of the workshop, and slides that include an introduction to the workshop and instructions for each part.
Task 1 : Plot Your Practice Participants will be asked to reflect on their practice and plot their positions in relation to FULFILMENT & DEPLETION + EXCITEMENT & STABILITY according to where the see themselves in the PRESENT, FUTURE [HOPE] & FUTURE [FEARS].
A few participants will be chosen to share their plot. And open up dialogue between people that have similar or even differing views.
Task 2 : Read, Reflect, Discuss Participants are given an excerpt from my publication ‘A Condition We Cannot Escape: Dialogues on the State of Creative Labour Under Capitalism.’ They will read the excerpt. Reflect. And in groups of two exchange what they have read and their reflections with one another.
There will then be a wider group discussion on the various topics discussed.
Task 3 : Manifesto | A Framework for the Future of Your Practice Based on the discussion and reflections so far on conditions of creative work, participants will be given the chance to develop a manifesto for the future of their own creative practices with the help of a worksheet that provides certain lenses and frames to think within.
The workshop also provides a list of existing manifestos to use as a starting point to build and collage a new one of their own.
Task 4 : A Message to Your Future Self | Time Capsule To close off the workshop. Participants will be given a postcard to place in a time capsule. They will be asked to write a message to their future selves a year from now. This helps participants to start a conversation with themselves in the future. These cards will be sent to each participant via email/mail in a year’s time.
