Aesthetics, Commons and the Production of the Subject: An Interview with Cornelia Sollfrank and Felix Stalder

Two of the editors of the volume Aesthetics of the Commons (Diaphanes 2021) Cornelia Sollfrank and Felix Stalder discuss with WPCC journal the potential and meanings of the digital commons in creating new subjectivities and new imaginaries on and off the internet. Within this they question whether the focus on the aesthetics of the commons is useful for understanding phenomena such as 'artistic shadow libraries', pointing towards the need to build institutions for which 'practices of commoning are central'. Also considered are the modern art system, copyright, and the corrosive individualism of Western modernity in the artistic sphere. Against these factors they note instead that, 'the commons are structured through different relations, and care expresses that difference'. New economic approaches are needed in the arts supported by political actors which might include the 're-envisioning [of] public institutions, such as public broadcasting, as part of a commons'.+ ID: 593099 + PeerReviewed: Peer Reviewe