Christa Müller: Stadt der Commonisten [City of Commonists]

It can no longer be overlooked: A new generation of do-it-yourself activists is using the post-Fordist city as a laboratory for social, political, ecological, and aesthetic experimentation. Whether in a common garden or in a FabLab, in open workshops or trade events – everywhere,  such protagonists question the relationship between consumption and production and expose the problems of the commodity character of things and the knowledge contained in these. 

In her lecture, Christa Müller, head of the foundation Anstiftung & Ertomis, classifies the newly emerging interest in do-it-yourself strategies, alternative economic cycles, topics of general interest, and their practices in urban spaces within a larger social context. The richly illustrated lecture combines visual forays into new urban spaces of the do-it-yourselfers and combines these with stimulating time diagnoses. It becomes clear that the young urbanites do not aspire to opposition, but, rather, pursue a need for "true democracy" by creating (atmo)spheres of sharing and trading. They practice collaborative consumption and design “commonist” public space.

Dr. Christa Müller is a sociologist and directs the foundation Anstiftung & Ertomis. She researches sustainable lifestyles and new welfare models. In 2011, she published "Urban Gardening" and co-curated the exhibition "Die Produktive Stadt – Designing for Urban Agriculture". "Stadt der Commonisten. Neue urbane Räume des Do it yourself" was published (with A. Baier and K. Werner) in 2013.