ZHdK Summer School 2026
Art & Collective Placemaking
Block seminar on current ecological and social discourses and practices
3, 4, 5 Sep 2026
Urban Commons examines collective forms of action between art, everyday life, and urban practice. The central question is how shared action is organized and how it can create agency in everyday life. A special focus lies on the concept of “commoning”. This refers to processes of collectively producing, using, and caring for shared resources. Commoning enables concrete experiences of participation and agency. “Placemaking” is understood as a collective practice. Participants work with real situations in urban space. Places are read, used, and transformed together. Decisions emerge through the process and are negotiated collectively. The module combines theory and practice and introduces concepts from art, collaboration, commons, and more-than-human approaches. Exercises, excursions, conversations with experts, and experimental formats form the basis of the work. We test methods on site and develop a toolbox for our own collective practice.
Instructors: Johannes M. Hedinger (ILEA) and Violeta Burckhardt (studio erde) + guests
Dates: Thu 3 Sep, 6 – 9pm / Fri 6 Sep, 9am – 5pm / Sat 7 Sep, 9am – 5pm
Information and registration (until 7. Aug 2026): LINK
