Communitism reclaims unutilised heritage buildings of Athens to be revived through creative commoning. By practising community and art, alternatives to existing structures emerge.

What is Communitism?

Communitism is an open community of creative professionals exploring practices of commoning at Kerameikou 28 in Metaxourgeio.

Communitism is a building – the sociocultural centre of Kerameikou 28 – as well as an association, which directs its activity.

The sociocultural centre functions as an open lab, with communities and users of the building developing symbiotic relationships with one another, as they test and develop new practices on an ongoing basis. We are a learning organisation.

The association engineers models for the revival of cultural heritage based on our tested practices, establishes local and international synergies, and creates educational and artistic projects that promote our vision.

Values & Principles: What do we believe?

Communitism calls for public or private building owners and communities to share responsibilities for maintaining and preserving cultural heritage.

Communitism considers collaborative artistic expression as a generator of common knowledge and practice. Communitism believes space can shift behaviours and transform characters.

Art is the methodology to invite people used to acting as individuals to become active citizens through coming together around common practices.

Communitism is based on sharing spaces, means of production, competences and time, through practices of cooperation, solidarity and mutualism.

Inspired by civic use principles, Communitism grants accessibility, usability, fairness, inclusiveness and a common decision-making process in the use and care of spaces.

Communitism rejects all forms of fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia and ageism through active policies of inclusion and respect to singularities. We reject fear as a way of approaching reality through implementing practices of love.

Communitism is a space for open discussion between all involved parties and catalyses the balancing of responsible business with social action.

Communiteam: How do we decide what to do?

Communiteam Members actively engage and assume responsibilities towards Communitism, collaborate through sharing competencies and time, regularly attend the Communiteam Meeting and contribute to the decision-making process.

Based on the principles of self-governance practice, Communiteam meets biweekly for the Communiteam General Meeting. Strategic decisions, coordination, projects, programming, infrastructure and other responsibilities of the building and association are all discussed in an inclusive, respectful conversation that searches for consensus, through a non-authoritative decision-making process.

Every member of Communiteam participates on a voluntary basis and has the opportunity to develop their own creative practices, create work and develop professionally through activities at Communitism.

Members of the Communitism association are compensated if and when projects developed by the association receive financial support.

Communitism Circles: How do we organise ourselves?

The workload of Communitism is organised between four circles: Mission, Marketing and Communications, General and Co-ordinating.

Each circle sets its own goals and delegates work as required, with specialised working groups established to complete specific aims or missions when necessary.

Each circle conducts decision-making meetings, where representatives of relevant working groups are invited to participate.

Working groups can be made up of members, associates or external collaborators and can be permanent or operate only when required by the building or the association.