The Constellation of Commons is an exceptional tool for political thinking and analysis of the present, (and even for survival!). The generous effort to compile all these experiences in these interview videos and make them accessible with a Creative Commons license on a web page, is an exciting, extremely enriching and unexpected contribution to the collective intelligence. Especially unexpected, by the way, as long as it comes from the academic world, so usually unable to generate knowledge tools that try to challenge the productive, elitist, mercantile and patriarchal logic that continues to govern university institutions.
This project is very relevant. It is not always easy to find counterhegemonic practices in the media. Most of the times, they are made invisible by the algorithms of the media ecology. For this reason, it is extremely useful to have so many of them conveniently accessible here. The content is presented clearly and playfully.
Not only does it address the fundamental issues, but the richness of the material allows to think with very innovative participation and knowledge dissemination structures.
This is an incredible resource for people wanting to become more directly involved in place-based social activism and artivism within Spain. It has resources to help academics to get out of the ivory tower and their alienating specializations to aid them in knowing how to connect their students with the real world.
The content collected by the project is extremely important. Constellation provides a really useful archive of some of the most interesting social, cultural and political experiences going on in Spain right now. Given the complexity of interconnections between those spaces and experiences, I think the constellational format chosen by the project gives the user a dynamic, yet extremely clear, access to the information. Also, the titles of the general themes, or nodes within the constellation, allow users to rethink received conceptual categories, it is extremely useful in showing the singularity of each experience (their originality) while also showing their interdependence or interconnection with others. Finally, the whole dynamism of the website I think it results in a very inviting appeal to users, who can then be incited to think of similar initiatives they know (or they can imagine) in their own specific contexts.
"The Constellation of the Commons is more than an archive, more than a digital platform, more than a textbook, more than an invitation. It is an exciting way to think about research and teaching as they apply to public, shared spaces and an incitement to match progressive ideals with progressive actions."