The Commoners' Fair (2016) — Social Art Library

By

Ian Nesbitt

A day of talks, conversation, performance, food, exhibitons and workshops at Primary in Nottingham, exploring ideas of alternative economies and the sharing of knowledge within a community.

The Commoners’ Fair was developed through workshops, meetings and conversations over a 9-month period, with members of the Radford Skills Exchange and other local groups and initiatives.

A group calling itself the Commoners Working Group, made up of Radford citizens formed around the development of the event. The event itself celebrated the idea of ‘the Commons’, which it defined as the shared resources that are available to all of us. We sought to identify what the commons means to urban communities in the here and now, casting all participants as 'commoners'. The project asks: ‘What is it that everyone has that they can share? And how do we share it?‘

During the course of the work I kept a blog that I called 'Working Notes', one example of which can be read on the page on my website (link below). The Commoners' Fair also hosted the inaugural 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know' event. This was a series of rolling and very informal talks, presentations, demonstrations and performances that took place throughout the day. Each talk could be a maximum of 15 minutes and ranged from a slideshow of a cycle pilgrimage to the Hebrides, a presentation about the challenges of being a wheelchair user during research work on banana farming in Uganda, a demonstration of how to make candied scotch bonnets and an account of living on the first legal traveller site in Nottinghamshire.

'Tell Me Something I Don't Know' has become a staple of the programme at Primary, now approaching its fourteenth event, and with a growing archive of talks hosted on Soundcloud. This year, Jade Foster, assistant curator of the public programme at Primary, interviewed artist Rebecca Lee and myself about the programme and its origins: https://www.weareprimary.org/research/tmsidk-reflection

More information: http://www.iannesbitt.co.uk/index.php?/commissions/ek-uh-nom-iks-2016/

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Ian Nesbitt

Ian Nesbitt is a socially engaged artist, lapsed filmmaker and grassroots activist tending towards post-activism. He is interested in creating spaces for exchange that go beyond the everyday. Pursuing active interests in walking, DIY culture, emerging social movements, more-than-human entanglements, degrowth strategies, and experimental documentary film, his practice is openly collaborative, working with artists and non-artists alike. His projects explore ideas of commonality, working alongside citizens and communities to create spaces for exchange that are beyond the everyday. His work as a filmmaker focuses on exploring identity and community through making work collaboratively, often using chance interactions to open up personal and shared terrains.

iannesbitt.co.uk