The Eastside Island: Creativity, Capital and Commons in the Contemporary City
On Monday I'll be talking at the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice's seminar series on 'Creativity, Capital and Commons in the Contemporary City'. The talk will focus on how changes to the form of production produced a large wasteland on the edge of Nottingham city centre (known locally as 'The Island') and will consider how capitalism is trying to mobilise 'creativity' to redevelop it.
Yet I will argue that this 'creativity' is predicated on 'the social commons', and that the ways in which people use The Island (treating it, essentially, as if it were 'common land') point to an alternative form of 'creativity' that does not feed back into the exclusions and hierarchies of capitalism.
The talk will combine discussions of the commons; anarchist/autonomist thought; discussions about the function of art in the neoliberal city; and local history.
It's free and open to all. It's at the University of Nottingham's main campus in Trent Building A19 at 4pm.
