Common Life is a collaborative research project initiated by the Ungovernable. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, it is run by artist and arts organiser Molemo Moiloa. The project brings five art initiatives in Africa together with five researchers to explore and test strategies for artistic practices that are embedded in the communities in which they are placed, with a particular focus on exploring the potential of art to generate ways of living together.
Common Life is currently made up of Festival sur le Niger (Mali), Kër Thiossane (Senegal), Ekilawuli with Afrika Arts Kollective (Uganda), Dzimbanhete (Zimbabwe) and Kino Kadre (South Africa), and researchers Ebrahima Wane, Dieynaba Ndiaye, David Kaiza, Tafadzwa Gwetai and Taryn Mackay. Together, the group reflects on emerging creative practices of collectivity and commons. They explore art spaces as centres where resources can be brought together and shared. The focus is on integrating artistic practice and society as well as fostering connections between environment, people, history, nature and urban realities. The group seeks to articulate forms of viable and vital communal art practices that are deeply rooted in African sensitivities and social philosophies.
Common Life is an experiment in thinking together and an opportunity to explore and test strategies for artistic practice from and for the African continent.
