In the process of handcrafting, the outcome of one’s work is immediately perceived and experienced. The work performed by the hands trains the body and mind in practical problem-solving skills, an invitation to think and act solution-oriented.
Collective work reinforces community feeling and fosters group dynamics. Each person contributes with individual skills, which become incremental in a community. In the plurality of skills, every one learns from the others.
Through commoning, people appropriate spaces together. They create places by collectively and continuously negotiating their form, functions and modes of governance. The process of negotiation is never complete. It should remain open for newcomers.
The baucircus workshop is a place for open negotiation and collective action, not just production. Handcraft is a means to shape up processes, not just products. Collective production is part of the process of bringing people together and fostering social relationships for communal concerns.
Conversation and interaction are the foundations of the process of collective designing and building. Convivial gatherings, games, events and open discussions are means of internal and external communication, which nurture the commoning of spaces into collective places.
Built results should break the barrier of unspoken questions in collective processes. Each built chapter is a question provoking answers from everyone, whether actively involved or not yet. The built appropriation should remain open, permeable and even reversible for following chapters, further participants and actions.
Active participation in the process of spatial appropriation triggers a shift in one’s perception of the built environment. Agency over commons is introduced to break static dissatisfaction with the surrounding environment and conditions.
The will to commoning should arise from the people concerned. baucircus is there to guide and support with planning and building skills in collective processes.
Mobility of the baucircus workshop is central in order to decentralize access and be able to work with people and communities, wherever they are. It enables in situ presence over extended periods of time as well as return for more action. The circus tent is set as an announcement of a new building chapter.
baucircus sets its tent on publicly accessible space as an open invitation for participation, to leave the audience seat and become an actor. Commoning is an open process. It should take place in an open space so it can be visible and accessible for all.
