The digital book Common: For the Politics and Aesthetics of Sharing invites a collective reflection on the significance of participation, communal processes, the articulation between trust and democracy in contemporary society, and the role of emotion in this arena, as well as the creative use of the law in the realm of the commons. It addresses fundamental questions, including what constitutes the Commons— or the Common— and how resource sharing can be promoted in an increasingly individualistic and privatized world.
This volume originates from a series of conferences and workshops curated by Pascal Gielen and Denise Pollini, organized by SESC-SP, Brazil, and held in September 2023. Contributors include Pascal Gielen (CCQO Coordinator), Giuliana Ciancio, Maria Francesca De Tullio, and Denise Pollini (members of the CCQO), as well as Georgia Nicolau (founder of Instituto ProComum, São Paulo), Stavros Stavrides (Greek architect and activist), and Maria Lucia Fattorelli (National Coordinator of the Citizen Audit of the Brazilian Public Debt).
This bilingual publication (Portuguese/ English) examines both the challenges and the potential of the Commons in contemporary contexts, facilitating the exchange of experiences between Brazil and Europe. By addressing critical issues such as the reconstruction of trust, the strengthening of democratic practices, and the promotion of collective goods, the volume seeks to foster critical reflection and to envision alternatives that transcend conventional notions of ownership and the dichotomy between public and private spheres.
Authors: Giuliana Ciancio, Maria Francesca De Tullio, Maria Lucia Fattorelli, Pascal Gielen, Georgia Nicolau, Denise Pollini and Stavros Stavrides
Engravings and Art by: Leya Mira Brander
Design: SESC Team - SP, Brazil
Publisher: SESC – SP, Brazil, p. 241
June 2025
About the authors
Giuliana Ciancio is a researcher, cultural manager, curator, and lecturer with expertise in cultural management and the performing arts. She holds a PhD in Management and is a member of the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Giuliana has curated award-winning projects that bring together international festivals, universities, municipalities, artists, cultural activists, and grassroots organizations. In 2018, she co-founded Liv.in.g. (Live Internationalization Gateway), a social enterprise that supports cultural organizations in establishing international cooperation networks. She teaches in postgraduate programs at public and private universities and contributes to mainstream publications on cultural activism, participatory practices, and cultural policy.
Maria Francesca De Tullio is a postdoctoral researcher in Constitutional Law at the University of Naples Federico II. In 2017, she undertook a research stay at Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. She later served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp for the EU-funded Cultural and Creative Spaces and Cities project. She is a member of the research group Constitutions in the Age of the Internet, and her current postdoctoral work, funded by the European Union, focuses on the use of digital technologies in agriculture, with particular attention to the "right to food." Her research interests include the commons, cultural policy, counter-terrorism, states of emergency, Internet law, European economic governance, and public administrations on commons-based governance.
Maria Lúcia Fattorelli is the National Coordinator of the Citizens' Debt Audit since 2000 . Member of Brazilian Justice and Peace Commission of the CNBB. Graduated in Business Administration (UFMG) and Accounting Sciences (FMS), specialist in Tax Administration (FGV/EAESP), tax auditor at the Ministry of Finance, retired in 2010. She was a member of Ecuador's Debt Audit Commission (2007/2008) and Greece's Debt Auditor Commission (2015). Advised the Public Debt Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies (2009/2010), and the PBH Ativos S/A Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) of the Belo Horizonte City Council on the Securitization scheme (2017). She has published several books and articles in Brazil and abroad.
Pascal Gielen is a writer and full cultural and political sociology professor at the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (University of Antwerp, Belgium), where he leads the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO). He also serves as editor-in-chief of the international book series Antennae - Arts in Society (Valiz). In 2016, Gielen received the prestigious Odysseus Grant from the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO) for outstanding international scientific research. In 2022, the Flemish government appointed him curator of the Culture Talks conference. Gielen's research explores creative labor, the commons, and urban and cultural politics. His books have been translated into multiple languages, and he frequently contributes to diverse newspapers and publications. He lives and works in Antwerp.
Georgia Nicolau is a creator and articulator of processes and projects that involve strengthening the commons as a political strategy, strengthening civil society, and collaboration for social change. She is a researcher interested in themes such as Bem Viver (Good-Living), social justice, and inequalities. She is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity program at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an associated researcher of the Inequalities Policies Group at the same institution. She is also co-founder of Procomum Institute, a commons organization that works towards recognizing, empowering, innovating, and protecting the commons.
Denise Pollini is a researcher, educator, and curator based in Antwerp, Belgium. From 2015 to 2021, she was Head of Education at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal. Before that, she held the same position at the Museum of Brazilian Art in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1999 to 2015. Since 2022, she has been a researcher at the Culture Commons Quest Office (CCQO) in Antwerp and a scholarship recipient of Portugal's Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). In 2023, she co-curated, with Pascal Gielen, the conference Common: For the Politics and Aesthetics of Sharing in São Paulo, which SESC-CPF organized. She is currently working on her PhD at the University of Antwerp, focusing on The Commons and Contemporary Art Museums: The Commons as a Pathway to a New Institutional Dynamic.
Stavros Stavrides is an architect, activist, and Professor at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens. He teaches courses in housing design and urban design and a postgraduate seminar on metropolitan experience. He also directs the NTUA Laboratory for Architectural Design and Communication. His research focuses on housing as a form of commons and urban self-management. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico and published several influential books, including Common Spaces of Urban Emancipation, Common Space: The City as Commons, Towards the City of Thresholds, and From the City-as-Screen to the City-as-Stage. He regularly lectures at universities across Europe and the Americas on urban struggles and the politics of common space.