Overview

Communitism revives underutilized historical buildings of Athens through creative commoning. By practicing community and arts alternatives to existing structures emerge. Communitism was from its beginnings (2015) an exploratory proposal envisioned to save the historical physiognomy of the neighbourhood of Metaxourgeio, in central Athens, which attracts so many creative individuals every day. Our concept exalts both : the abundance of abandoned buildings and the abundance of young creative professionals without career prospects. It is based on a basic principle of the theory of monument restorations: conservation is the utmost preservation principle (Petzet, 2004) which explains how buildings collapse from disuse and therefore lack of maintenance. Isn’t it a shame in a city that suffers from constant social crises, that buildings with historical value fall down due to disuse? The idea of Communitism aspired to cure this absurdity by inviting the people of Metaxourgeio to enter into dialogue with the historical buildings of the area. Since 2017 Communitism established the association "Union of Citizens for the preservation of newer cultural heritage d.t. Communitism" and founded a sociocultural center in the neoclassical building of Kerameikou 28, while establishing a collaborative relationship with the owners. For 6 years, we practiced in collective use of space, while researching on models for alternative economies. We opened the building as common asset for the city and invited communities to participate in this learning process. Communitism will have to leave 28 Kerameikou but our vision stays, sharply and strongly responding to an urgent need: as the city is being transformed by tourism, residents are losing access to vital spaces for cultural and civic expression. As a sociocultural center, Communitism embodies the Athenians’ need for third spaces, spaces that are not predetermined in terms of their use and thus allow a continuous process of re-creation.