The Commons: Re-Enchanting the World was curated by Catherine Morland and Amanda Couch at the Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL), University of Reading, UK, from March 2020 – April 2022 with artists, Sigrid Holmwood, Kelechi Anucha and Carl Gent, and Sam Wallman. Alongside Amanda Couch, Josefin Vargö co-designed the Commons Feasts, and Kristen Fraser designed the graphics and publication. It was funded by Arts Council England, with additional support from the University for the Creative Arts and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

The ‘commons’ describes things we all share, such as air, water, and land. Loss of vital resources like these is happening in many parts of the world, often without our knowledge. The project focuses on how the social and ecological challenges we currently face link back to complex histories of land ownership, gender rights, labour, and the wage economy, as well as a decline in communal life and subsistence living. As well as the legacies of colonialism and the impact of neocolonialism, the concept of commons also serves as a rallying cry to raise awareness of homegrown inequalities.

The Commons: Re-enchanting the World explicitly makes homage to the title, ethos and vision of Federici’s 2019 book Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons. Federici who does not advocate ‘an impossible return to the past (Federici, 2019:8). She urges us to reflect on the knowledges and practices of our ancestors to claim, salvage and make reparations, to enable us to mutually look to the future, in order that we “recover the power of collectively deciding our fate on this earth”. She looks ahead to “a new world, reenchanted” (Linebaugh, 2019:xiii).