Moving beyond the current institutional collapse, happening everywhere from democracy and education to the world’s leading international organizations, is it possible to re-imagine – and establish – institutions as open, democratic, egalitarian, self-organized, local and transnational? Could the institutions that we see getting more and more deprived of power and influence, abandoned, silenced and humiliated by political and economic powers, be re-imagined and re-built, before getting completely dismantled and erased? While techno-feudalists are building secret refuges on hidden islands, the Island School of Social Autonomy (ISSA), along with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and the Museum of the Commons – a network of museums and cultural institutions united in the L'internationale – launches an October School on the island of Vis in Croatia. Through the intersection of the main thematic threads of Museum of the Commons – Climate or environmental sustainability; Situated organizations or how art institutions can become spaces of inclusion and diversity; and The past in the present, addressing history and heritage as tools for social justice, the island will become a case study for writers, historians, theoreticians, activists, artists, curators and researchers, on how to envision the future amidst and after ongoing catastrophes and genocides. With Adania Shibli, Kristin Ross, Robert Perišić, Saša Savanović, Srećko Horvat, Marko Pogačar, Zdenka Badovinac, Bojana Piškur, Theo Prodromidis, Ovidiu Ţichindeleanu, Progressive International, Naan-Aligned cooking, and others
On the verge of the sixth mass extinction, in the collapsing international order, with autocrats and billionaires in power and unprecedented technologically enabled surveillance, with AI penetrating all spheres of life, amongst rising nativist, nationalist, fascist sentiments with insatiable appetite for growth and expansion, within the context of competitive nation states, can we conceive of institutions as conduits of emancipation?
Moving beyond the current institutional collapse, happening everywhere from democracy and education to the world’s leading international organizations, is it possible to re-imagine – and establish – institutions as open, democratic, egalitarian, self-organized, local and transnational?
While techno-feudalists are building secret refuges on hidden islands, the Island School of Social Autonomy (ISSA), along with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb and the Museum of the Commons – a network of museums and cultural institutions united in the L'internationale – launches an October School on the island of Vis in Croatia.
This remote island features remnants of ancient Illyrians, Greek colonisation and the establishment of the first polis in the Adriatic, it was a trade and cultural crossroad between empires – from Roman times to Venice and the Habsburg Empire. It also served as one of the main antifascist fortresses during World War II, both blessed and cursed by its strategic position in the sea.
Through the intersection of the main thematic threads of Museum of the Commons – Climate or environmental sustainability; Situated organizations or how art institutions can become spaces of inclusion and diversity; and The past in the present, addressing history and heritage as tools for social justice, the island will become a case study for writers, historians, theoreticians, activists, artists, curators and researchers, on how to envision the future amidst and after ongoing catastrophes and genocides.
Could the institutions that we see getting more and more deprived of power and influence, abandoned, silenced and humiliated by political and economic powers, be re-imagined and re-built, before getting completely dismantled and erased? Should we be aiming at constructing parallel disobedient institutions? What can we learn both from historic examples such as the Paris Commune, and contemporary examples such as the defiance of Palestinians or the student occupations in Serbia?
The October School at ISSA will offer space and time for a joint exploration and re-imagination of institutions combining both theoretical and practical work through actually building a school on Vis. It will offer a rich program – in Komiža, uphill at the School, on the beach – consisting of readings, lectures, collective work and workshops.
This year's keynote lectures will be delivered by Palestinian author and academic Adania Shibli, author of books such as Minor Detail, We are all equally far from love and Touch, and Kristin Ross, an American literary theorist who is professor emeritus of comparative literature at New York University and author of books such as Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune and The Commune Form: The Trans-formation of Everyday Life. With the aim to dive deeper into their reflections, both will lead workshops at ISSA.
The October School will offer the following workshops (10 participants per workshop):
1) Communal Form with Kristin Ross
2) Education Under Occupation with Adania Shibli
3) Pirate Radio with Selena Savić & others
4) Dry Stone Walling with Igor Mataić ("Pomalo")
5) Naan-Aligned cooking with Kevin Kenjar
Due to limited capacity, workshops’ participants will be selected on the first come, first served basis. Apply until July 15 with a short letter including info about your background, choice of workshop(s) and a sentence about why you want to take part in them. Please note that participants cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.
If you wish to register, please send your letter (Subject: Registration for workshop NAME) to: octoberschoolapplications@gmail.com. Accepted applicants will be informed of their participation in the selected workshops by July 20.
All other programs will be open to the public and free. You don’t need to register for them. However, if you wish to take part in work actions at ISSA (construction and learning together while building the school), due to logistics, we kindly ask you to also confirm your participation by July 25.
Museum of the Commons is a four-year project (2023 to 2026) implemented by the confederation L’Internationale and financed by the European Union through the Creative Europe Programme (Grant Agreement 101100021).
Museum of the Commons, Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb & ISSA
OCTOBER SCHOOL
Moving Beyond Collapse: Reimagining Institutions
21 - 25 / 10 / 2025 island Vis
