Biennale of Sydney

Arts for the Commons (A4C) is a collective exercise which provides a platform for artists and activists exploring the connections and synergies between visual production and efforts to reclaim the commons. A4C addresses outstanding issues related to human migration, borders, liquid citizenship and social and environmental justice. By creating opportunities for exchange, mutual action and sharing, A4C operates as a platform and attempts to synthesise arts and political engagement. The Collective explores the interstitial spaces between power and communities, traditional arts systems and society, states and territories.

Alessandro Pelizzon, Senior Lecturer, Law, Faculty of Business, Law and Arts, Southern Cross University (Australia). Over a decade ago, Pelizzon began to explore the emerging discourse on rights of nature, Wild Law and Earth Jurisprudence. His main area of interest in this field is the intersection between this emerging discourse and different legal ontologies, with a particular focus on Indigenous legal structures. Pelizzon is one of the founding members of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance.

Monti Aguirre (International Rivers, US)  works as part of International Rivers’ Latin America program to support local movements for the protection of rivers. She has worked for more than a decade in support of Amazon indigenous peoples’ rights. Prior to joining International Rivers in 1998, Aguirre worked with the Environmental Action Coalition and El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in New York City. Aguirre has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree from New York University in Environmental Education and Conservation. 

Rosanna Manosalvas, HydroJustice, (Ecuador), President of EcoCiencia has a Master in Development Education from the University of Cardiff, United Kingdom and is a PhD candidate in Political Ecology from the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands.  Manosalvas has directed and coordinated environmental and development projects on training, communication, planning and public policy for sustainability, the exercise of environmental, gender, collective and indigenous rights; governance and citizen participation, environmental justice and water justice.