Taking as its starting point the rich heritage of the co-operative movement in Lincoln, where co-ops still play a vital role in the local economy and community Alicja’s commission, Desire Lines, involved various communities in the city. Through a series of events the project explored traditions of working together for the common good and alternative economic models, whilst focusing on people’s political desires for the future organised around the ideas of working together, sharing and commoning.

Resources from each event were brought together by Alicja forming a toolkit or mini-publication, a record of the project that can also be used as an activity pack: to draw, cook, play and sing together in a co- operative spirit. Click here to download a Desire Lines Toolkit.

Alicja Rogalska is a Polish-born artist based in London and active internationally. She mostly works in specific contexts making situations, performances, videos and installations in collaboration with other people to investigate social structures and the political subtext of the everyday and to collectively search for emancipatory ideas for the future. She grew up in North-East Poland on a small farm, part of a co-operative dairy run by local farmers.

Presented by Mansions of the Future as part of their Urban Form: Social Architecture & The Commons season. This programme of activity marks the start of the Mansions of the Future’s legacy year (2019 – 2020), and intends to engage artists, architects, academics and local citizens in conversation and debate around the past, present and future of Lincoln’s social and civic life, within the context of the local built environment.