The Glossary of Common Knowledge (GCK) is the first volume (volume two was published in 2022) of a compilation of art terminology that differs substantially from what is found in the existing literature on art, and constitutes a five-year research project conducted by Moderna galerija (MG+MSUM), in the framework of L'Internationale's programme "The Uses of Art".
In collaboration with institutions and individuals from Europe and other parts of the world, 66 contributors/narrators proposed terms relating to their own practices and contexts, to historical references, political or social situations, or L'Internationale projects.
The terms were discussed and defined in six seminars dealing with six referential fields (historicisation, subjectivisation, geopolitics, constituencies, commons and their institutionality) and the book follows these topics across six chapters. Narrators created a plurality of voices and narratives which examine the proposed terms and add their different viewpoints, bringing with them overlooked, suppressed knowledge and also non-Western categories of thought and memories. This method gave rise to different ways of participating, sharing and using knowledge, as well as working together trans-globally.The book is published by L’Internationale Online and K. Verlag.
The Glossary of Common Knowledge was curated by Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna galerija, Ljubljana), Bojana Piškur (Moderna galerija, Ljubljana) and Jesús Carrillo (Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2012–2016), and the book was edited by Ida Hiršenfelder.
