The book Self-organisation / counter-economic strategies was initiated by the artists’ group Superflex, but it is not about them. It is about the many approaches to the creation, dissemination and maintenance of alternative models for social and economic organisation, and the practical and theoretical implications, consequences and possibilities of these self-organised structures. The counter-economic strategies presented here are alternatives to classical capitalist economic organisation that exploit, or have been produced by, the existing global economic system.

Essays by ten writers cover a wide cross-section of activity, from new approaches to intellectual property and the implications of the free/open source software movement to political activism and the de facto self-organisation embodied in informal architecture and the so-called black economy.

Self-organisation/ counter-economic strategies is not a comprehensive overview or an attempt to unify these diverse interpretations. It is intended as a toolbox of ideas, situations and approaches, and includes many practical examples.

Commissioned texts include Will Bradley on GuaranaPower, Anupam Chander & Madhavi Sunder on fan fiction and intellectual property, Bruno Comparato on the Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil, Mika Hannula on self-organisation and civil society, Alfonso Hernández on the barrio of Tepito in Mexico City, Susan Kelly on “What is to be done?”, Lawrence Lessig on problems with copyright law, Marjetica Potrč on parallelism and fragmentation in the Western Balkans and the EU, and Tere Vadén on the future of information societies, plus interviews with Craig Baldwin (A.T.A. Gallery, Other Cinema), Brett Bloom (Temporary Services, Mess Hall), Sasha Costanza-Chock (Indymedia), Adrienne Lauby (Free Speech Radio News), and Nigel Parry (Electronic Intifada).

Co-produced by NIFCA - Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and Montana, Denmark.

Texts by Will Bradley, Anupam Chander & Madhavi Sunder, Bruno Comparato, Mika Hannula, Alfonso Hernández, Susan Kelly, Lawrence Lessig, Marjetica Potrč, and Tere Vadén