Collectivity is a property of things. We have many words to describe the subjective experience of being collected—togetherness, solidarity, belonging—but each admit to the presence of a shared identity. The assembly of people, material, or ideas each in their own way form a collective being. Collecting, as a process, is constitutive of collectivity. In an era marked by the exploitation and extraction of groups, gatherings, and communities, how might collecting and collectivity turn against speculative apparatuses of production, and move toward the collectives we need?

Collectivity is a collaboration between e-flux Architecture and the 2019 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism within the context of the “Collective City” thematic exhibition, and was made possible thanks to the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL.