The project/study programme Islands of Conviviality: An Island Pedagogy Across the Southern Dalmatian Archipelago Marking the Centenary of Ivan Illich’s Birth took place from September 1–9, 2026, across Split, Brač, Hvar and Vis, bringing together an international group of artists, researchers, theorists and activists.

Participants included Hito Steyerl, Jürgen Renn, Claire Pentecost, Sarah Lewison, Sara Black, Yvonne Illich, Srećko Horvat, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Damir Ugljen, Armina Pilav, Jamie Allen, Valeria Graziano, Gordan Savičić, Felix Stalder, Morana Miljanović, Manja Ristić, Saša Savanović, Kevin Kenjar, Laura Lotti, Predrag Kolaković, Dora Vanette, Ivica Mitrović, Bronwyn Lay, Aleksandra Sekulić, Dennis Schep, Luís Brum, Mariana Pestana, Helin Ulas, Marianna Tsionki, Cassie Thornton, John W. Kim, the Anthropocene Commons network, and Brian Holmes.

The programme featured a guided walk and lecture through Stari Grad titled Rad Holidays: The Adriatic as a Pleasure Commons, led by Valeria Graziano and Kevin Kenjar. Participants stopped at familiar landmarks to hear lesser-known stories from across the Adriatic, exploring how communities challenged commodified tourism and reclaimed the sea as a shared space for collective leisure and life.

The programme also included the workshop What Does a Summer Cost? – An Alternative Imagination for Island Tourism, aimed at young people who live, work or study on Hvar. Co-led by Valeria Graziano and Morana Miljanović, the workshop invited participants to rethink and imagine alternative futures for island tourism.

The programme was organised in partnership with the Island School of Social Autonomy (ISSA), Vis; OPG Divja, Brač; Pharos Institute, Hvar; UMAS Arts Academy, University of Split; Nautilus Adriaticus; Quelili sailboat for intercontinental solidarity; Ermenautica; ARKA KINARI; Culture Hub Croatia / PROSTOR, Split; the Anthropocene Commons network; metaLAB (at) Harvard, Berlin & Basel; the Komiža Tourist Board; and the Mississippi River Open School for Kinship and Social Exchange.

The organisers gratefully acknowledged the support of Convivial Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation, whose contributions made the programme possible, as well as co-organiser the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, which enabled the Anthropocene Commons launch event in Split. Islands of Conviviality also built on conversations with many friends through Forest University, host of an Ivan Illich reading group in the spring of 2025. The project was further enriched through collaboration with L’Internationale / Museum of the Commons and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, which published writings and media expositions related to the project.