Culture as a Commons: The Power of Open Access and Networked Sharing

Culture is a collective asset. It embodies the memory, experience, and shared meanings of a society, the foundation upon which identity, knowledge, and creativity are built. Its true value lies not only in preservation, but also in open access, interconnection, and creative reuse.

Europeana functions as a dynamic cultural aggregator, providing access to millions of items from thousands of cultural institutions across Europe. Rights remain with the contributing organizations, which determine the terms and conditions of use. Every decision in favor of open access strengthens the collective dimension of cultural heritage and shifts the emphasis from ownership to commoning.

The Nema application draws on this rich ecosystem to reveal new relationships between artworks, ideas, and people. Open-access cultural collections, combined with the generative potential of language models, create a space where technology serves culture – not the other way around.

Open access to culture activates communities, supports education, and fuels creativity. In an open cultural network, each item becomes a node of connection. Every institution that shares its collections contributes to a living, participatory cultural system.

This is what we mean by cultural commons.