Much of the movement for sustainable living is just another form of commoditization, which simply creates new levels of desire. I see many advertisem… - Andrea Zittel

What I've been seeing going on -- and it's exciting that it might be changing even though it will be painful -- is this whole culture driven by consumption on every level. Not just monetary consumption, but consumption of experiences and time. I feel that as a culture that most of us are incapable of slowing down and having a real experience. You keep thinking that if you get another house or take another vacation or that if you make more money, that it will free you up. But it becomes a larger and larger web of entrapment.

If you look at the larger historical evolution of architecture and domestic spaces, our homes are increasingly segregated and compartmentalized. It was the norm when I was growing up for each child to have his own bedroom. This is something that is historically quite new. I often wonder if it is the reason why it’s so difficult for adults of my generation, and those since, to cohabitate or have close interpersonal relationships. I believe that we have become so successfully individualized that it is difficult for us to live collectively.

There are so many versions of communes; it's not just one thing. But I don't think shared-property communes work. I think shared-labor communes work, versions of that that make sense.