0:00:02.924,0:00:04.361 HOW DID THE UNMONASTERY IDEA COME ABOUT? 0:00:05.087,0:00:06.612 The idea for the unMonastery 0:00:06.612,0:00:11.612 has now been going for 16 months. 0:00:11.612,0:00:14.394 It came about in a session 0:00:14.394,0:00:17.832 at the first unconference in Strasbourg. 0:00:17.832,0:00:21.882 It was a room of about 30 people 0:00:21.882,0:00:24.004 who came together with the realization that, 0:00:24.004,0:00:26.217 in order to continue to do the work 0:00:26.217,0:00:28.671 that they were doing and not burn out, 0:00:28.671,0:00:30.237 not become alienated, 0:00:30.237,0:00:35.594 there was the need to build a strong foundation 0:00:35.594,0:00:39.400 or what I refer to as an infrastructure 0:00:39.400,0:00:41.279 on which to do that work. 0:00:41.279,0:00:43.293 Because although people refer to things 0:00:43.293,0:00:45.117 like the sharing economy 0:00:45.117,0:00:49.531 as a great evolution or paradigm shift or whatever, 0:00:49.531,0:00:52.647 despite how great we may think this is, 0:00:52.647,0:00:54.300 in our experiences with it, 0:00:54.300,0:00:56.630 it doesn't really cut the mustard 0:00:56.630,0:00:58.498 when it comes to actually feeding outselves 0:00:58.498,0:01:00.965 or paying rent and stuff like that. 0:01:00.965,0:01:03.882 So the unMonastery evolved from that conversation of 0:01:03.882,0:01:06.074 what we need is a physical space 0:01:06.074,0:01:08.475 because none of us really use that much money, 0:01:08.475,0:01:11.925 funding isn't necessarily needed 0:01:11.925,0:01:13.731 for a lot of the stuff that we execute on 0:01:13.731,0:01:16.924 because it's skill-based, it's code-based, 0:01:16.924,0:01:18.114 the tools are normally free 0:01:18.114,0:01:20.618 and if they're not free we can probably build them. 0:01:20.618,0:01:23.245 What we do struggle with is having 0:01:23.245,0:01:25.733 property and space in which to do those things. 0:01:25.733,0:01:31.190 So that was the kind of natural conversation 0:01:31.190,0:01:36.711 that evolved that led us to say "Let's start a set of spaces". 0:01:36.711,0:01:38.327 WHY "unMonastery"? 0:01:38.327,0:01:40.153 The reason why we adopted the name "unMonastery" 0:01:40.153,0:01:42.831 is because we wanted to create a space 0:01:42.831,0:01:45.368 that doesn't necessarily have a fixed purpose 0:01:45.368,0:01:47.084 but is kind of multi-use 0:01:47.084,0:01:49.950 so when we thought about the different kinds of spaces 0:01:49.950,0:01:52.314 that have existed throughout history 0:01:52.314,0:01:55.765 we thought about the monastery because of the way 0:01:55.765,0:01:59.922 they have never really had this fixed purpose: 0:01:59.922,0:02:01.841 that they would brew beer, 0:02:01.841,0:02:03.798 there was scripture, 0:02:03.798,0:02:06.575 there was prayer and worship, 0:02:06.575,0:02:09.913 there was a completely different set of actions 0:02:09.913,0:02:12.558 that were executed in these spaces 0:02:12.558,0:02:14.696 which seemed to mirror the way in which we wanted 0:02:14.696,0:02:17.720 to construct a new space 0:02:17.720,0:02:20.463 and we looked to other existing structures 0:02:20.463,0:02:23.637 such as hackerspaces 0:02:23.637,0:02:28.295 and thought there was something incredibly useful and powerful 0:02:28.295,0:02:30.714 in those kinds of structures 0:02:30.714,0:02:33.874 and particularly their spread. 0:02:33.874,0:02:35.872 But one of the things we struggled with is that 0:02:35.872,0:02:39.458 hackerspaces don't necessarily have a civic or social contract 0:02:39.458,0:02:41.760 with the communities in which they are based 0:02:41.760,0:02:44.480 and generally serve the individuals, 0:02:44.480,0:02:47.072 whether it be hobbies or personal projects 0:02:47.072,0:02:48.165 and things like that. 0:02:48.165,0:02:50.831 So the monastery seemed like an interesting model 0:02:50.831,0:02:51.992 because it had the same kind of silo approach 0:02:51.992,0:02:54.004 that the hackerspaces have 0:02:54.004,0:02:55.007 but also has 0:02:55.007,0:02:57.054 this kind of social contract and interaction with its community. 0:02:57.054,0:03:04.993 Since coining that term as a group actually 0:03:04.993,0:03:07.570 if you begin to look at what the monasteries were doing 0:03:07.570,0:03:11.489 in the early seventh or eighth century 0:03:11.489,0:03:13.314 you begin to realize that maybe the name should have been 0:03:13.314,0:03:16.003 REmonastery, because the contribution 0:03:16.003,0:03:20.060 that monks and monastic life made to communities 0:03:20.060,0:03:22.769 in terms of building the infrastructure and things like that 0:03:22.769,0:03:25.393 is actually a lot of what we're attempting to do. 0:03:25.393,0:03:28.402 HOW DID THE IDEA BECOME A PROTOTYPE? 0:03:28.402,0:03:32.078 So after the first conference the idea did stick 0:03:32.078,0:03:35.154 but we didn't really get very far in its development 0:03:35.154,0:03:37.792 and we continued to have conversations, 0:03:37.792,0:03:39.764 and write documents, and try and think: 0:03:39.764,0:03:44.228 how do we get something like this off the ground? 0:03:44.228,0:03:50.511 and it wasn't until the 2nd conference in December of last year 0:03:50.511,0:03:53.498 that we all sat down, we were like 0:03:53.498,0:03:56.476 "Okay, of all the things that we've spoken about 0:03:56.476,0:03:58.688 this is the project that we're most committed to". 0:03:58.688,0:04:01.044 And in the space of three days 0:04:01.044,0:04:03.886 we worked together to formalize some of the structure 0:04:03.886,0:04:06.033 of what the space might look like. 0:04:06.033,0:04:08.756 We mined the metaphor of the monastery, 0:04:08.756,0:04:11.258 begun to think about what would monastic principles 0:04:11.258,0:04:14.002 look like in this sense, 0:04:14.002,0:04:16.606 and built the website, created the logo, 0:04:16.606,0:04:20.089 put out an initial call for applications, 0:04:20.089,0:04:27.198 that asked quite a lot of complex and difficult questions 0:04:27.198,0:04:29.415 of anybody that wanted to apply, 0:04:29.415,0:04:33.681 because we saw this is like a real pledge of commitment. 0:04:33.681,0:04:36.006 Five or six edgeryders came forward and said 0:04:36.006,0:04:37.934 "yes I would fully commit to this project, 0:04:37.934,0:04:42.177 were you to establish it somewhere". 0:04:42.177,0:04:45.411 And coupled with that we have Alberto Cottica, 0:04:45.411,0:04:50.484 who is one of the the founding members of Edgeryders, 0:04:50.484,0:04:53.753 and he was working with Matera 2019 0:04:53.753,0:04:56.726 in the [European] City of Culture [2019] bid, 0:04:56.726,0:05:01.474 and it was only in this context the we had the opportunity 0:05:01.474,0:05:03.945 to offer this as a potential model 0:05:03.945,0:05:08.071 and Matera was interested and said yes 0:05:08.071,0:05:10.472 and so that's kind of, 0:05:10.472,0:05:12.949 in terms of necessity of realizing the project, 0:05:12.949,0:05:15.420 how we end up in Matera. 0:05:15.420,0:05:21.676 But I think it's really important to understand, 0:05:21.676,0:05:24.832 particularly when I came here for the first time, 0:05:24.832,0:05:27.998 that it's an incredible place 0:05:27.998,0:05:31.303 but one can't describe to other people; 0:05:31.303,0:05:32.780 and the generosity 0:05:32.780,0:05:35.002 and the way in which the community 0:05:35.002,0:05:37.035 here has interacted with us 0:05:37.035,0:05:37.963 makes it seem like 0:05:37.963,0:05:40.513 it almost couldn't start in any other place! 0:05:40.513,0:05:43.043 WHAT'S THE FOCUS FOR unMonastery? 0:05:43.043,0:05:46.208 Edgeryders originally developed within a policy context, 0:05:46.208,0:05:50.296 so the unMonastery does have a policy slant. 0:05:50.296,0:05:54.613 But [it] is much more focused on constructing a model 0:05:54.613,0:05:58.921 that can create meaning and can create a safe space 0:05:58.921,0:06:01.796 in which to articulate that meaning. 0:06:01.796,0:06:05.478 But in the present moment there are a set of problems 0:06:05.478,0:06:08.232 that the unMonastery has kind of been constructed to solve 0:06:08.232,0:06:10.128 by combining them. 0:06:10.128,0:06:14.008 So the 3 primary issues that the unmonastery is focused on is 0:06:14.008,0:06:17.025 - high unemployment, particularly on the part of 0:06:17.025,0:06:21.973 skilled people graduating from University 0:06:21.973,0:06:25.990 - a massive amount of unused housing stock, 0:06:25.990,0:06:29.298 and commercial stock, throughout Europe 0:06:29.298,0:06:32.320 - and with the onset of austerity you see 0:06:32.320,0:06:34.844 the rolling back of states service provision 0:06:34.844,0:06:38.318 and the need to plug that gap if we're to continue. 0:06:38.318,0:06:44.115 And then there's 2 other things that are less primary, but that's 0:06:44.115,0:06:48.524 - brain drain from small towns and cities to capital cities. 0:06:48.524,0:06:52.318 There's the desire to roll that back in some way, 0:06:52.318,0:06:54.230 and unMonastery is very firmly a model 0:06:54.230,0:06:57.673 that can only be used in the context of small towns and cities, 0:06:57.673,0:06:59.891 and never be placed in the capital city 0:06:59.891,0:07:02.323 because it's just not appropriate. 0:07:02.323,0:07:05.543 - and the last thing is a particular focus 0:07:05.543,0:07:10.524 on creating resilient processes, infrastructure, 0:07:10.524,0:07:15.670 and ways of working that can be sustainable 0:07:15.670,0:07:19.816 in the event of future and existing crises. 0:07:19.816,0:07:22.213 So I think those things are really fundamental 0:07:22.213,0:07:23.830 to what the unmonastery essentially is 0:07:23.830,0:07:25.600 WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE IN MATERA, 0:07:25.600,0:07:27.108 AND WHAT'S NEXT FOR unMonastery? 0:07:27.108,0:07:30.436 The unMonastery project has been 0:07:30.436,0:07:31.838 quite a heavy thing to carry 0:07:31.838,0:07:34.756 because there hasn't been any money involved. 0:07:34.756,0:07:37.032 Edgeryders is already 0:07:37.032,0:07:42.276 quite a precarious distributed network of people. 0:07:42.276,0:07:44.567 At the second conference, when we really knew 0:07:44.567,0:07:46.155 that we were going to do it, 0:07:46.155,0:07:48.101 I stepped forward and said that I would facilitate 0:07:48.101,0:07:50.215 and administrate the project 0:07:50.215,0:07:52.795 but that would not mean that I was in any way its sole owner 0:07:52.795,0:07:56.606 or that I would get to make specific decisions 0:07:56.606,0:07:58.713 and I've tried to extricate myself 0:07:58.713,0:08:01.410 as much as possible from that process. 0:08:01.410,0:08:04.715 So this is probably the first real opportunity 0:08:04.715,0:08:06.512 since that moment 0:08:06.512,0:08:08.754 to come together again as a community 0:08:08.754,0:08:12.986 and to feed in all of the things that we've been thinking 0:08:12.986,0:08:16.792 and roughly sketching out online 0:08:16.792,0:08:20.616 since that conference in December of last year, 0:08:20.616,0:08:23.332 and really solidify what the challenges are, 0:08:23.332,0:08:25.746 punch holes in the existing model, 0:08:25.746,0:08:29.139 and figure out how we can make something like this 0:08:29.139,0:08:30.907 effective in 4 months 0:08:30.907,0:08:33.210 because it is only really a prototype, 0:08:33.210,0:08:37.482 so there's a lot to build, and construct, and agree on 0:08:37.482,0:08:39.652 before we actually turn up here in February. 0:08:39.652,0:08:42.581 So the things going forward is 0:08:42.581,0:08:46.495 establishing clearer roles for the people 0:08:46.495,0:08:49.022 who've stepped forward to be involved in the project, 0:08:49.022,0:08:52.485 to accept a series of applications 0:08:52.485,0:08:55.413 that have been made meet the criteria of 0:08:55.413,0:08:59.694 [addressing the] challenges that exist within Matera 0:08:59.694,0:09:03.471 and I think also what has arisen out the last 24 hours 0:09:03.471,0:09:06.298 is the need to keep this building alive 0:09:06.298,0:09:09.069 between now and February. 0:09:09.069,0:09:12.231 So there's a stack of other things that need doing 0:09:12.231,0:09:17.848 but I would say that's probably the list of priorities.