1 00:00:02,924 --> 00:00:04,361 HOW DID THE UNMONASTERY IDEA COME ABOUT? 2 00:00:05,087 --> 00:00:06,612 The idea for the unMonastery 3 00:00:06,612 --> 00:00:11,612 has now been going for 16 months. 4 00:00:11,612 --> 00:00:14,394 It came about in a session 5 00:00:14,394 --> 00:00:17,832 at the first unconference in Strasbourg. 6 00:00:17,832 --> 00:00:21,882 It was a room of about 30 people 7 00:00:21,882 --> 00:00:24,004 who came together with the realization that, 8 00:00:24,004 --> 00:00:26,217 in order to continue to do the work 9 00:00:26,217 --> 00:00:28,671 that they were doing and not burn out, 10 00:00:28,671 --> 00:00:30,237 not become alienated, 11 00:00:30,237 --> 00:00:35,594 there was the need to build a strong foundation 12 00:00:35,594 --> 00:00:39,400 or what I refer to as an infrastructure 13 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:41,279 on which to do that work. 14 00:00:41,279 --> 00:00:43,293 Because although people refer to things 15 00:00:43,293 --> 00:00:45,117 like the sharing economy 16 00:00:45,117 --> 00:00:49,531 as a great evolution or paradigm shift or whatever, 17 00:00:49,531 --> 00:00:52,647 despite how great we may think this is, 18 00:00:52,647 --> 00:00:54,300 in our experiences with it, 19 00:00:54,300 --> 00:00:56,630 it doesn't really cut the mustard 20 00:00:56,630 --> 00:00:58,498 when it comes to actually feeding outselves 21 00:00:58,498 --> 00:01:00,965 or paying rent and stuff like that. 22 00:01:00,965 --> 00:01:03,882 So the unMonastery evolved from that conversation of 23 00:01:03,882 --> 00:01:06,074 what we need is a physical space 24 00:01:06,074 --> 00:01:08,475 because none of us really use that much money, 25 00:01:08,475 --> 00:01:11,925 funding isn't necessarily needed 26 00:01:11,925 --> 00:01:13,731 for a lot of the stuff that we execute on 27 00:01:13,731 --> 00:01:16,924 because it's skill-based, it's code-based, 28 00:01:16,924 --> 00:01:18,114 the tools are normally free 29 00:01:18,114 --> 00:01:20,618 and if they're not free we can probably build them. 30 00:01:20,618 --> 00:01:23,245 What we do struggle with is having 31 00:01:23,245 --> 00:01:25,733 property and space in which to do those things. 32 00:01:25,733 --> 00:01:31,190 So that was the kind of natural conversation 33 00:01:31,190 --> 00:01:36,711 that evolved that led us to say "Let's start a set of spaces". 34 00:01:36,711 --> 00:01:38,327 WHY "unMonastery"? 35 00:01:38,327 --> 00:01:40,153 The reason why we adopted the name "unMonastery" 36 00:01:40,153 --> 00:01:42,831 is because we wanted to create a space 37 00:01:42,831 --> 00:01:45,368 that doesn't necessarily have a fixed purpose 38 00:01:45,368 --> 00:01:47,084 but is kind of multi-use 39 00:01:47,084 --> 00:01:49,950 so when we thought about the different kinds of spaces 40 00:01:49,950 --> 00:01:52,314 that have existed throughout history 41 00:01:52,314 --> 00:01:55,765 we thought about the monastery because of the way 42 00:01:55,765 --> 00:01:59,922 they have never really had this fixed purpose: 43 00:01:59,922 --> 00:02:01,841 that they would brew beer, 44 00:02:01,841 --> 00:02:03,798 there was scripture, 45 00:02:03,798 --> 00:02:06,575 there was prayer and worship, 46 00:02:06,575 --> 00:02:09,913 there was a completely different set of actions 47 00:02:09,913 --> 00:02:12,558 that were executed in these spaces 48 00:02:12,558 --> 00:02:14,696 which seemed to mirror the way in which we wanted 49 00:02:14,696 --> 00:02:17,720 to construct a new space 50 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,463 and we looked to other existing structures 51 00:02:20,463 --> 00:02:23,637 such as hackerspaces 52 00:02:23,637 --> 00:02:28,295 and thought there was something incredibly useful and powerful 53 00:02:28,295 --> 00:02:30,714 in those kinds of structures 54 00:02:30,714 --> 00:02:33,874 and particularly their spread. 55 00:02:33,874 --> 00:02:35,872 But one of the things we struggled with is that 56 00:02:35,872 --> 00:02:39,458 hackerspaces don't necessarily have a civic or social contract 57 00:02:39,458 --> 00:02:41,760 with the communities in which they are based 58 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,480 and generally serve the individuals, 59 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,072 whether it be hobbies or personal projects 60 00:02:47,072 --> 00:02:48,165 and things like that. 61 00:02:48,165 --> 00:02:50,831 So the monastery seemed like an interesting model 62 00:02:50,831 --> 00:02:51,992 because it had the same kind of silo approach 63 00:02:51,992 --> 00:02:54,004 that the hackerspaces have 64 00:02:54,004 --> 00:02:55,007 but also has 65 00:02:55,007 --> 00:02:57,054 this kind of social contract and interaction with its community. 66 00:02:57,054 --> 00:03:04,993 Since coining that term as a group actually 67 00:03:04,993 --> 00:03:07,570 if you begin to look at what the monasteries were doing 68 00:03:07,570 --> 00:03:11,489 in the early seventh or eighth century 69 00:03:11,489 --> 00:03:13,314 you begin to realize that maybe the name should have been 70 00:03:13,314 --> 00:03:16,003 REmonastery, because the contribution 71 00:03:16,003 --> 00:03:20,060 that monks and monastic life made to communities 72 00:03:20,060 --> 00:03:22,769 in terms of building the infrastructure and things like that 73 00:03:22,769 --> 00:03:25,393 is actually a lot of what we're attempting to do. 74 00:03:25,393 --> 00:03:28,402 HOW DID THE IDEA BECOME A PROTOTYPE? 75 00:03:28,402 --> 00:03:32,078 So after the first conference the idea did stick 76 00:03:32,078 --> 00:03:35,154 but we didn't really get very far in its development 77 00:03:35,154 --> 00:03:37,792 and we continued to have conversations, 78 00:03:37,792 --> 00:03:39,764 and write documents, and try and think: 79 00:03:39,764 --> 00:03:44,228 how do we get something like this off the ground? 80 00:03:44,228 --> 00:03:50,511 and it wasn't until the 2nd conference in December of last year 81 00:03:50,511 --> 00:03:53,498 that we all sat down, we were like 82 00:03:53,498 --> 00:03:56,476 "Okay, of all the things that we've spoken about 83 00:03:56,476 --> 00:03:58,688 this is the project that we're most committed to". 84 00:03:58,688 --> 00:04:01,044 And in the space of three days 85 00:04:01,044 --> 00:04:03,886 we worked together to formalize some of the structure 86 00:04:03,886 --> 00:04:06,033 of what the space might look like. 87 00:04:06,033 --> 00:04:08,756 We mined the metaphor of the monastery, 88 00:04:08,756 --> 00:04:11,258 begun to think about what would monastic principles 89 00:04:11,258 --> 00:04:14,002 look like in this sense, 90 00:04:14,002 --> 00:04:16,606 and built the website, created the logo, 91 00:04:16,606 --> 00:04:20,089 put out an initial call for applications, 92 00:04:20,089 --> 00:04:27,198 that asked quite a lot of complex and difficult questions 93 00:04:27,198 --> 00:04:29,415 of anybody that wanted to apply, 94 00:04:29,415 --> 00:04:33,681 because we saw this is like a real pledge of commitment. 95 00:04:33,681 --> 00:04:36,006 Five or six edgeryders came forward and said 96 00:04:36,006 --> 00:04:37,934 "yes I would fully commit to this project, 97 00:04:37,934 --> 00:04:42,177 were you to establish it somewhere". 98 00:04:42,177 --> 00:04:45,411 And coupled with that we have Alberto Cottica, 99 00:04:45,411 --> 00:04:50,484 who is one of the the founding members of Edgeryders, 100 00:04:50,484 --> 00:04:53,753 and he was working with Matera 2019 101 00:04:53,753 --> 00:04:56,726 in the [European] City of Culture [2019] bid, 102 00:04:56,726 --> 00:05:01,474 and it was only in this context the we had the opportunity 103 00:05:01,474 --> 00:05:03,945 to offer this as a potential model 104 00:05:03,945 --> 00:05:08,071 and Matera was interested and said yes 105 00:05:08,071 --> 00:05:10,472 and so that's kind of, 106 00:05:10,472 --> 00:05:12,949 in terms of necessity of realizing the project, 107 00:05:12,949 --> 00:05:15,420 how we end up in Matera. 108 00:05:15,420 --> 00:05:21,676 But I think it's really important to understand, 109 00:05:21,676 --> 00:05:24,832 particularly when I came here for the first time, 110 00:05:24,832 --> 00:05:27,998 that it's an incredible place 111 00:05:27,998 --> 00:05:31,303 but one can't describe to other people; 112 00:05:31,303 --> 00:05:32,780 and the generosity 113 00:05:32,780 --> 00:05:35,002 and the way in which the community 114 00:05:35,002 --> 00:05:37,035 here has interacted with us 115 00:05:37,035 --> 00:05:37,963 makes it seem like 116 00:05:37,963 --> 00:05:40,513 it almost couldn't start in any other place! 117 00:05:40,513 --> 00:05:43,043 WHAT'S THE FOCUS FOR unMonastery? 118 00:05:43,043 --> 00:05:46,208 Edgeryders originally developed within a policy context, 119 00:05:46,208 --> 00:05:50,296 so the unMonastery does have a policy slant. 120 00:05:50,296 --> 00:05:54,613 But [it] is much more focused on constructing a model 121 00:05:54,613 --> 00:05:58,921 that can create meaning and can create a safe space 122 00:05:58,921 --> 00:06:01,796 in which to articulate that meaning. 123 00:06:01,796 --> 00:06:05,478 But in the present moment there are a set of problems 124 00:06:05,478 --> 00:06:08,232 that the unMonastery has kind of been constructed to solve 125 00:06:08,232 --> 00:06:10,128 by combining them. 126 00:06:10,128 --> 00:06:14,008 So the 3 primary issues that the unmonastery is focused on is 127 00:06:14,008 --> 00:06:17,025 - high unemployment, particularly on the part of 128 00:06:17,025 --> 00:06:21,973 skilled people graduating from University 129 00:06:21,973 --> 00:06:25,990 - a massive amount of unused housing stock, 130 00:06:25,990 --> 00:06:29,298 and commercial stock, throughout Europe 131 00:06:29,298 --> 00:06:32,320 - and with the onset of austerity you see 132 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,844 the rolling back of states service provision 133 00:06:34,844 --> 00:06:38,318 and the need to plug that gap if we're to continue. 134 00:06:38,318 --> 00:06:44,115 And then there's 2 other things that are less primary, but that's 135 00:06:44,115 --> 00:06:48,524 - brain drain from small towns and cities to capital cities. 136 00:06:48,524 --> 00:06:52,318 There's the desire to roll that back in some way, 137 00:06:52,318 --> 00:06:54,230 and unMonastery is very firmly a model 138 00:06:54,230 --> 00:06:57,673 that can only be used in the context of small towns and cities, 139 00:06:57,673 --> 00:06:59,891 and never be placed in the capital city 140 00:06:59,891 --> 00:07:02,323 because it's just not appropriate. 141 00:07:02,323 --> 00:07:05,543 - and the last thing is a particular focus 142 00:07:05,543 --> 00:07:10,524 on creating resilient processes, infrastructure, 143 00:07:10,524 --> 00:07:15,670 and ways of working that can be sustainable 144 00:07:15,670 --> 00:07:19,816 in the event of future and existing crises. 145 00:07:19,816 --> 00:07:22,213 So I think those things are really fundamental 146 00:07:22,213 --> 00:07:23,830 to what the unmonastery essentially is 147 00:07:23,830 --> 00:07:25,600 WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE IN MATERA, 148 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:27,108 AND WHAT'S NEXT FOR unMonastery? 149 00:07:27,108 --> 00:07:30,436 The unMonastery project has been 150 00:07:30,436 --> 00:07:31,838 quite a heavy thing to carry 151 00:07:31,838 --> 00:07:34,756 because there hasn't been any money involved. 152 00:07:34,756 --> 00:07:37,032 Edgeryders is already 153 00:07:37,032 --> 00:07:42,276 quite a precarious distributed network of people. 154 00:07:42,276 --> 00:07:44,567 At the second conference, when we really knew 155 00:07:44,567 --> 00:07:46,155 that we were going to do it, 156 00:07:46,155 --> 00:07:48,101 I stepped forward and said that I would facilitate 157 00:07:48,101 --> 00:07:50,215 and administrate the project 158 00:07:50,215 --> 00:07:52,795 but that would not mean that I was in any way its sole owner 159 00:07:52,795 --> 00:07:56,606 or that I would get to make specific decisions 160 00:07:56,606 --> 00:07:58,713 and I've tried to extricate myself 161 00:07:58,713 --> 00:08:01,410 as much as possible from that process. 162 00:08:01,410 --> 00:08:04,715 So this is probably the first real opportunity 163 00:08:04,715 --> 00:08:06,512 since that moment 164 00:08:06,512 --> 00:08:08,754 to come together again as a community 165 00:08:08,754 --> 00:08:12,986 and to feed in all of the things that we've been thinking 166 00:08:12,986 --> 00:08:16,792 and roughly sketching out online 167 00:08:16,792 --> 00:08:20,616 since that conference in December of last year, 168 00:08:20,616 --> 00:08:23,332 and really solidify what the challenges are, 169 00:08:23,332 --> 00:08:25,746 punch holes in the existing model, 170 00:08:25,746 --> 00:08:29,139 and figure out how we can make something like this 171 00:08:29,139 --> 00:08:30,907 effective in 4 months 172 00:08:30,907 --> 00:08:33,210 because it is only really a prototype, 173 00:08:33,210 --> 00:08:37,482 so there's a lot to build, and construct, and agree on 174 00:08:37,482 --> 00:08:39,652 before we actually turn up here in February. 175 00:08:39,652 --> 00:08:42,581 So the things going forward is 176 00:08:42,581 --> 00:08:46,495 establishing clearer roles for the people 177 00:08:46,495 --> 00:08:49,022 who've stepped forward to be involved in the project, 178 00:08:49,022 --> 00:08:52,485 to accept a series of applications 179 00:08:52,485 --> 00:08:55,413 that have been made meet the criteria of 180 00:08:55,413 --> 00:08:59,694 [addressing the] challenges that exist within Matera 181 00:08:59,694 --> 00:09:03,471 and I think also what has arisen out the last 24 hours 182 00:09:03,471 --> 00:09:06,298 is the need to keep this building alive 183 00:09:06,298 --> 00:09:09,069 between now and February. 184 00:09:09,069 --> 00:09:12,231 So there's a stack of other things that need doing 185 00:09:12,231 --> 00:09:17,848 but I would say that's probably the list of priorities.