unEarthing unMonastery: An introduction to the unMonastery and its BIOS

unEarthing unMonastery: An introduction to the unMonastery and its BIOS

Date: 
31.01.2015 15:00
Edition: 
2015
Location: 
HKW
HKW - Foyer

Presentation / Discussion. This session will serve as an introduction to the unMonastery concept, its progress, its future and the components of The unMonastery BIOS.

Presentation / Discussion
At Foyer Hub 1

“We talked of a Treasury of Wisdom, Rebooting Democracy, Resiliency Hubs, Transparent Budgeting, Creative Extinction, a Society of Inclusive Civil Survivalists. Among our slogans were indeed Collapsonomics, State in a Box, unCivilization, The Age of Crisis. It seemed to me that someone was finally addressing the Dark Arts of confronting the ghosts that haunt us.” – Bembo Davies (reflections on a weekend spent at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg 2012, that saw the birthing of the unMonastery concept)

unMonastery is a radical response to present and future systemic crises aimed at supporting appropriate technological initiatives and living experiments. Providing a physical space for a distributed network of hackers, artists, and social innovators, the unMonastery aims to establish a network of spaces throughout the world, which can work together autonomously to prototype new solutions to common problems.

Drawing on the history of Monasticism, the unMonastery project seeks to develop a new communal, protocolised approach to the development of a global community which together is capable of moving in unison over the next century. Built in collaboration with EdgeRyders LBG and the city of Matera over the course of 18 months, the project seeks to challenge existing dependency chains and economic fictions.

The first unMonastery opened its doors February 2014 in Matera, Italy for a period of seven months and provided abundant raw material in documentation, methods and commentary. So to avoid reinventing the wheel and reliving our slowly dawning understandings and mistakes, from this documentation we have amassed a core knowledge base that painstakingly evaluates aspects of our work and turns it into a workable, reusable toolkit; The unMonastery BIOS.

For transmediale 2015 we will do a localised release of the Alpha version of The unMonastery BIOS, as freely downloadable material available through our offline network to those attending transmediale.

This session will serve as an introduction to the unMonastery concept, its progress, its future and the components of The unMonastery BIOS, led by Ben Vickers, first unAbbott of the unMonastery, and the unMonasterians.

With Mathew Trivett

Mathew Trivett is a producer specialising in interdisciplinary and practice-led research with artists, designers, technologists and educators. His work focuses on critical innovation, human-centred design and network cultures. He founded and leads on Broadway’s Near Now programme in Nottingham, supported by Arts Council England. Through Near Now, Broadway commissions projects and new work with world leading artists and engages in research activities that explore the place and impact of technology in everyday life.
> twitter.com/mathewtrivett
 

Requirements / Reading List:
The Rule of Saint Benedict - Living protocol for the Benedictine monastic order, circa 6th century AD
Monastery vs. unMonastery: reflecting on a deep conversation with Father Cassian Folsom - Alberto Cottica
Can Monasteries Be a Model for Reclaiming Tech Culture for Good? - Nathan Schneider

 

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