Practising Possibility: A Warm Data Lab

6.45pm: arrivals + snacks
7pm sharp: Warm Data Lab starts
9-9.30pm: soft close - stay for a cuppa, q&a and continued chats

“There will be no community without first communing” (Nora Bateson) 

“How do you pack when you don't know where you're going?”*

“How do we think our way through the messes we’re in when the way we think is part of the mess?”* 

“The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think.” (Gregory Bateson)

Join us for an evening full of stories where we slow down and notice the connective threads between us! We’ll practice a new way of learning from and with each other with information that is alive. And we’ll invite unseen possibilities to begin to unfold themselves at the edges of our conversations…

It’s hard to explain exactly what a Warm Data Lab will be, so this invitation will require a little bit of trust. We can promise that you’ll be gifted a night of wild, alive conversation, and ‘vital’ learning with your neighbours. Perhaps you will discover something new along the way. You don’t need to bring anything but your curiosity and your willingness to be part of a conversation that unfolds in unexpected ways.

We offer the Warm Data Labs as an intimate revolution in a world where many of us yearn for more flexible and authentic connection. Perhaps you find yourself wondering what is possible when people meet as people—not as roles, titles, or experts? Or how might our understanding deepen when we see each other in our full complexity, interrelatedness, and interdependency?  How do we navigate life in these challenging times, and how can we weave things back together when they feel like they’re falling apart?

Warm Data Labs—as conceived by Nora Bateson, filmmaker, educator and President of the International Bateson Institute—are immersive group processes that highlight interdependency and generate felt understanding and perception of living systemic patterns. By tending to what is moving and alive, we can create space for fresh responses to complex challenges.

The session will be led by Emily Stewart, who has been hosting these labs since 2018, and this will be the second Lab at the MIC. Emily works with people, land, and reimagining the systems that connect them, trying to make herself useful in a world in collapse. She’s led projects developing  regenerative food systems, reform of the financial system from within, growing responsible institutional leadership, as well as refugee and homelessness responses. Most recently, she was listening to farmers and local food producers as part of a local research team designing interventions to enable a flourishing Dartmoor uplands. She’s studied philosophy, psychology, transpersonal coaching, regenerative economics, social enterprise and permaculture. She brings a gentle approach that welcomes everyone, and believes in the power of gathering to listen, share stories, and learn deeply from one another.

What to expect

• Open to all: You don’t need to prepare anything. Just come as you are.
• Conversations: This will be a night of conversation. Specifically, small group discussions where you’ll be invited to listen, share stories, and explore new ways of seeing the world.
• Snacks provided: We'll provide some snacks, but do come having had dinner!
• Participation: As the Warm Data Lab follows a carefully designed process, it is helpful if you can stay from beginning to end. It is perfectly ok if you wish to remain in silence. We will be moving around the room. If you have any accessibility concerns please get in touch.
• You can find out more about Warm Data theory and practice here: https://www.warmdata.life/

*Also Nora Bateson!