Dancing on Moss: DisCO’s Underground Regeneration Economix

#practicescomposting #lunarpunk #regeneration #resistance #activism #globalmycellium #DisCOharvest #DisCOnomix 

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as sun is to moon.

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as day is to night.

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as science and technology are to occult and spirituality.

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as solar panels are to bioluminescence.

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as flowers are to fungi.

Solarpunk is to Lunarpunk as orange, red, and yellow are to black, silver, and blue.

-Solarpunk Magazine

How can we cultivate ever-blooming social ecosystems that care for us in this uncaring, decaying and rotten system?

In this workshop we’ll sail across what lies beneath the surface, beyond the invisible, behind the binaries. The DisCO framework proposes a form of organisation that behaves as a living organism, adaptable to resist and endure the everyday corrosion the system inflicts on us. Striving for regeneration, we seek to nurture the seedlings of life and subversion that emerge from crisis and decadence. Conceived as a pathway to a fairer, more distributed future of work and economics, DisCO re-imagines value through an intersectional feminist, commons-oriented, deeply organic lens, seeking to share and spread its radical collaboration practices like mycelium intelligence spreads its collective rhythm of consciousness beneath the moss, deep underground.

The DisCO framework emerges from composting practices and ideas of Feminist Economics, Open Cooperativism, the Commons, P2P and Open Value Accounting.

What to expect of the day?

The workshop runs from 2pm to 8pm and is composed by a Prelude and 4 Seasons that will allow the Moonbeamer audience to experiment with the DisCO framework and reflect on the cycles of collective regeneration that it proposes. By the end of the workshop, each group of moonbeamers will have brewed their own organic iteration of a Distributed Cooperative Organisation.

[2 - 2.15] pm Prelude

The Prelude will consist of a performance that seeks to spark collective imagination around the essence of DisCO and the abstract definitions it evokes:

“...A human “code” for careful organisations.

A vessel fueled by trust, care, and celebration of the weird.

A live-action roleplaying game for communities to iterate/ federate

alternative economies.

Interstitial structures bridging art and economics, carrying us from the dying

world to the one struggling to be born.…”

[2.15 - 7pm] The 4 Seasons

The 4 Seasons Sessions will have each 3 instalments or sequences to open up spaces for individual and collective creative imagination:

- Solarpunk/Sunlight: Will revolve around: general picture, common values embedded, sustainability, commitment, livelihood, activity, hassle, rhythms, decision making, how to distribute power, autonomy. (Livelihood)
- Lunarpunk/Moonlight: The groups will discuss the “invisible” loom of care, trust and mutual support needed to sustain personal, project and group health. Forms of art. Spaces for expression. Slow fermentations, cultivation. Community practices that favour bonding. Conflict resolution. Safe spaces. (Carework)
- Twilight/the Magic Hour/Metamorphosis:The biosphere is thriving, transformations occur, what are the concrete ways in which both sets of practices are interwoven? How do we transform current practices? (Lovework) 
 

The Seasons will take Moonbeamers through different reflections in a process of iterative discussion:

[2.30 - 3.30pm] Season 1: Spring - sowing the seeds of a caring governance

• Moonbeamers discuss what it means for them to design a culture of care and governance practices that have care at its core.
• What is a solarpunk-inspired governance? And a lunarpunk-inspired governance?
• What happens in the twilight phase?
• Why are we using these terms to talk about governance? What do they evoke in each of you?
• Composting: what inspiring subterranean ideas would you like to put in practice and see on the surface?
• How can your organisation accurately reflect all people involved and affected?
  How does this affect your internal finance distribution?
  
   

 3.30 - 3.45 Goblin break (Drink some dew, wiggle your branches, inhale some forest mist!)

[3.45 - 5pm] Season 2: Summer - a festival of collective journeys 

• Moonbeamers get to learn and engage with the experiences of the DisCO LABs present.
• The DisCO.coop Crew presents DisCO and its 7 Principles taking Moonbeamers through the framework’s basic structure.

5 - 5.15pm Goblin break (Drink some dew, wiggle your branches, inhale some forest mist!)

[5.15 - 6.30pm] Season 3: Autumn - harvest your own DisCO

• The different communities of moonbeamers attending the session present themselves, and each group tries to answer the 7 principles collectively.
• Then they share their conclusions and answers with the rest of the groups.

6.30 - 6.45 Goblin break (Drink some dew, wiggle your branches, inhale some forest mist!)

[6.45 - 8pm] Season 4: Winter - embark on a journey of resilience and care

• Resilience is obtained through the radical collaboration and federation of value between communities that speak the same language. How could the DisCOs that have resulted from this workshop cross-pollinate?
• The groups intermingle, discuss together and imagine specific potential collaborations.
• The DisCO Journey is presented to the Moonbeamers (modalities, steps) who are invited to join the party.

“As a practice-oriented framework aimed at small groups wanting to federate and make some noise together, DisCO derives its power from all participating communities who may want to dress up as DisCOs, while maintaining and boosting their own original aims and desires.

To close, we have an appeal. DisCO needs more DisCOs. Please come visit DisCO.coop to learn more and share with others who you think may find a good fit with our immodest proposals. If your group is ready, we invite you to dream, dance, and co-develop the tools to build economic counterpower together.” 

from the Open Source Conspiracy article.

[8 pm] - The day will close with a dance party.

This workshop will be facilitated by:

Ela Kagel (she/her) is a digital strategist specialised in the intersection of society, technology and economy. Since the 1990s she has produced media art exhibitions, designed spaces for cultural exchange and helped establish digital platforms, networks and communities. In 2010 Ela co-founded SUPERMARKT, an independent hub for digital culture and collaborative economy and is part of the Board of DisCO.coop.

Sari Escribano (they/them) is a member of the founding team of DisCO.coop and a member of Guerrilla Media Collective. An activist, language scholar, translator, writer, and bookworm, they prefer to think of themselves as "a non-binary sprite of the forest with a casual nicotine addiction".

Irene Lopez de Vallejo, PhD, (she/her) is a member of the founding team of DisCO.coop. Our mission is to bring the cooperative model into the 21st century, address the rise of ‘trustless’/dehumanising technologies, and consider technological (specifically blockchain) sufficiency. DisCO emboldens people towards creating economic counterpower in achievable ways through trusted groups that can compound into large-scale systemic change.