Wieczornica

The idea of the project came from the inspiration of the rural tradition of hanging evenings at work, especially in autumn and winter. Once during such meetings, a very popular activity was plucking feathers, shelling peas or sharpening tools.

Then there was also a real need repaired the old stuff and manual application objects. Now, often the same needs, we can cater for purchasing or arranging for the execution of what we needed. But do these evenings were only meetings aimed for the execution of the subject? Is the social factor was not as important or even the most important?

My goal in the project was to create a community, a group of people who meet at manual labor. In an era of increasingly sophisticated workshops and acquiring more and more skills I wanted to offer participants evening in simple techniques such as sewing moccasins, doing crochet or mending holes. These skills are increasingly forgotten and ignored. From year to year it can be seen that the items are so cheap that it is not worth repairing old or do it yourself. But this way of thinking leads us straight this madness of consumerism and disability manual. Exercise as simple as sewing on buttons, actions or making bread should be promoted because it gives us a real chance of moving closer to independence.

An additional goal was to make items that were ultimately to be equipped White Way - collective

During the meetings we made carpets and seats with old clothes, loafers and leather jackets coats and felt, flower pots with advertising banners, and gold carnival mask.

The city isn't for sale it's for living

On Friday July 11th, under the title "The city isn't for sale it's for living" the Trobada d'Arquitectures Col.lectives will spend the day at Can Masdeu.  

Arquitectures Col.lectives is an international, open and constantly growing network of people and groups interested in the participatory development of the urban environment. Every year since 2007 a meeting is held in a different city with the aim of strengthening the network and a way to consolidate a different view of the city from the official one: from people and for people.

In 2014, the annual meeting is in Barcelona from 6 to 13 July under the theme "The city is not for sale it's for living", a key concept today more than ever, especially in a city like Barcelona, ​​beset by multiple urban and human conflicts caused by global capital.

More information on the full program and how to join can be found here:
http://arquitecturascolectivas.net/bcn2014

Degrowth Summer School

The PIC is proud to host part of the Summer School on socially sustainable Degrowth organized by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) (http://summerschool2014.degrowth.net/).

Amidst calls for restoring growth as a path out of the crisis, the intellectual and political degrowth movement exposes the impossibility to greening economic growth, or making it equitable. In theoretical terms degrowth implies a radical critique to the western notion of growth- and technology-led development as a single overarching path of organizing social and economic life. It implies revisiting the role of monetary and market-based transactions in society and searching for a way to bring back its human, emotional, non-utilitarian or gift-based traits. In practical terms degrowth requires multiple paths, from the reduction of the need for, and use of, non-renewable resources and related extractive infrastructure, to deepening democratic processes in society. Above all, degrowth brings forward the need for a debate on the political project of society, and especially on the need to break away from the technological and psychological lock-ins placed by the growth and capital accumulation imperative. From ICTA-UAB and Research & Degrowth we have been writing and working on degrowth for several years already, advancing it beyond the general theoretically-defined framework, and trying to foresee its implications for various fields and components of society and life.

The Summer School on Degrowth offers a range of perspectives located at the core of the concept, looking at its sources, dimensions and policy implications. For this purpose the school will bring together some of Europe’s leading academics in politics, philosophy, ecological economics, ecology and economics that work in the field of degrowth to teach to the next generation of researchers. On Saturday July 5th participants will spend the day at Can Masdeu for a day-long session full of presentations and debate.

VOICEBATH - 26th - 27th April, Krakow, Poland - To.Pole

To.Pole Association members - Mateusz Flak and Agata Bargiel - organised weekend session of voice work, held according to the method created by Hangfurdo choir from Budapest, Hungary. The aim of method is giving a soundmassage to invited guests and in this case 'sound' means human voices only. 

 

Hangfurdo choir's work is inspired by voice improvisation, yoga sivananda relaxation techniques, as well as humanistic psychology approach and Focusing method of Eugene Gendlin. Importance is given to such values like empathy, acceptation, transparency. Another part is getting into complete awareness of our temporary state, listening to the deep needs of our bodies and reacting to them. Receivers and doers are free to choose their most comfortable ways of producing and receiving sounds that can come out from/reach them. 

 

Participants of our workshop were students and working adults, voice awareness amateurs and professionals, living in Krakow. We practiced listening, harmonisation, improvisation games, giving sounds of different origin and meaning, did work with imagination and reacting to impulses given by partner. All elements we have been working with for two days led to final practice of voicemassage - firstly 

 

practiced in couples, with different focuses (giving attention to body parts, then to verbalised wishes of partner). Later we moved to group voicemassage, when group of people is giving common soundrelaxation to one receiver. We practiced the way of conducting such session and discussed inspired by our feedbacks.

 

All participants felt rise of energy in their bodies and growing peacefullness at the same time. The situation of giving light touch and singing for somebody while being close to them usually seems to happen only in love/family relation, at least in western culture. We experienced and discussed healing effect of such practice - when one person or a group gives soundrelaxation for introduced receiver, in completely aware way, with intention focused on real needs of the guest. It brought us to a conclusion how important and precious it would be for our communities, inhabitants of big city, to use this method in daily life, in order to release stress factor, bringing them closer to their bodies and empower them. Another value is that such practice helps to organise people, bring them closer to each other also and build supporting networks for society. 

Project was realised by To.pole Association in framework of Enough For Everybody For Ever funded by Grundtvig Program.

The Laboratory Body Awareness - To.Pole

To.pole Association initiated a meeting of three somatic approaches to body – inspired by Body Mind Centering, Lowen and vinysana krama yoga. The Laboratory Body Awareness brought out a lot of questions about 3 subjects on which we focused : grounding, enlivenment and the presence. The following methods are a base for both individual work with body and an interesting group approach in any kind of work. They evoke questions wich will not appear in any different context. We focused on how to apply the knowledge in daily life and at work as well. The chosen topics are present in different ways in BMC, yoga and Lowen approaches. The Labolatory was a small experiment on how the layers of particular methods overlap each other. The 12 participants came with diverse backgrounds: physiotherapists fizjoterapia, yoga teachers, academic teachers, trainers, students. That enriched the Labolatory. Each practice part we finished with a speaking part. The project bridges the gaps in informall eduacation of adults in a body awerness field. We asked how to use our individual body experience in working with groups? How to work with groups and in our jobs with body approach? And sometimes we need to accept that body experience brings more questions than answers and only time will tell an answer. Labolatory appeared as an important part of research about this questions. It was created to rise a quality of the conscious life of each participant. The project was realised by To.pole Association in framework Enought for Everybody Forever Project funded by Grundtvig Program.

Barcelona, March 2014: fourth meeting

 

The Punt d'Interaccio de Collserola (PIC), as part of the Enough For Everyone for Ever lifelong learning partnership, hosted the international partners from Berlin, Marseilles and Krakow from March 5th to March 10th.

The meeting consisted of four parts. As the partners arrived the first two days were spent working on the integration of the EEE group with the other existing projects taking place at Can Masdeu (www.canmasdeu.net). This was done formally by a tour of the various activities taking place in the valley and by joining the work groups that were active those days in the gardens and the social centre (www.permacultura-bcn.org). Informally communal meals were prepared and shared between the foreign partners and the inhabitants of the Can Masdeu intentional community. This created many opportunities for the exchange of ideas and for getting a good feeling of the local culture and current social issues. The second and third days were spent internally to prepare the group workshops to be help in the social centre on the Sunday. On Sunday the 9th of March the PIC social centre was transformed into a European meeting place on the subject of sustainability open for all those from Barcelona and Catalonia to come and join. The final day was spent evaluating our presentations and preparing for the final meeting.

The public sharing of our enough for everyone for ever ideas was a big success. The workshops that we created through the exchange of ideas with the other EEE partners were well received and through an digital and paper advertising campaign for the meeting over a hundred interested individuals from all walks of life came up to Can Masdeu for the day. To add a festive touch to the meeting and to create an easy invitation to informal discussions all partners prepared a typical snack from their country and these were handed out during the day to participants.

Here below an overview of the public events as they were presented at the time. All the workshops that were offered an the teaching material that they were based on is being compiled into a single workshop guide so that any organisation or individual interested in the subject of sustainability might reproduce them.

Sunday March 9th: Enough for Everyone Forever

During a two-year long Grundtvig Partnership, „Enough for Everyone Forever“, four European organizations from Spain, France, Germany and Poland) have been working together to improve educational methods for sustainable education. All four partners use creative methods to work with adults on political and ecological topics, but each one is expert in a specific approach such as visual, theatre or hands-on. Each organization has hosted a meeting, inviting the partners to experience their style of educational work where we've shared our skills and experiences both in theoretical and practical ways. Combining our creative approaches, we now invite you to an interdisciplinary action that is carried out in the public space and hopes to sensitize the audience to the concept of sustainability and to work together on a sustainable future.

All day → Graphic design and Sustainability - “tree of expectations – share messages for a better

future”

By: Goercn

This workshop intends to give some opportunities to discover creativity hidden in each of us. Participants are asked to play with random words and pictures, to deal with their ecological awareness and let an environmental message go out of themselves

Beside this workshop, graphic designers will perform some panels to illustrate the topic

11:00 – 13:00 Embodying sustainability

By: Punt d'Interaccio de Collserola (PIC)

In this 2hr experimental workshop we will examine the concept of sustainability through our bodies. We will explore ways to build enduring realtionships with oneself, the other, our community and society at large. To help us in this work we will use tools from varying body and mind practices (e.a. contact improvisation, non-violent communication, somatic consciousness)

11:30 – 14:30 An introduction to Pattern Dynamics

By: To-pole

PatternDynamics™ is the first systems thinking tool designed for purpose-driven collaboration. It allows to think collectively about the relationships that form the organizational environments we create and live in and it also helps to collaborate more effectively within living systems of groups, collectives and organizations. The principles of PM are derived from the observation of natural living systems (eg. living organisms like animals and plants). Complex natural systems exhibit consistent general patterns of organisation that have allowed them to thrive for many hundreds of millions of years. During this short intro workhops you will be introduced to the Pattern language and you will apply it directly to a situation from your own experience of being an active member of a living system (your collective, art group, organization etc).

More information: www.patterndynamics.net

12:00 – 14:00 Guided tour through Can Masdeu

By: Punt d'Interaccio de Collserola (PIC)

As every Sunday, we offer a guided tour of the Can Masdeu projects, to share with you our daily experiences in a more consious way. The route starts at our Social Centre, the “PIC”, with a historical overview of the Can Masdeu valley and a description of the various projects that are currently taking place here. This is followed by a walking tour through the different sustainable living initiatives that have been carried out in Can Masdeu for over twelve years now: The community gardens project, a grey water treatment system, the bike shop , a solar shower, composting toilets, etc. We will highlight the international dimensions of our projects and their alternative educational potential, which are pillars in this project of projects. The tour, besides, being a space where we provide information about what we do, we also try to use this time to generate an exchange of ideas on issues as diverse and important as: the boundaries between private-communal-public, the current social situation, ecology and environmental issues, conflicts that occur when trying to develop alternative forms of life and the solutions that we find.

14:00 – 15:30 Organic vegetarian meal

Prepared by the Can Masdeu community and served to you with much love and consciousness about a sustainable future.

16:00 - 18:00 Roundtable: Sustainable financing of the alternative spaces in our city?

By: Can Battlo, RAI, La Base i Can Masdeu

How, in the current economic and social context, within the Catalunya can we continue to fund the construction of alternatives and continue our struggle for social justice? Can Masdéu as an active stakeholder in this debate invites you to participate in a round-table discussion to address these questions. Sitting at the table will be representatives of four autonomous spaces from different neighbourhoods of Barcelona: Can Masdéu (Nou Barris) Can Batllo (Sants) La Base (Poble Sec) and RAI (La Ribera). Each will explain how they finance their social, political and cultural activities and what pros, cons and challenges are posed by the various forms of funding they have found. Afterwards we will open the discussion to the members of the audience.

16:00 – 19:00 Theater and Sustainability - “Talking Things – second life”

By Theaterbündniss Blumenstrauß

A thing doesn´t operate well and we throw it away – trash! Get a new one.

In our daily life we are surrounded by thousands of things. Lot´s of them are not in use any more:

too old?! Broken?! Nasty?! Not hip ?! Too big, too small!?

All these objects can tell us the story about their lives.

We invite You to work with us for 3 hours about sustainability. In a playful way.

With methods of theatre work (improvisation, movement, creating stories/scenes) we let objects think and talk and give them and ourselves a speech for a more sustainable society.

Sustainability for us means: Enough for ever for everyone – from now!

The workshop contents:

• Warm Up: to get to know each other,/body, voice, movement.
• Sensitisation for the issue and objects.
• Exchange of ideas, thoughts and feelings
• Improvisation in small groups and in the whole group, creating dialogues and stories.

If You don´t have any experience in theatre – no problem!

If You have experience: welcome!

Hasta bien luego - Colectivo de Teatro Ramo de Flores de Berlin: Rabea y Uli