The Underground Harvest: The Boring PDF
(excerpt)

INTRO

“TEN is so light that we can attempt the impossible and succeed at failing.”

– Yeyo

One year ago, in the spring of 2021, The Emergence Network announced its ambitious plans to do nothing for a time, to go underground, to lay fallow and explore the gifts of shabbat. We said that we “sensed something want[ing] to be born, something that exceeds design and conscientious thinking; something that challenges recognizable modes of action and intertwines our bodies with forces we don’t yet have names for… ” We “decided to take some good sweet time for resting, sighing, surrendering, and listening. Time to allow the entity that is ten to visit us in ways that may have been prohibited because of the logic of business as usual.” So, here we are, nearly 11 months later. We’ve done more than nothing; that is for sure. We hosted ten Family Calls for the original ten curators and team from April through September 2021. Geci and crew organized a badass Vunja! Party in August. There was a tender and powerful Steal a Way retreat in November, including a planned forest fire. And, we have had a time of rest and spaciousness as well. 

As a way of emerging (or maybe not) from this period, the Custodians of The Underground – Aerin, Toni and Karen –  hosted a series of seven ‘listening sessions’ with over 30 people (including the ten family, Earthworms, funders, The Wilds Beyond Climate Justice and We Will Dance with Mountains communities, former curators and general fans of our work). We spent time together reflecting, dreaming, critiquing, sharing our ideas, and getting feedback. Our intention was to listen to the other, to each other, to ourselves, to the more-than-human, to the dreams, and the spaces in-between as a way of sensing what may be wishing to emerge. We offered the following questions to our friends, family and colleagues: 

• What does ten (and whatever you associate with it) do for you/mean to you? What needs does it serve?
• What do you sense is trying to emerge from within the cracks/the spaces in-between/the otherwise at this time?
• What would it look like for ten to live into the coolest version of itself? What do you sense could be the need and role of ten?

We also shared ideas about a potential future model for ten (this miro board) and received thoughts and feedback both about form and matters like administration, resource cultivation, decision-making and finances.

So, where are we now? This document contains harvests from the listening phase and proposals for a medium-term plan for supporting ten to transition (perhaps awkwardly) into its next iteration. We share overall reflections about areas that may need attention, who might be invited to come closer in, and an awareness of energy and capacities available.

“It’s about remembering: being able to share ourselves in the truthfulness of the moment.”
– Sofia Batalha

After all of these conversations and reflections, there are a few things that are becoming abundantly clear:

• There is an overwhelming sense that people do not know what ten is, nor what it does. Is it actually a network? It seems to defy definition. We, the custodians of this time, believe that rather than creating some grand plan or complicated structure, we need to be engaging in experimentation as a way of discovering what ten is.
• Many people don’t know who ten is, nor who ten is for. There is confusion about people’s roles and responsibilities/authority and decision-making power. It feels vital to get a bit more clarity on the WHO of ten.
• We will need to call in more energy and different people to help with this transition, to design and co-create experiments, and to sense into what we are learning. In the section below called “Now What” we explain the process we are thinking about to address this need.
• Whatever comes forth should be quite simple in terms of structure and form; should allow for flexibility/mutability in regards to the roles and responsibilities and porosity between its different parts. We need to have sufficient structure and clarity about what we are doing to sustain the work and the people involved (in terms of money and maintaining energy and engagement). We are curious about exploring new economic models (dana-based; gift culture, work trade). We wish to find a creative structure that suits ten striking a balance between ‘too much’ (are committees too conventional?) and ‘too little’ (as in the case of some arts groups or other networks where the lack of structure, in the name of creativity and non-hierarchy, causes energy to dissipate and very little happens).
• There is a deep longing from people related to ten or We Will Dance with Mountains to gather in person and it feels important to think about this for the next iteration of the network.
• The energy already present in people from We Will Dance with Mountains and the spaces in between may be a valuable catalyst for the re-emergence of ten.
• We believe there is money out there to support our work. Money is not an obstacle. It is also very important to be able to offer financial support to those who collaborate with us and be monetarily compensated for the work we all do with ten.
• The challenge may have more to do with defining ten’s work sufficiently in order to communicate well to potential funders and doing all the grunt work of fundraising (relationship-building, communications, grant applications and reports).
• It’s important that we prioritize clear decision-making and structure to support healthy relationships; a culture of following through on what we commit to; clarity on who and what we are inviting in; and clear boundaries (that are able to be porous).
• This time is not about growing but about adapting our shape. It is also perhaps about growing up, gradually. Can the shape(s) we co-create become clearer and simpler – allow for more self-organising, more sanctuary, more funding, more connection?

Here are some individual reflections from each Underground Custodian following the Listening Sessions:

Aerin:

I believe that ten will thrive by being the ground for others to come and do experimentation around the inquiries they are passionate about. I think that in this next iteration of the network, we should invite a small-ish group of people to come together in spaces (online and in real life) to explore, create, offer, receive and learn together about postactivism and perhaps a more focused theme for a period of time. I essentially continue to support our idea of creating translocal hubs for the exploration of post-activism in a way that feels joyful and engaging to those of us holding the space. In other words, I think we might be better suited as hosts of the spaces and platforms than actually engaging in the projects as experimenters ourselves. I believe that finding a juicy metaphor to use will help us in our evolution (not into something “better” or with a “higher purpose” but evolving into something more strange and awkward). 

Karen: 

There is so much love and excitement for the work that this group of people, very broadly speaking, has done together under different names. I want something to exist for those people.

Toni: 

It feels exciting and ‘right’ that more support for self-organising and fresh energy is emerging. And also that we value the underground and the skin of the earth as equally valid to the overground! I have a sense of us creating maps for getting generously lost – where we’re not naming everything, we may not even name the things most maps have – but there is a sense of some of the landscape, the smells and textures of this ‘place’. What is put on a map in itself holds power, what’s named and made visible – or not – tells the story. Can we create a map/a model that gives just enough structure for people to come on in and explore? That highlights soil more than signage, tears more than territory? A map that can never be ‘correct’, yet invites exploration and belonging while unlearning the colonial impulse to claim territory? I’m excited by the dance between form and formlessness, clarity and creative chaos…  By the paradox of a map to help you get lost… By sanctuary in cracks and by all those other kinds of dances in places of collapse and becomings. Sitting underneath all this is the ongoing question of: what is our part (us, as ten and us, as humans) in creating prime conditions for emergence? (As I write, the rooks are doing their mating dance along a crooked branch – a cacophony of sound, awkward steps backwards and sideways, fluttering wings and the promise of egg laying. The next generation.)