“Look out, honey, ’cause I’m using technology
Ain’t got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a firefight.”
Iggy and the Stooges,
Search and Destroy
2022! What a year, hoomans!
Last time we meowed, the DisCO crew was about to land in Amsterdam for the Envisioning Free Space Conference.
Long story short, it was amazing. We had a lot of fun. I even got to try vegan tuna.
Also, one would think that after traveling around in outer space for so many months, this crew would surely know what a “space brownie” is, but lemme tell ya pal, there’s always something new to learn on Earth. Actually, I learnt it the hard way, woke up all tousled, on a roof I didn’t recognize… But enough talking about my thrilling feline lives…
The New Orbit is just around the corner and we thought it would be thoughtful and nice to offer you faithful hooman readers a little recap on all things DisCO, especially those things that weren’t included in previous issues of the newsletter. So, consider this a chance to get a glimpse behind the curtains… (cat-damn maze of curtains, once got lost there for half a day…!)
Love in the Middle of a Firefight: DisCO’s most played tracks of 2022
Has 2022 been a weird year for you? That’s OK, things are getting way weirder and scarier for everyone — and, historically, for some more than others. If history ended in 1991 (ahem), then we’re perpetually living in its epilogue with no recourse or possibility of justice. Apocalyptic vibes much?
In her terrifyingly prescient MaddAddam Trilogy, speculative fiction writer Margaret Atwood introduces the term, ‘fallow state’:
“Fallow state, the Gardeners would say. They used that diagnosis for a wide range of conditions, from depression to post-traumatic stress to being permanently stoned. The theory was that while in a Fallow state you were gathering and conserving strength, nourishing yourself through meditation, sending invisible rootlets out into the universe.”
In a world of vectorial succubi worse than capitalism, where a badly scripted Bond supervillain with a phallic rocket fixation welcomes fascists to networks which ought to be commons based and peer produced…
…where 80-hour work weeks and bunking in the office are the new normal… who wouldn’t want to “quiet quit” or just flat-out quit and move on? We have to rebel, we have to dance and, as much as we’re able, also rest, gather and conserve strength.
Energy has been unfolding gradually but steadily within DisCO this year. We consciously chose to go on low power mode for a while and prioritize reproductive work and relationality over productivist showiness. 2022 has been marked by extraordinary encounters, serendipitous dialogue and a wider sampling of what the DisCOverse needs to become. Join us for our recap of 2022 as we’re headed in the next orbit. You are cordially invited to come along.
Thirsty for more?
Read the full article here!
The Open Source Conspiracy
By Stacco Troncoso and Ann Marie Utratel, with contributions from Sara Escribano, Irene Lopez de Vallejo and Kadallah Burrowes. Originally published on Culture Hack Labs Issue 2: Territories of Transition.
“The design of structures does not on its own bring about change. They need a pluriverse of counter-cultures informing their design and implementation. DisCOs are a new form of collective organizing for functioning, collapse-ready, and future-proof economies.
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.”
REGENS UNITE: Not about me, all about “we”
Our special agent and DisCOnaut Irene López de Vallejo, along with our dear friend Ela Kagel (Supermarkt Berlin, Circles UBI), had a blast (not ONCE, but THRICE!) with some of the most awesome peeps we’ve had the fortune to encounter along the way in this crazy and exciting journey we call DisCO!
Of course, we’re talking about Regens Unite!
Irene wrote two enthusiastic reports covering her experience in several events organized by this amazing regenerative project. The first is called “Not about me; all about we”, and you can read it here.
“I believe in serendipity, and the Regens movement manages to embed serendipity in the structure and organisation of its events. At the heart, its purpose is to connect. Vulnerability is central to the whole exercise. I was shocked, thrilled, but also scared to death in Brussels when we – around 65 people – were asked to engage in games that, little by little, revealed ourselves as humans, activists, thinkers. Little by little we peeled away our fears, allowed ourselves to be vulnerable and make real connections with people we may never have otherwise met.”
In her second report, Irene and Ela describe the workshop on Decentralised Governance for communities that they taught in the Regens Unite event last September in Berlin (check the video above).
“We parted with the feeling that this is the future of work, that organisations and collectives that understand governance enabled by Web3 infrastructures can advance the path of regeneration of our societies, economies and ecologies, allowing us to be radically focused on what matters most to each of us: each other.”
You can read the full article here.
RADICAL SPREADSHEETS: a SODAA zine
Moon Press Issue 10, Radical Spreadsheets. Click here to access or download
In August, DisCOnauts Ann Marie Utratel and Stacco Troncoso were interviewed by NKC Productions for Radical Spreadsheets, a zine curated by Sodaa Club, the first DisCO disco (yes, you read that right!). You can either read Anjali Prashar-Savoie‘s transcription here or download the digital version of the zine, published by Moon Press, right here.
“Our view of economics is that it’s a field that has been abstracted, given away to technocrats. But I think there’s an art to it, there’s a magic to it. What is this thing called money that can mobilise billions of people to do certain things, and not do other things, and rewards certain things and doesn’t reward others? In DisCO we wanted to go just beyond what was logically feasible to what was emotionally feasible, and that’s one of the great potencies of music.”
Oh, hi again!
*Stops the absent-minded self-grooming*
Well, I guess this is the part in which I wish you all happy holidays and a wholesome end of the year so we can start “the next one” (honestly, can’t think of numbers higher than one digit) rioting and revolutionizing the future of economics.
Please remember: we shall take the world back to re-distribute it — and that takes at least three ingredients: trust, care, and an awful lot of punk music!
Always yours,
The DisCO CAT and its hooman entourage