Summer Solistice | "Warm Data Lab Pt. 3"
Happy (almost) Summer folx!
What might be possible when people meet as people — not who we are at work, what we've achieved, what we know, the roles we play, or the titles we carry?
We are so excited to announce Richmond's third Warm Data Lab, to be held at Studio Two Three. Whether you are returning or curious what the buzz is about, everyone is welcome. We cannot wait to see you.
It seems like our wildly, increasingly technologically connected lives are squeezing out our stories as people, the very nutrients that feed our shared soil. We pass each other constantly, trading bits and pieces of information like at a networking event, but never slow down long enough to nourish the shared ground, leaving us depleted and malnourished.
"Like the richness of soil, the ensembling is teeming with nuances sticking to other nuances."
As our titles and roles fade in the Lab, Warm Data gives us an opportunity to speak our stories aloud and experience other warm human bodies listening.
We have been reaching without rooting. Warm Data Labs are the tending.
Warm Data Labs have been described as "kaleidoscopes of conversation."
"This is not collaboration, this is composting."
We start with one person sharing a story to set the scene (don't worry, they are picked ahead). Then we are invited to all move around the room, sharing stories and observations about a common question, from many different angles and contexts. What tends to emerge is something none of us could have arrived at alone. At the end we come back together and share what we have noticed. We weave together what we noticed, which are sometimes surprising and stir something deep inside of us.
"It is a reunion. It is a nourishing."
No expertise required. No special knowledge needed. Just your curiosity, your lived experience, and your willingness to listen and be surprised.
Questions? Reach out to the convening team at [email protected]
The Flow We will gather and mingle for light refreshments at 6pm. Our lab process will run from 6:30 to 8pm.
----
Reunion
A thickening of the unsaid integrity — Starting in small fringes that link and recircuit finding unfound mixtures. Re-soaking the past.
Marinating memories Until their softness is sticky vitality.Like the richness of soil, the ensembling is teeming with nuances sticking to other nuances.
Following entirely undrawable paths. The unusual textures, the surprises, — in the wordless sea of how we are.The resonances and rhythms have their own current.
In the rich probiotics of fresh tones. Made together, without goals.
This is not collaboration, this is composting.
This kind of new life is not a restructure. It is a reunion. It is not a plan. It is a nourishing.
Nora Bateson, 2019
The poem above is drawn from Nora's essay "People Need People," in which she writes about our deep need for communal relationship, how modern life has quietly eroded it, and why processes like Warm Data Labs matter now more than ever.