Farewell to Matera: the unMonastery prototype reaches completion

Click here for subtitles in English, Italian, Spanish and German.

I spent most of last week in Matera, participating in the last days of the unMonastery’s prototype iteration. It has been a really great learning journey; and, for such a long shot, I submit we did surprisingly well. We made many mistakes, but even those are bearing fruit.

So I made my weary way to Matera and spent a few days living like an unMonk – waking up at @Bembo Davies 's seven o’clock bell, doing my fair share of kitchen duty and working out of The Cave, the downstairs working space. As a bonus, I got to be at the strangely moving unClosing event. The many Materans who flocked to the event looked unnerved, as if the unMonastery were leaving them just as they were finally getting a full grasp of it. Is the unMonastery really going away? Will it be back?

These experiences are too strong to ever really go away. @Marc is staying; activities are scheduled around Kiderwind in August; and of course LOTE4 is going to bring many more Edgeryders to Matera in October, with a coordination team working out of the unMonastery starting in September. Plus, the dialog with the city of Matera continues; we are working towards locating in town the School of unMonastery as the center of the movement.

But we do need a break to digest these incredible six months. One material to meditate is @NicoBis's incredible videos, including this one produced for the unClosing ceremony. Thanks to the valiant @LucasG for leading on translating subtitles into English, Italian and Spanish. If you want to help translating the video’s subtitles in your own language, you are very welcome! Here is a guide made by Lucas.

3 Likes