Resilients: The Flotilla

The Flotilla is both a vessel and a community for the revitalisation and invigoration of people, places and cultures. As a world grown and maintained by its members, it embodies an emergent collective intelligence that lives, moves and adapts like a complex organism – an engaging example of how an interdependent community can thrive in uncertain times.

On the day of 12/12/12, the Flotilla celebrates Anti-Apocalypse Day. This day marks the occasion for all the Flotilla’s dispersed journeyers to come together on the main culture ship and share the stories, materials and skills they have acquired during their voyages in faraway lands. They are welcomed aboard by the Flotilla’s present crew, and merge with it by adopting the roles essential to keep the vessel afloat and its community engaged. There are several activities and gatherings – planned and emergent – centering on the case studies in cultural revitalisation that members have collected, created, or supported since they saw each other last. In the limited time available, craft workshops, readings, hackfests, contemplation sessions, tastings, performances and other forms of participatory learning are held throughout the day.

To celebrate this unique get-together, the day culminates in an Anti-Apocalypse feast on the evening of 12 December. Journeyers share unusual food, drinks, and tales from faraway places around a makeshift digital campfire accompanied by music, dance and merriment. The next morning the Flotilla returns to its daily routine of joint cooking, cleaning, maintenance and stewardship. In addition, there is the yearly moot to appraise work done and materials collected for the Flotilla’s periodic manual. After lunch on 13 December, the journeyers pack their belongings, say their farewells, and push off from the main vessel to go their separate ways – until their next meeting.