Excerpt from: Living Organisation – That Is, Self-Organisation

Binna Choi


The following sentences are speech fragments that I heard and wrote down during a five-day workshop in Berlin (January 31 to February 4, 2018) with a number of Arts Collaboratory members, where we attempted to implement a reorganisation in the midst of disorganisation, as part of the Arts Collaboratory self-organising process facilitated by Maria Scordialos in partnership with Irene Vanikiotis. I hereby wish to thank all of the workshop members, especially Maria.

Self-organisation is chaos until patterns appear.

Until self-organisation becomes the capacity to operate, there needs to be a group of people to facilitate, not manage.

We are moving from ‘what’ to ‘how’!

Allowing multiple purposes while aligning them.

Controlling the purposes, not controlling others.

We are getting lost in endless discussions. How about going back and working alone?

Now we need to ground ourselves.

Unpacking Discomfort: it’s about hosting oneself, knowing one’s own hotspot.

Self-organisation is like water with no container: sometimes it needs a topology.

Self-organisation is brilliant when we can maintain continuity.

Self-organisation is about interdependence.

Looking at / evaluating what is not working generatively, by looking and listening through three lenses:

which treasures / potentials are hidden in what seems like failure? What constitutes challenge, and where does it begin? Which tangible steps / practical ideas can we take moving forward?

Rather than a paradigm of ‘plurality’, why not instead ‘spectrum’ (which is more inclusive)? Why not allow a space for all of us to have different perspectives / entry points?

Don’t try to problem-solve; don’t evaluate; focus on the roles of listener and speaker.

Let’s cluster when you hear, instead of repeating.

‘The real leader is purpose’: what are we experimenting around?    

You need to build a capability.