The Hive

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The hive promotes itself as a collaborative residency to explore new solutions for a more humane, more sustainable future. I went there thinking I would never be willing to leave. 6 months later, I am infinitely relieved to get away.

The experience took a full 180-degree turn.
How is that possible?

From the outside if I heard that lucky residents - who are hosted, fed, provided with a 600 euros stipend each month and given the freedom to work on sustainable projects they define themselves with other talented people - would be unsatisfied about the experience, I would think of them as spoiled little shits who don’t deserve their luck. And that they should go and plant trees in the scorching Australian outback to swallow their pride and learn life.

Well, environmentally speaking, my time would have been better used if I had just done that.

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Enough appetizers. How did we get there? This statement is hard to believe considering that - and it is genuinely true - the core Hive team and the Hivers have been giving it their best shot, with professionalism and kindness towards each other. I consider that one of the projects was successful with a strong potential for impact down the line (I am looking at you, "Blank").

However not all projects reached that level of quality and coherence. To understand why, it is worth looking into the Hive residency as a whole. As the experience unfolded some issues appeared which I categorise under three major types of roadblocks : a psychologically destructive living/working environment, a lack of scrutiny about methodologies for effective collaborative work, and finally a lack of shared vision defining what a sustainable, humane future holds.

I would prefer to tell you that considering the situation I decided to either disobey (constructively) and/or leave. But in reality I had no backup plan enabling me to leave (it seemed unnecessary when I signed up). Locked in, and driven by a strong team spirit and a potentially impactful result, I tried harder and harder. At the end, I am left with two things : the opportunity to be critical about the experience, perhaps crystallising a need for the reevaluation of such a program, and the importance to constantly examine and sharpen my opinions, values and their manifestations, trusting my intuition.

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I shall mention first that the experience during the Hive is personal to each Hiver, and they would all have a different story to tell. This version brings my 34 year-old self from New Zealand down to France, selected for a 6 months residency that will enable him to develop a solid project focused on sustainability. This project would have the potential to be deployed in France first, then in New Zealand, developing a partnership between a wonderful French new camp of the future and its freshly developing grassroots counterpart. On the day I stepped in, considering my thirst for action as unquenchable would be appropriate.

Then somehow the shiny layer of varnish on the promising statement started showing little cracks. During the first 3 weeks, we met different inspiring social entrepreneurs and offered them - on their requests - suggestions to solve their issues or difficulties. But we never acted upon it. The slides stayed confined to their folders, and we left many places with a bitter taste. We were taking these people’s time and energy and leaving behind a dream for them to work on. My eyebrows frowned. That behavior is the signature move of intellectual punks who have nothing but good recommendations to provide from the comfortable depth of their couches, before patting each other on the back and boasting about their accomplishments with their other snob, chain-smoking intellectual colleagues.

By the third week of “ immersion ”, the quality of the proposals had dropped. I was (and so were other Hivers I believe) in waiting mode, holding on until the official project kickoff. I chew my bone prototyping a device to turn scrap food into edible plants, which filled my evenings and weekends.

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That week finally came. Chests were puffing, everyone wanted to give it 100 percent, go to the moon and back. From my experience working in large agile teams I knew that collaborative work requires a set of organisational tools, particularly if many professional backgrounds and cultures are represented. The kickoff was going to be a pivotal moment in the program. It would largely define the projects development over the next months and influence their final quality. I was however confident that after two residencies, a bullet-proof library of different methodologies had been gathered, and would be available to give us the best head start.

I was wrong. As an absolute hit in the face, but more in a "pat on the head" kind-of-way, the methodology could be paraphrased as below:

" Here is 20 of us, and, in a month's time, there shall be 5 projects on the starting line. So off you go.”

That was it. Compared to the 3 previous weeks, organised impeccably and probably draining a large amount of resources, it was a mismatch. The only tools provided were a spreadsheet where we wrote our interests and skills, and a pitch session where we mentioned out loud our interests and skills. It seemed somehow left to luck. And I could foresee a very linear development, in opposition to the agile approach I had hoped for.

I was in an utter state of confusion. Born from that confusion, a dangerous idea kicked in : this, surely, could not be it. Leaving us in the dark at that moment must be part of a carefully crafted, calculated method of collaborative work that I had yet to discover. This must be step one of a recipe that would in the future reveal its creative genius. And only then would utter chaos be turned into a powerful powerhouse of projects - a radical approach for radical results.

History will tell that there was nothing radical in the methodology. It was simply a timeline with checkpoints for the Core Hive team to divide funding and keep track of the progress of each project. Facilitating our collaborative work was fully up to us. To me, it was a recipe for disaster. Since there was no measurements to keep the projects aligned with our initial sustainability goals “Food, Education, Inclusive cities”, these goals started fading in the background. People simply spoke less and less about them until they fully disappeared. And so did the values attached to them.

Now, each team not only had to define “how” to solve an issue, but also "what" issues were worth focusing on, and “why”. This was a whole step back in the ideation process.

Let's take a quick step back to reflect on the broader implication of what is described above : how does the Long-term Culture of the Hive define itself, when it is not given a strong radical direction at its inception? Is the responsibility left to residents, who already must bear the struggle of picking a radical common voice in a heartbeat while dealing with the internal shamble of confined common living and also tackling self-organised collaborative work with little guidance?

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My personal story went as follows : After many weeks I realised that my approach differed from my other teammates and left the project I was initially part of. My drive to invest energy in other projects was low since I could not see myself developing them further after the Hive. But since the fundings had already been distributed, my only option was to give a hand. Considering the sacrifices done in order to be here, It was very frustrating to not work on something I would find valuable. Since the place is isolated (geographically and in terms of mobility), and workspace and living space are mixed up, I could not get away from that frustration.

I began to work at night on funding applications for projects after the Hive, and bore some sort of guilt from betraying the team spirit. The more I worked for these outside projects, the more I looked at my relationship with my living space as parasitical. That sense of disgust towards my own behavior was the alarm bell that shook me out of my resignated state. I left 20 days before the blooming for a healthy shot of mental readjustment, visiting places that were resonating with my personal values. Only then was I able to come back and give a hand while planning for my way out.

♦♦♦ concluding the conclusion ♦♦♦

Like everyone, I have tons of suggestions and I know some people who have better ones than mine. I won’t waste my breath sharing them out here as if I would know some absolute truth. My view is : it is always a different story from the perspective of the program designer. Hopefully the brief story above will serve as constructive criticism for further development of the Hive.

Side-note to future Hive applicants : I strongly recommend you to check whether the experience is fit for you - after all everyone is different and you might have a fantastic time. There is a large number of former Hivers on hivers.fr, so have a chat, and place your 6-months investment wisely.

As for me, I will indisputably be more useful and effective away from the Hive. Be it planting trees in the Australian outback, to start with, to compensate for all this vile carbon dioxide I emitted to get there.

Baptiste

23.09

Last Monday

Last beginning of the week.

♦ I talk to many hivers and find their feedbacks remarquables, especially in the variety of solutions raised to fix the issues they encountered during the Hive experience.

♦ Curiously, TheHive team does not request from us an exit interview - they do not seem hungry for feedback. O would love to have the chance to hear theirs though.

♦ Watching "La fabrique du consentement" while updating the final pictures.

22.09

Sunday

A visit to "la Friche Belle de Mai" and more reading

♦ Tonight is the final night I update pictures to this blog. It is time will conclude.

♦ While cleaning up the Plasticity installation, Blue throws a lot of plastic that the team bought away. Some of the plastic was bought rather than upcycled for visual beauty sake apparently. As she will mention on her Facebook feed later on : "Plasticity has a long way to go." I appreciate her honesty very much.

rien

21.09

Saturday

Reading under the rain

♦

rien

20.09

Friday

Blooming - day2

♦ I attend the pitchs presentation and they are excellent, SX FI, Colimo, Telenatura, YOBL, Plasticity, Blank. The messages unveiled are powerful, the atmosphere is playful and Sylvia is a great host.

Eric mentions how important it is to have Artists at the Hive since an artist perspective on life can offer new insights on ... stuff stuff stuff. This, added to the extra effort on communication for the blooming provides me with a clue about what is important for the Hive. I guess it pays off.

♦ Side-note : in the video I look like I don't take shit from anyone - I was unaware of my resting "fuck off" face, how Corsican of me.

♦ Metabolic has answered my questions about the potential internship so I am going through their latest report, trying to narrow down what is of interest to me. It is a breath of practical, functionnal input that nourrishes my heart.

♦ The cool design below is from Pam:

rien

19.09

Thursday

Blooming - day1

♦ Getting a haircut, I confused the time for the pitch and... miss the pitch - ooch. Apart from that I check out all the projects, especially the SXFI performance for it is a performance and really appreciate Mimi's work - Lord she is good - and the result from a costume designer and AR specialist.

♦ In the meantime I get updates from Osa who is at a conference in Sweden on social construction and modern self-construction . Gash I am jealous of her.

♦ Night time, I get feverish - cause sick - and listen to meditative talks before getting a few hours of sleep.

rien

18.09

Wednesday

Wrapping up

♦ We finish attaching all the strings to all the sliders, adjust the tension of each of them and voila! It is moving - not with a particularly large range, but still. The mecanism is almost lifted off the ground due to the tension. The rest is up to the artists. Video available [here].

♦ Quick hand to Julietta for a couple of tweaks on her YOBL model. She has passed master at handling the 3d printer.

♦ Just got validation that the grant to build a Velocinema has been... granted!

rien

17.09

Tuesday

Final push

♦ The axis redirecting the thread towards the mecanism to the ground is designed and set up. Part of the team is fixing some sliders while we take each thread individualy and knot them carefully, adjusting the tension. It is a long, delicate work. Dian and I are doing some silly things due to the fatigue and David comes in to laugh at it a bit before setting us back on track.

♦ I have insightful chat from hivers about their experiences at the Hive - it is very pleasant to have their feedback as the final outcome of their work are in a way revealed to them. We will certainly get more time to discuss that together next week.

rien

16.09

Monday

Helping out Plasticity / YOBL

♦ I set up a to-do list of what is left, starting from the moment someone throws something in the bin to when the mecanism is set in motion. Then I work with Dian, spiltting tasks to finish building the support for the mecanism, build the gearbox, etc.

♦ I also help out Julieta with some minor changes on her YOBL.

rien

15.09

Sunday

... and clean up.

♦ yip. Ooch.

♦ And a visit at the Couvent Levant, Art Space

rien

14.09

Saturday

Francesco's Birthday...

♦ Boom boom...

rien

3.09

Tuesday

Waiting before I take off

♦ I plan my studies for the next 4 months in the morning, fiddle around with a few things in the afternoon. I will be off tomorrow then back on the 10th. Very much looking forward for it.

♦ Of course I have to mention to the Hive team that I am going away, and as I am attempting to do so via email, I am asked for a face to face chat, and Sylvia and others are added to the email. So I have to publicly explain that this is a physcologial necessity and that I feed demotivated and stressed. It is utterly difficult to show such weakness, and I can now better empathise with others in my past who have discussed that - to more extreme degree at time - with me. It is completely different from a cough or an injury as, this time, it seems to come from the inside - I feel in a way responsible for my own weakness. This is not something that I want to discuss in a professional environment of course. So here is a question that I borrow from a friend talking to his team leader : to the people in charge of any structures with people in it : how do you keep the pulse on your team?

♦ I bump into a few pictures taken a month ago while Julien was taking some shots to make a com document for thecamp to lease one of their spaces. The idea is to sell a sparkling fab lab that never get dusty. Check out that Art director Utopia down below.

rien

2.09

Monday

Back at Thecamp

♦ All teams seem sorted - I am not needed. I decide to get away from Thecamp in a couple of day - I ll feel better - can't wait to get into something more productive.

♦ I smash some admin work - accouting etc - for the Pocket lab in the meantime.

♦ And watch "HyperNormalisation" by Adam Curtis.

rien

... and a new week begins ...

1.09

Sunday

Weekend with family

♦ On my way back on the bus I watch Aurelien Barreau in a 1.30h long interview - well articulated yet accessible.