Long Now London 2411 - Maintenance
Back at the RSA
For the first time since 02019, Long Now London returns to the Royal Society of Arts. We will be taking over Muse, the new ground floor cocktail bar at RSA House.
Long Now London has been gathering in a variety of formats, locations and frequencies since 02008. Since 02018 we have met on the second Thursday of the month, usually in a pub, sometimes in a park, online when necessary.
Please do RSVP here as it is important for us to be able to help our hosts prepare for us. If you want to share this event with others, please do share this page rather than other platforms.
Maintenance
All are welcome, and there is no required pre-reading... but we do know that some people like to be pointed towards a particular topic or piece of media that might come up in discussion. This month we have (even more than usual) found ourselves particularly thinking and talking about maintenance.
Over recent years it has become clear that whatever our interests in various scales of the past and potential futures, one throughline for many of our regular members is an engagement with ideas and practices around maintenance. Alongside our monthly meetups, since 02019 we have made an annual practice of helping the National Trust maintain the White Horse of Uffington in Oxfordshire. You can find more about that here (a 5 minute video) or here (a 5 minute read).
With this in mind, our suggested reading for November is "The Maintenance Race", the first chapter of Stewart Brand's upcoming book "Maintenance: Of Everything". It's available as a seventh draft on the Books in Progress website. There are other chapters on there in various stages of revision. Many of us may want to read them all... but if all you've had time to do is read this far on this event page... you definitely won't be the only one. :-)
Where
Muse is the new cocktail bar in RSA House at 8 John Adam Street, just off the Strand in central London. The bar is on the ground floor. At the entrance you may have to give your name at reception. If so, pease ask to be directed to Muse and/or to the Long Now London gathering.
Why
Come for conversations about long-term thinking, deep time, art, futures, technology, maintenance, a wide range of -ologies and -isms depending on the crowd, and all kinds of attempts to think even just a little outside of the rapid fire frameworks encouraged by these accelerating times.
About Us
Long Now London is a community of practice for long-term thinking. The group started in 02008 and has been meeting every month (usually in a pub) since 02018.
We are an independent local group inspired by work of the Long Now Foundation and using their name with permission. We are in regular dialogue with other such groups around the world. If you would like to set up your own where you are, please do get in touch.