Emergence Summit 2012 – Day Two

 

The second day of the Emergence Summit began early with some self-organised sessions, including yoga, morning swims and chanting; for those not quite able to get up at 7 on a Saturday morning, the Summit began with a discussion on ‘capitalism vs an inhabitable planet’ with Robert Newman. The morning continued with more mind-opening, inspiring talks – Rupesh Shah on systems thinking and sustainability, Nick Capaldi on the capacity of the arts to create and influence positive change.

After an invigorating morning – equipping delegates with some theoretical tools for thinking about the themes of the gathering – Ansuman Biswas presented the first Emergence artist commission of the weekend. Exploring the ideas of vipassana, Ansuman led a meditation on the ‘turning point’ as the conference prepared to move away from the theoretical and intellectual and toward an afternoon of activity.

After lunch, the delegates headed into the ‘making, being and doing sessions.’ Similar to workshops, the sessions were intended to be hands-on, practical explorations of certain topics.

The delegates had 15 incredible sessions to choose from, and as it was impossible for everyone to participate in all the activities, participants got a taste of what else had been going on that afternoon in a tour led by the young Emergence delegates. Groups were led around CAT, revisiting the places where the sessions had earlier been held, and were treated to a short presentation of what was discussed and explored.

Bringing it all together at the end, each of the young delegates presented their take on what they witnessed to the whole gathering. More photos are available here.