nanopolitics handbook - Minor Compositions

noyed, fatigue...) in 2-3 words. The fact of being able to voice this feelingoften allows for a certain discharge and alleviation in relation to the meeting.The weather also offers the possibility of choosing roles according towhat’s said: for example, a ‘nervous’ person can take on the role of ambiancesensor.4. Fourth, the moment of choosing roles and artifices. This point combinestwo levels. Firstly, the roles required for the meeting: the timekeeper,the ambiance sensor and the minute taker. Secondly, the roles or artificesthat the group may construct in relation to its own difficulties [the ancestor...]. As concerns artifices, they can take on the form of a linguistic prescription(prohibition of arguing back-and-forth) or be constructed aroundobjects (the use of a little statue, for instance, in the case of detours). Ineither case, artifices tend to oblige the group to pay attention to a certainaspect of its collective life that will be poisonous if left in its ‘natural’ state.After this setting up of conditions, taking some short 20 minutes, we get tothe core of subjects, with the help of the proposed working process andof the roles and artifices.the middle part of the meeting: This period attempts, with each repetition, toopen onto a process of experimentation around one or several objects.Here as elsewhere, nothing is guaranteed, we help ourselves with differentmeans and cultivate the possibility of thinking collectively, but we can’tpredict what will come out of this. It may for example be that the workingproposal leads the group into an impasse. In that case it’s better to takethe time to stop discussing, to suspend the prepared proceedings andorganize a ‘step-aside’. The step-aside is a dispositif we can draw uponat any given point in a meeting when it’s useful to speak directly aboutcollective process. It signals a careful attention towards ‘how we’re doingthings right now’. It acts as a kind of impromptu evaluation. In this sense, astep-aside may be proposed in the course of a meeting, in order to turn itaround and away from what was planned, if the effects of this plan seemto lead the group astray. It’s about intervening before everyone gets toostuck, with view to explore other and more promising paths within theprocess.the end of the meeting: Two elements characterize the last moments of a meeting:1. The first one consists in summing up decisions taken (with the helpof the minute-taker) and in setting up the next steps of the collective work.Setting up here means imagining one or the other pathway for working onthe next meeting from now, maybe anticipating the ones following afterthat. It’s also about listening to what the preparation group can tell of itsexperience, and about evaluating the proposal it brings to the process.69