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My father had been excited and advocating about Arcosanti for years. We visited on a trip through AZ and he left just forelorn and heartbroken. It was somewhat
by avs733 9y ago
My father had been excited and advocating about Arcosanti for years. We visited on a trip through AZ and he left just forelorn and heartbroken. It was somewhat humorous because he went from weeks of not being able to stop talking about it to just silence in the span of the one hour visit.
Great idea, but as with all projects - execution trumps vision.
- passivepinetree 9y agoDo you mind elaborating? What specifically was so disappointing? When did you guys visit? Has anything changed since then?
- ianai 9y agoI liked arcosanti when I visited it. It was very much a small group of people essentially working for the artist though. I think the concept has merit. But this particular example was maybe co-opted for cheap labor. I say that as that may be something OPs father saw and felt disillusioned. I think even that may be a fine thing. Things have to start somewhere.
- Gargoyle 9y agoI agree. It quite lived up to and even surpassed my expectations. But this would have been in the 90s. They had a nice little core built and it was a functioning artist colony. I've got a metal tile I bought there on my computer desk right now, as a little reminder of other possibilities.
- avs733 9y agoThe visit would have been around 2011. He had read about Arcosanti in the 70s I believe and was expecting much more vibrancy, much more activity, and especially much more progress than had come to fruition in that time. I think he came in with excitement and that was confronted by a couple people he met there who were fairly off putting which didn't help matters. I still think it is a neat idea personally, and put it in league with things like Black Rock City/Burning man where I'm never gonna fault someone for going out and just fucking trying something...but the experience and his reaction (not the place) are still a bit of a joke in our family.
- Mediterraneo10 9y ago"He had read about Arcosanti in the 70s I believe and was expecting much more vibrancy, much more activity, and especially much more progress." That is rather how I felt after touring Auroville a few years ago. So much publicity on the project is from decades ago. You visit, and you find out the project was never completed, successive generations born there have split into disparate factions and there’s sometimes infighting or at least apathy about any common goal, and the surrounding city has boomed so much that the little intentional community in its midst seems like a quirky little cult instead of a guide to the future.
- nether 9y agoIt's a cluster of small, drab structures surrounded by dirt. It's the furthest thing from mindblowing, in its current state.
- nerpderp83 9y agoNearly every time I have met my hero, this has been my response. Meet them early and often. Be your own hero.
- avs733 9y agoThe problem with heroes is that when you meet them in person they are real people.
- corpMaverick 9y agoAs someone who grew up in a similar desert. I cannot understand why would anyone choose to build a city right there. Water is crucial. You need lots of it. Plus it is very isolated. Other than Phoenix (1hr), there is nothing there.
- sulam 9y agoSedona, which has its own take on city life, is fairly close and worth a visit. Just don't fall into any vortices. :)
- avs733 9y agoHubris and crystals
- theoh 9y agoSeriously, though, getting people to sign up to help implement your renegade ideas is kind of the definition of charisma (as in Max Weber) and gurus and cults are just a little further down that road...
- nkoren 9y agoThe desert is not a uniform place. Arcosanti is half a mile from the third largest river in the state, with very healthy wells. Water is really not an issue there, at the kind of population levels they're targeting.
- itronitron 9y agoyour father is not alone... a friend of mine visited Arcosanti decades ago and commented that in one of the studios there was a small note on one of the walls that read 'hell is other people'
- WaxProlix 9y agoIt's a reference to Sartre's No Exit[1], and not as you might at first think a shallow indictment of sociability or something like that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit
- itronitron 9y agoMy impression of that note in the context is in line with Sartre's intention (or at least according to several highly reputable online sources.) Arcosanti seems set up for free thinking but then is also a highly socialized community so likely very constraining for someone that wants to be individually creative.