The amazing thing about this place, Arcosanti, is not first the architecture, I'm discovering. In many ways the architecture is out of date—it was cutting edge for its time. The amazing thing lies not in Arcosanti's history—it is not in its philosophy, it is not even in Paolo Soleri, as ultimately, one day, Arcosanti and those who live within its concrete, silt-cast womb, will have to realize that Arcosanti will—must—outlive Paolo Soleri. It may never outlive his vision—it may, and probably will, and probably should be, the seed daring to propose his vision as a practical and real solution for the future.
But Arcosanti has too many shortcomings currently to make this happen. It does work this way in small ways. But it is not as connected in the international community as it could be. Apathy and blindness can set in. It can get stuck in its own vision of self—it's supposed concrete "identity", which should be, and I would argue is much more plastic than many people here think—though they may do so entirely unconsciously.
But for all these shortcomings, the 1% of its final future being built—the hairline cracks in the concrete structures and the fading of the siltcast paintings—the amazing part of Arcosanti works beyond all these things, and it is a timeless phenomenon that is particular to all human communities that are vision-based—and this includes many of the best cities of the world, though they may not have a single vision to them. Paolo calls this the Urban Effect. From the smallest to the largest, the reverberation of people within a given space causes almost a kind of non-physical lovemaking that remains in that place and in peoples' hearts, and never leaves either place—even if the structure it took place in completely crumbles.
I've been here long enough now to be through a few cycles of workshops, visitors, and friends. Having Flam Chen here as guests was a completely unique experience, and if they gave Arcosanti an eternal memory, the phenomenon was mutual. It was palpable, almost, that we were two tightly-knit families that had invited each other into each other's hearts and homes. It was the space of the Vaults that inspired Flam Chen to do what they did, and without that space the performance could never have been the same thing. I could only imagine the feeling of a performer—seeing these soaring, fireproof, age-worn archways facing the south like a giant sundial. They're just begging to be lit up, rigged, and made into a multi-dimensional stage. No wonder they did it for the sake of doing it, and nothing else.
But it's not just Flam Chen and their creative company. It's the workshoppers who have come from New York City, Canada, Kazahkstan, Turkey, India, Japan, Switzerland, and a hundred other countries—each as unique and creative as I could count myself. It is humbling in a way, to realize that there are so many great minds. And for all Arcosanti's faults, the criticisms, and the hard discussions that happen behind closed doors—all those minds, with all their skill and visions, they all somehow end up here. And in a way, they never really leave. Just like the memory of that performance, put on by Flam Chen as a giant, fiery conversation with the vision and power of Soleri's architecture, the memory of the place, the people, and the community here gets carried into each person, back to their respective countries. Arcosanti is bigger than itself.
And just as that is true, the residents here need to remember that Arcosanti has a place in history and the international community. We're not pulling our weight. To our credit, we have almost no weight to pull in the first place—but this is not an opportunity for apathy and "it's been done before-ism". It's the age old opportunity for creativity within the frame of frugality—it's the opportunity for the melding of pleasure, comfort, and beauty with sustainability. Dare we think we never need outside input—dare we ever think we should shut out the conversations, and become "self sufficient" because that's "who we are"—dare we ever think that an outsider need to understand the politics and the minute details of our history before being relevant to our future—dare we ever think that we know where Arcosanti is heading. Paolo Soleri may have posed a very specific solution in Arcology, but Arcosanti is not an Arcology. It is an Urban Laboratory…? and this gives it the great luxury of experimentation—something an Arcology will never be capable of. But with this gifted opportunity to experiment is the responsibility to actually use it, which means that the people here, myself included, must remain humble. Arcosanti has a lot to say to the 21st Century, but it can say nothing effectively unless it first listens. It needs to listen long and hard—first to the movers and shakers within its own community, and it needs to welcome them into its arms as conversators on its future. Then it needs to listen to the outside world. This place will not always be under the rule of the "despot" (as Soleri calls himself). And it is at this pivot point that Arcosanti must realize its future beyond Soleri. It is a bright future, if it can look to that future and grab it, like it can look to night of the 90th and reach out, with Flam Chen, to create something never created before.
We all have to do our part. And not all of us will be here forever. We will have to learn quickly how to digest outsiders humbly, and actually bring them into the fold of the Project—rather than handing them a shovel and telling them to give us their sweat, which may be very nostalgic and very "fair", but not always very productive. It is at once a warning and a plea, because I know it was possible—and I know it was possible because I saw it happen that Saturday night. The beauty of conversation is that it is a meeting of the minds—the melding of two of one for a common purpose. In that sense, it is a kind of lovemaking. Again, dare we ever think we can have a conversation with ourself—that is a kind of self sufficiency, and we all know what Soleri thinks of this supposed "self sufficiency". Sacrifice this indulgence, and then you can finally realize the vision you were always meant to be as a living, breathing organism.
