metamorphosis
Metamorphosis Trust: fearless interactions
urban openness - strong communities

117 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London SE14 6QJ
Tel: 07005 982 787
Fax: 07005 982 737
Eml: ask@metamorphosis.org

Website under construction - in the meantime,
here is some background on this project:

In a time when new faces of fear show up constantly on the basis of global and local actions and decision-making, Metamorphosis arises as an attempt to transform daily life in the urban medium through creative and conflict-free activities such as music, art, language learning, body-awareness disciplines, nutrition, textiles, sustainable living, DIY and ecologically related activities. As a living project, Metamorphosis is embodied by a multicultural collective of artists, musicians, graduates/qualified and skillful persons who can offer a wide range of workshops for the members of the local community, to be held in the premises they find available as active members of the society.

The project is especially observant of the different stages of the metamorphoses it aims to promote, hence the activities should in themselves be thought of as threads leading the attitudes based on fear into openness. Expressions of fear such as aggressiveness, rage, violence, might be channeled into confidence, self knowledge, creative expressiveness and general awareness, through the practice of e.g. martial arts (capoeira, chi gong), dance, or other physically orientated games. Competition and cooperation are understood as interdependent facets of the self in relation to the other, so both should be explored and none excluded from the process leading to inner rest and peaceful interaction within the community.

In the same way, the strategy elaborated for this purpose will contain activities that either blur the barrier between the individual and the group, or enhance it. In a multicultural place like London is, the differences that separates individuals can be turned into an enormously rich display of variety through acquaintance with and acceptance of the unknown. Being multicultural an essential feature of the group, cultural activities could be easily set up covering an extensive field of learning. Languages, traditional music, dances, general customs, food and nutrition principles, could all be integrated in, for example sessions of knowledge exchange.
On the other hand, it is fundamental for a harmonious coexistence to see through the differences and strive for a common understanding. A complementary set of activities would then be arranged to help the participants release their preconceptions and not be insecure when in new situations. Creative and conflict free activities are especially fruitful when trying to ease the relation between the self and the other.
The group’s concern and active research about the specific area of action will ensure the appropriate election of the activities.

Being the family the basic nucleus of society, Metamorphosis will try to address the public calling upon familiar linkage, in its attempt of achieving a deeply rooted transformation.

Metamorphosis is constituted as a Trust, and the members do not individually 'benefit' in a financial or asset sense. However, as a collective, Metamorphosis functions with some principles similar to a cooperative.

A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Co-operatives are based on values of solidarity, equal responsibility, and equal power of all members, which apply to any economic, social, or cultural activities of the group.

To take part in a co-operative is to adopt a certain way of thinking and acting. The co-operative mind works on association, in search for common features from which its particular world-view emerges. Instead of building logical structures on bipolar conjectures –as would be the case with the assertive, or dualistic mind-, the cooperative mind sees through the differences by letting the thought processes be led by association. That way common needs, interests, personal features, etc, are put forth in each individual’s mental activity, thus enabling harmonization with the environment.

Expanding the inner transformation of the group to its immediate environment, Metamorphosis aims to show that openness is an attainable predisposition in human life.