Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hive: Harbin, Honey, Warm Water and Culture

Harbin is a honeycomb beehive.

If archiving Harbin is partly about understanding how communication works in an arc hive of counterculture, how will I engage this in a virtual world?

A virtual world made with Open Sim Virtual World software (which can be developed independently of having a connection to the Internet; Harbin doesn't have wi-fi for guests) / Second Life - is a kind of archive.

Harbin is an arc(h)-hive ~ making honey. Such metaphors and characterization of communication and language open ways to understand Harbin as an unique social constellation~assemblage.


How is Harbin an archive for a kind of 'living wisdom' of the 1960s and 1970s, that is "Living the Future" {a 1996 pamphlet that Harbin residents wrote and published}? The present and potential for intimacy are central to this experience. Some Harbin residents have thought of Harbin as an ark, too. Harbin has been experimental in a wide variety of ways.


I think part of the honey that's produced has to do with the relaxation response in the pools - a kind of oneness - and in the pool area, as well as the nudity that many people find beneficial. As I see it, this and Harbin emerge from the 1960s and 1970s. And when a kind of Harbin 'Omega-brain' {vis-a-vis the harmonizing effects of omega-3 fatty acids, e.g. 1000 mg flax seed oil, 3-4 times a day ~ a term I coined just now} - the Harbin experience {as I understand it} is generated - life is sweet.

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