Why we're called Rizoma

A rhizome is a stem that grows sideways underground. It has no main root: new roots and shoots come out of each node, and if you cut off a piece, that piece can keep growing on its own. Ginger, couch grass and nettles grow this way.

In 1980, the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari used the rhizome, in the book A Thousand Plateaus, as an image for things organized without a center or hierarchy: any point can connect to any other. The opposite of a tree, where everything depends on the trunk.

That’s where the name comes from. A space without a center, where everyone who comes can grow something.

Until now

Until now, Rizoma has mostly been a place to work: desks, a good connection, coffee and quiet people around you. That works, and we’re keeping it. But decisions about the space weren’t made by the people who come in every day.

We want to change that.

What we want to do

• Rizoma decided by its members, by consensus whenever possible.
• Contributions, €10 a day or €50 a month, pay for rent, internet, electricity, cleaning and coffee. Whatever is left over, we decide on together.
• Any member can make a proposal: something to buy, a change of hours, a new rule. We discuss it, vote, and the outcome is written down.
• Anyone can organize something at the space: a talk, a workshop, an exchange.
• Accounts that are open to all members.
• A members’ area on the website, with booking for the call room, practical information about the space, and a board for notices and proposals.

How a decision works

We look for consensus. The vote is there to see where everyone stands, not to beat anyone. In practice, a decision goes like this:

1. Someone posts a proposal on the board in the members’ area, with a closing date.
2. Until then, anyone can comment, ask questions or suggest changes.
3. Each member votes yes, no or abstain. Votes carry names, like a show of hands at a meeting.
4. When it closes, the result stays on the board for whoever comes later.

What doesn’t change

Rizoma is still a quiet place to work. Nobody has to take part in decisions to have a desk: if you just want to come in, work and leave, that’s fine. If you want a say, there’s a place for it.

What’s still open

• How we decide: what counts as agreement, how many people need to take part, and what happens when there’s no consensus. That’s the first proposal.
• What to do with whatever is left over from contributions.
• The space’s hours.
• How someone new becomes a member.

Why in Monforte

Madrid and Barcelona have had cooperatives, ateneos (community cultural centers) and self-managed spaces for years. Monforte has fewer examples. We’re not trying to invent anything, just to see whether a small workspace can work this way in a town like this one.

It might not work the first time. We’ll adjust as we go.

If you’d like to be part of it

Write to ola@rizoma.gal and we’ll arrange a day for you to try it out. Your first day is free.