Nowhere

Participation – Josh's thoughts... 

Josh has been participating at Nowhere for six years, and has recently joined the Board. He says: 'The skills I learnt at Nowhere,combined with the new confidence I'd gained, has shaped the person I am and the life I lead today.'

I often find myself torn between wanting to evangelise about Nowhere and feeling cheesy  for doing so.  But as Nowhere has had such a positive impact on my life, I just can't help but want to share it and hey, it's 3.30am and I'm having trouble sleeping, so I figured I'd write something for the blog.

Forgive the bold statement, but - Nowhere has changed my life...

Up until the summer of 2009 I had worked a series of data analyst temp jobs, hated every working minute, and I couldn't manage to stick to a job for longer than nine months at a time. Now I work as a freelancer and the three principle ways I earn my income (carpenter/builder, occasional dj and event promoter/coordinator, including a load of work at festivals, etc) can be directly attributed to the experience I've accumulated at Nowhere and the greater Burner/Nobody community in London (and the change in my confidence and character as a result).  

Before my first Nowhere I'd never really tried to build anything, had failed CDT (woodwork) at school and had no interest in DIY. I had never been that into music either, I mean, I'd go out clubbing and listen to music, but it was never a passion and I'd certainly never have had the confidence to manage and lead other people.

For me, one of greatest things about Nowhere is the opportunity to reinvent yourself, both at and away from the event. The skills I learnt at Nowhere ignited a spark in me to pursue them in my own life and combined with the new confidence I'd gained, not just in what I'd learnt but in my ability to learn and succeed at anything I decided to turn my hand to, has shaped the person I am and the life I lead today.

Nowhere will always be very important to me and I don't imagine I'll ever stop coming. I feel invested in it (as it's invested so much in me) and having watched it grow over these last six years, I am excited about the future of the event.  And because I wanted to be a part of Nowhere's future and play an active role in its development, at the end of  last year I joined the Nowhere Organisational Board, who oversee the organising and running of the event.

A brief history of my Nowheres:

I first went to Nowhere in 2006 and thought I had a fairly good idea of what to expect as I'd been going to Decompression since 2004 and spoken at length to a number of 'Burner' friends about it. I knew I wanted to contribute something so turned up early, helped with setup and built an Octagon Fighting Cage with a friend. I was in the first car to arrive on site and the last to leave (having deliberately missed my flight to stay for strike) and the relationships forged in the work before and after the event have proven to be some of the strongest bonds and friendships of my life.

In 2007 I ran my first camp, we built a Pagoda and ran the Nowhere Ninja Training Academy. It was my first experience co-ordinating other people in a work scenario and my first time being responsible for a group of people's well-being (food, water, etc).

In 2008, the pagoda became a saloon and I ran the No Chance Saloon, a Wild West Whiskey bar.

In 2009, the saloon became a bar (yes, kinda the same thing) and with the addition of a ball pool, the camp became Funhaus.

In 2010, I built a 10m diameter  steel dome as a jungle-themed party venue, and this (along with the ball pool and the Grand Zero art project) became Ubertown.

In 2011, Ubertown (yeah, we decided to stick with a name) consisted of an 8m tall DJ tower, Grand Zero, the dome with a filtered swimming pool and a giant hammock.

It's my aim for Ubertown to continue pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved at Nowhere and to act as an inspiration (and friendly competition) to other camps and projects to come back bigger, better and badder arser.

Ubertown will be back for 2012 and are currently on the look out for new members and project ideas. Email - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it