Description
Delivering a paper based on the following proposal/abstract:Sitting within the area of punk creativity and punk as community, movement, and political force, this paper will examine the history behind the creation of The Chapel of Unrest, near Bristol, by Mark Wilson – founder member of anarcho-punk band The Mob. The Chapel of Unrest is a self-identified ‘congregation of agitation’, with members all over the world, that came into being when Wilson was informed by the Council he needed to pay business rates on a structure he had built on land he owned, as they classed it as an industrial unit. His logic was, at that point, the building had only ever been used to host a wedding, therefore it should be classed as a church and be exempt from business rates. Since that spark, the facility, community, and congregation continue to grow, literally and figuratively built by the DIY community Wilson exists within. Drawing from an in-person interview with Wilson around the establishing and intentions of The Chapel of Unrest, this paper will examine a wider subject area through Wilson’s personal history of squatting and forming housing co-ops in London in the 70s, and how those experiences informed his own lifestyle and relationship to land and housing, ultimately leading to The Chapel of Unrest – he talks about having a life-long passion for both, in-part born of a frustration and confusion as to why it’s so hard and so expensive to create housing, and also the lack of community that traditional housing developments create. This paper aspires to capture the dynamic range of one person’s creative ideas and communal activities, so fundamentally informed by their life in punk.
| Period | 13 Dec 2024 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Stirling, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |
Keywords
- punk
- punk rock
- subculture
- community
- Community Organising
- cooperatives