The need for alternative infrastructures of communication nowadays is becoming more and more visible. In a context of so much political tension and violence, the urgency of migrating to safer, more caring autonomous shelters and homes is vital. The alternatives proposed by activist projects are often themselves precarious, hanging by a fraying thread. We need a moment to take a deep breath and pause to imagine what we can build together through porosity. What does it mean to be an “infrastructure provider” within a transfeminist and de/anti-colonial approach and practice? Let’s cast ourselves beyond utilitarianism and political discourse from a perspective of collectivity, self-care, remembrance and cooperativism! As part of this workshop we will be discussing: urgency and need; group dynamics and relations to these infrastructures; threat and risk analysis; the dismantling of the client/user and provider/expert models; interdependent nodes and assistencialistic engagements; symbologies, personas, oracles, and stories.

“We seek interdependence. The only verticality we accept is that of a backbone, a backbone that sustains us, where there is no hierarchies [...].” — From Steel to Skin (2017)