Conclusion

It is clear that ConFest is an immediate melting pot of alternatives, a vast autonomous cultural heterotopia. It accommodates a multiplicity of spaces (village centres) inhabited by a heterogeneity of neo-tribes, which, due to conflicting and often inimical interpretations of the meaning and purpose of the event, hold inconsistent expectations about what is appropriate within its spatio-temporal parameters. At such an event, that which defines and signifies 'alternative' is disputed and is undergoing constant revision. This state of affairs is the effect of two interrelated factors: a) the Society's enduring neutrality, coupled with its nascent open and flat organisational structure, renders it responsive to diversity, and; b) ConFest's organicism makes possible the coexistence of competing interpretations and inconsistent behaviours within the event.

Despite their differences, participants are allied in their common desire to return to ConFest, collaborating to continue to 'make it happen'. ConFesters seek to return to what has become a desirable 'location' (which is likely to be held at different places). This 'location' harbours familiar faces, landmarks and readily identifiable spatial arrangements. Yet, more than this, participants hold ConFest (which is a time as much as it is a space) desirable because it is predictably unpredictable. And it is the organic design, favouring a loose open-ended framework, which guarantees innovation. As such, the entire event is protean, inconstant, both its composition and its margins forever shifting.



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Maps
Chronology
Appendices
Glossary of Acronyms and Abbreviations
References: A-L
References: M-Z
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