The Science Basement/Night of the Arts, 24 August

Friday, 1 September will be the final day of Temporary.

The longer explanation

The courtyard renovations at Kolmas linja 7 have made Temporary a very difficult place to be, and it makes no sense to continue given the monthly expenses in proportion to the amount of use the space will get. The windows will remain covered until at least December, and the noise levels during the day make it impossible to think, let alone concentrate. Open Time, the lifeblood of the project, has dwindled to almost nothing, and gathering in a dark, unventilated room quickly becomes hot and stuffy. Temporary is currently an unpleasant place to spend one's time, and ill-suited to be a social/cultural environment.

Facing the option of continuing to push a failing project (as Temporary depends on the enthusiasm and participation of the public), or stopping now to evaluate the past year and plan for the future, we (the designers of Biathlon and primary rent-payers for the Temporary space) are choosing the future.

It will be exactly one year since opening, during which time 487 people joined via the website, of which 304 of you participated in at least one experiment (including Open Day/Time). There were 138 different meetings of 64 different experiments, from 79 proposals (all except for 10 receiving enough pledges), led by 30 different people. Just over 17,000 Temps are in 'circulation' now (more on that below).

Coming in early 2018: Experiment #2

We will push some of the core concepts of the Temporary platform into something new, which we hope to open when the renovations are complete, or possibly at a new location. But "we" must expand to be a larger group of people who have a stake in the success of the platform, not just two people. Between now and the end of the calendar year, Temporary's core organisers will evaluate the successes and failures of Temporary, and determine a new set of goals and objectives for the next iteration (which we are calling 'Experiment #2' for now, since Temporary was experiment #1) – as well as an operating structure. And this process must be opened to a larger group of people: to anyone who would like to take the step forward with us.

It's impossible at this point to say what this structure will be - a registered or non-registered collective, a for-profit company, a shareholder system, feudal-style anarchosyndicate - but we can say with certainty that we will not do it alone. In these early stages, we invite everyone who is interested in Experiment #2 to communicate via the page for the Temporary Futures experiment (https://temporary.fi/experiments/temporary-futures). We can start discussing the next steps here, by posting comments (and email notifications are now an option so you won't miss any discussion).

Whatever form Experiment #2 takes, it will inherit some of the core principles of Temporary:

• A policy of 24/7 open access to creative workspace, with more formally organised activities supported by those who use the space
• A system similar to Temps that values both participation and economic support. All Temps will be transfered to the next system, and your past efforts will not be forgotten!
• A decentralised approach to culture production, where Temporary's common resources can benefit all who use the space but no one is singlehandedly responsible for curation, administration or promotion.

What did you think of Temporary?

If you sign into Temporary's website now, you will find a survey/questionnaire that will help us to collect your thoughts and feelings about the past year. Whether you organised 15 experiments, just came once to drink coffee, or never visited at all, your answers are all extremely important to us. Your thoughts, needs, and desires will be essential to the design of Experiment #2.

And filling out the survey, in addition to helping plan the future, will be your ticket to ....

Closing time: 1 September starting at 20:00

... the last experiment at Temporary, Closing Time. This will be a farewell party to close the book on Temporary's year of operations and look forward to Experiment #2. Closing Time will feature live music, films, performances and other fun plus food and drink (like any good party). The party will last (in theory) all night, ending at 9:59 AM the next morning, thus making Temporary's existence exactly one year to the minute.

Everyone is welcome, but we will have a strict "members only" policy (no guest tickets!) and only members who have filled out the survey will be allowed entry. You can always join the site now and answer the survey, even if you have never been to Temporary before -- all feedback is valuable.

What happens next

Between September and December, temporary.fi will continue to exist even though the physical venue will be closed. This will serve not just as an archive of past activity, but as the precursor to Experiment #2. Proposals and pledges will continue to operate as before, though nothing will be scheduled. If and when Experiment #2 opens, these proposals could form some of the initial programme.

The Temporary website will at some point transition into this new platform, and all of this will be announced in due time, as it happens. Your user accounts and Temps will be transferred to the new project (and in the meantime, you can still trade Temps between each other, post proposals and comments, and contribute documentation/viewpoints to past experiments). Hold onto your Temporary ID cards, as they will continue to work at Experiment #2.

We would really like to graciously thank the Kone Foundation for providing support to allow Temporary and Biathlon to be developed. And of course everyone who has been here in person to make things happen - too many people to individually name, but it's been a wonderful, strange, fun year.

See you at the party.