My encounter with the digital environment of SERRA was a step into a virtual-utopia where the ability of collective expression, developed via digital design, is at the stake of all its members.

Alessandra Vuillermin, CGI Designer and AR Creator, Marco Cazzaro, Creative Consultant and Visual Designer, Giacomo Piovesan, Creative Director and Bogdan Skutkiewicz, Multidisciplinary Designer, the core initiators of SERRA- met me during a two session video call, in order to introduce me to the project and seed me with their enthusiasm.

Discord, a multi-channel platform, together with Twitch, a live streaming platform, usually employed by gamers- are SERRA “natural environment”, a virtual space where bodies meet, grow connections, nourish ideas and harvest collaborations. Indeed SERRA conveys a growing community of 1300 creative people of different ages and levels of expertises from all over Italy, “who miss a peer-to-peer exchange.”

Founded on the infinite possibilities of the web on the 12th of May 2020, as response to the lack of stimulus and network caused by the closures of the lockdown, SERRA is a system that embodies many values which should be carried on in the society of the future. From our dialogue, indeed, I could experience a virtual space where a counterculture of young creatives could negotiate their own meaning of education, labour and friendly relationships; in other words they organized better in the void of socialization.

“We want to break down the economic barriers and widen the accessibility to education, as we believe that knowledge should be available to all. We see learning as an exchange between peers, a two-way communication in which everyone can share their knowledge. For our profession, it is essential to compare yourself with other people who are on the same path as yours.”

At the kick off of our conversation, they immediately pointed to the antiquatedness and elitariousness of the educational system, a problem ingrained in Italian “creative” landscape. The schools indeed fail to envision the professional outputs of the digital industry, still seen as something accessory to the commodity market and not its symbiotic prosthesis. The general feeling of the young creative class, indeed, is of studying a subject which won’t be taken seriously in the working system.

“Digital is often seen as disconnected from reality itself, or worse, is associated with the world of social. Instead, we would like to make people understand that outside of pre-established algorithms, the internet still allows for the creation of organic, real and constructive connections. Digital therefore helps and integrates into everyday reality, for example in working and social life”, they clearly stated.

In order to find a solution and reshape the role of the internet in the educational system, SERRA promotes a self-organized model which flourishes and takes advantage of it. Indeed they underline that all the tools and resources needed in order to start a career in the digital creative sector are there and are mostly for free. “The main problem is the language barrier, they acknowledge, “most of the programs and softwares are in English, but if people would change the way they use the web also the linguistic gap would be overcome.”

“We're creative, but we're primarily designers.One thing that is never lacking is worldbuilding and organization.” They underlined, revealing to me the structure of a community gathered by intents and a knowledge in depth of the tools. “The only way to make SERRA work is to carefully structurate its environment, no matter how free and open-source it may be.”

Indeed, SERRA organizes, fully for free, in a rich and accurate schedule, workshops and events, where everyone can be a teacher or a student. “Each member is free to pursue initiatives, whether they be workshops, live performances or other formats, of course there is a need to organize everything so as not to overlap events and make sure people get in.” In this SERRA community is the example of the success of horizontality in making, where the underlying principle is care for the others and for the common progress of the project.

When I asked them if they adopt any protocol of behaviour in order to regulate the interactions between members they confirmed that SERRA is a constructive ecosystem and respect is the basis of everything. “Within Discord we have simple rules: No fighting, no insults, no trolling. Text and voice channels are to be used keeping the topic for which they were created. It's forbidden to share illegal material. We have contact persons for every aspect of the project and currently we are 17 moderators. This facilitates the evolution of the server and its continuous ethicall progress”.

Something that has surprised me, a part from the polite and respectful exchanges between SERRA participants, is the amount of time that SERRA members invest in its development. Although It is a self-funded project, they are not interested in capitalization nor in developing their own currency. The reward is the materialization of an incubator of ideas that IRL would have a maintenance cost difficult to sustain especially in times of crisis. “In the future we would like to create virtual realities where learning and networking will be even more interactive, but the basic community will remain open-source.” they speculate.

Since the beginning of our chat the generosity of their intent and the quality of their digital contents was clearly the consequence of a process of mutual learning and a respect that shed light on high professional value. “While we are a virtual community, the fact that we operate in the same industry and live in the same country has a huge influence on IRL relationships.” Indeed, SERRA’s initiators' dream for the future is to open a design studio together that could also serve as a co-working space, where each member can find their way of expression and creative development.

What I have learned from SERRA is that from the social carcass the creativity and will of few people can organize sustainable alternatives. Once again the internet can harness the space for creativity and a planning of what still needs to be imagined. Ultimately no matter if in the materiality of the virtual, the only real it is what resists in the togetherness*.

* To our friends - The invisible committee, semiotex.