CloudCuckooLand

Peisetaerus: First, we give the place a name. A good name, one to roll off the tongue.  Euelpides: What shall we call it then? Something impressive…  Peisetaerus: It ought to be something light, airy, billowing like clouds…  Euelpides: Deceptively spacious…  Peisetaerus: Cloudcuckooland?  Euelpides: That’s it! Cloudcuckooland. Cloudcuckooland, where castles in the air are built. 

(Aristophanes, trans McLeish, K. Birds. Methuen Drama 1993 [820])

Nephelococcygia [ne-fê-lê-kak-'si-jee-yê ] lit. Cloudcuckooland [1] The act of ‘seeing’ familiar objects in the clouds. [2] A dream land cut off from reality. 

Cloudcuckooland is a dreamland, a place where issues of work/play, economy and politics are turned upside down. It is used most frequently in a derogatory sense, suggesting naivety or over-optimism; “you’re living in Cloudcuckooland”. It is living (literally) with your head in the clouds.

But perhaps the idea of Cloudcuckooland should be entertained. What if the world of work/play were turned upside down (play/work)? What if clubs became the focus and lifeblood of not only community but economy? What if we had time to race pigeons? 

Welcome to Nephelococcygia.

When this just feels like spinning plates. I’m living in cloud cuckoo land. Spinning Plates, Radiohead 

Founding Cloudcuckooland