{/* Stats overlay — desktop/iPad: bottom-right of photo. iPhone: relative top of column (CSS handles). */}
{/* iPhone — stats appear at top of column (visible only on iPhone via CSS) */}
setHover(true)}
onMouseLeave={() => setHover(false)}
>
We're inviting ~25 practitioners from across{' '}
all creative fields
visual and performing arts, writing and film, design and architecture, the sciences and engineering, and the organisational and entrepreneurial work that touches all of them
{' '}
for three days together.
No theme. A light scaffolding for the conversations and work that tend to follow.
Meals that run long, walks in the hills, fires in the courtyard, conversations that drift into the night.
The rooms become a living exhibition and studio of the work participants bring. We spend our days as small, ever-changing groups formed around a common curiosity, cycling through two modes:
Witnessing. A participant practises their craft.
Making together. The others bring outside ideas to that craft; the practitioner translates between the two.
Over the three days, everyone passes through both sides at least once. You bring what you're already in the middle of, and decide how you want to share it.
The castle stands on a spur above the Turano valley, seventy kilometres northeast of Rome. Built in 1530 on the bones of an eleventh-century fortress, it's Europe's only zoomorphic castle, designed as an eagle with outspread wings.
Seventeenth-century frescoes inside; underground passages cut through the rock; a small amphitheatre carved into it.
In 1968, Caresse Crosby bought the castle. American publisher, godmother of the Lost Generation. She set the place up as a meeting point for what she called Citizens of the World. Among those who came were Ezra Pound, Salvador Dalí, Allen Ginsberg, Peggy Guggenheim, and the founders of the Living Theatre. Caresse died two years later, and the project went unfinished.
The rooms are still there. We'll fill them again soon.
);
}
// ---------- P6 — Past gatherings (timeline only) ----------
// Testimonials data is also used inline at narrow widths (below the timeline,
// in the same scrollable column).
const TESTIMONIALS = [
{ quote: "Coming to Ursprung felt like visiting the future; it was an opportunity to learn from bright minds of different ages and unexpected talents, united by their passion for learning and contributing to the world. If you need a dose of optimism, this is the place for you.",
name: "Olga Yakimenko", role: "film director" },
{ quote: "For me, Ursprung was about breaking free from my daily routine to explore ideas from completely different worlds. The best part was doing it all with an incredible group of people — a community I'm genuinely excited to build the future with.",
name: "Niclas Dern", role: "mathematician" },
{ quote: "Ursprung gave me a chance to learn things I'd never encountered before — from poetry techniques to film theory — alongside people who were genuinely curious about different fields. This is the place to go for anyone who craves intellectual adventure and wants to rediscover the joy of learning.",
name: "Sahil Shah", role: "entrepreneur" }
];
const PAST_EVENTS = [
{ when: 'Jan 2025 · Allgäu · 12 people', roman: 'I', title: 'The first gathering',
img: 'photos/event-allgau.webp',
desc: "Snowmobile up to a cabin above the treeline. Lightning talks, origami, long conversations on art and AI. A reading group started here that's still meeting." },
{ when: 'May 2025 · Tyrol · 18 people', roman: 'II', title: 'On Salon Culture',
img: 'photos/event-tyrol1.webp',
desc: "A deliberate experiment in the salon form. Cross-pollination studio pairing orthogonal participants for creation sprints. Experiments with Bohmian dialogue." },
{ when: 'Nov 2025 · Tyrol · 26 people', roman: 'III', title: 'On Tools for Thought',
img: 'photos/event-tyrol2.webp',
desc: "A system to map a live conversation in real time. A tool to disentangle a research paper from the programme behind it. A spaced-repetition thread that's still running a year later." },
{ when: 'Jan 2026 · Vorarlberg · 18 people', roman: 'IV', title: 'On Creative Communities',
img: 'photos/event-vorarlberg.webp',
desc: "What it takes to keep a creative community alive past the weekend. Spaces for silent, collaborative, and chaotic creating." }
];
function PastGatherings({ opacity, blur, translateY }) {
const { scrollRef: pastScrollRef, scopeRef: pastScopeRef } = useInnerWheelScroll();
// On narrow widths, the whole .past element is the scrollable surface
// (heading scrolls along with content). The hook needs scrollRef to point
// to whatever element actually has overflow-y:auto. We attach it to .past
// via a combined ref so both scope and scroll are the same node on narrow,
// while desktop CSS keeps .past as overflow:hidden and an inner scrollable
// wrapper takes over (we still keep .past-timeline as a sibling ref target
// for desktop's case where overflow can also be inner). To keep this simple,
// we point both refs at .past — the hook only intercepts wheel when there's
// actual scrollable overflow on that element, which only happens on narrow.
const setPastNode = (node) => {
pastScopeRef.current = node;
pastScrollRef.current = node;
};
// Reveal-on-scroll for events + inline testimonials (narrow viewports only)
useEffect(() => {
const root = pastScopeRef.current;
if (!root) return;
if (window.innerWidth >= 1200) return; // desktop has its own opacity timing
const targets = root.querySelectorAll('.past-event, .pti-group');
if (!targets.length || typeof IntersectionObserver === 'undefined') {
// Fallback: reveal everything
targets.forEach(el => el.classList.add('is-revealed'));
return;
}
const io = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
entries.forEach(en => {
if (en.isIntersecting) {
en.target.classList.add('is-revealed');
io.unobserve(en.target);
}
});
}, {
root, // observe within the .past scrollable container
rootMargin: '0px 0px -20% 0px', // trigger when ~20% from bottom
threshold: 0.15
});
targets.forEach(el => io.observe(el));
return () => io.disconnect();
}, []);
return (
);
})}
{/* Inline testimonials — visible only on narrow viewports (CSS-controlled).
Lives inside .past-timeline so it scrolls with the inner-wheel handler. */}
{TESTIMONIALS.map((t, i) => (
{t.quote}
{t.name}{t.role}
))}
);
}
// ---------- P6.2 — Testimonials (free-flow, three groups, sequenced) ----------
// Order matches layout: 1=Olga (top-left), 2=Niclas (right), 3=Sahil (centre)
// (TESTIMONIALS const is declared above with PAST_EVENTS, since narrow-width
// layout renders the testimonials inline at the bottom of the past timeline.)
function Testimonials({ opacity, perQuote }) {
return (
Creativity, for us, is acting upon the world with intention and care. It is not limited to the traditional arts, and not defined by medium. An essay, an organisation, an experiment, a composition: what unites them is the stance of making something real that wasn't there before, and being thoughtful about how that act ripples outward.
We're drawn to people we sometimes call thoughtful doers: deep specialists who read widely, deep thinkers who also build. Most feel a little alone in this. Their professional structures are organised against breadth; their social circles understand one dimension of who they are.
There aren't many places that take this combination seriously. We're trying to make one.
);
}
// ---------- P8 — Hosts ----------
const HOSTS_TOP = [
{ name: 'Adrian Cipriani', bio: 'Many years in painting, film, and music. Founded a young composers community, then Ursprung. Now studying engineering science, specialising in biotech. Sailing, the wild, jazz.' },
{ name: 'Betsy Herbert', bio: 'Thinks about minds — small organisms, swarms of crowds, everything between. PhD in computational neuroscience, modelling how the brain gets built. Also drawing, photography, graphic design, the violin.' },
];
const HOSTS_BOTTOM = [
{ name: 'Bianca Pozzi', bio: '[ bio — to source from Bianca ]', todo: true },
{ name: 'Max Lutz', bio: 'Doctoral research in quantum algorithms; previously computer science and physics. Interested in tools for thought and better scientific institutions. Too many Wikipedia tabs open.' },
{ name: 'Hugo Berg', bio: 'Computer science and math; runs a cybersecurity startup. Double bass and choir singing. Runs international olympiads in astronomy and astrophysics.' },
];
function Hosts({ opacity, blur }) {
// openIdx is the open accordion item on iPhone (where bios are collapsed by default).
// On desktop and iPad bios are always visible; the toggle is harmless there.
const [openIdx, setOpenIdx] = useState(null);
const [isPhone, setIsPhone] = useState(typeof window !== 'undefined' ? window.innerWidth < 520 : false);
useEffect(() => {
const onResize = () => setIsPhone(window.innerWidth < 520);
window.addEventListener('resize', onResize);
return () => window.removeEventListener('resize', onResize);
}, []);
const toggle = (key) => {
if (!isPhone) return;
setOpenIdx((cur) => cur === key ? null : key);
};
// Use onPointerDown so the toggle fires before the design-mode text overlay (__om-t)
// can swallow the click event during development. We also tag a pointer id so we
// don't double-fire on the synthesized onClick that follows.
const lastPointerRef = useRef(0);
const handlePointer = (key) => (e) => {
e.stopPropagation();
lastPointerRef.current = Date.now();
toggle(key);
};
const handleClick = (key) => (e) => {
e.stopPropagation();
// If pointerdown just fired (<400ms ago), the toggle already ran; skip.
if (Date.now() - lastPointerRef.current < 400) return;
toggle(key);
};
const renderHost = (h, key) => (
{/* iPhone-only blur veil (full blur on left, fading to clear on right) */}
