Plato's Table was a one day symposium designed around two shared meals, as part of One Mile. Through exploration of the concepts of ‘hospitality’ and ‘public engagement’ the event aimed to develop further specific aspects of the dialogue around ‘art in the public sphere’ and ‘participatory arts practice’
The panel were specifically selected and engaged with a number of questions including: What is public space? What is the role of culture within notions of the public sphere? What is participatory practice? How do we evaluate such practices? How do public organisations host such practices to enable participants and artists to fully explore the possibilities? What is the role of the public organisation in producing new art works? And how do we understand and use collaborative learning in cross-disciplinary work?
Contributors included Phil Collins, Charles Esche, Simon Sheikh, Gob Squad, Matt Stokes and Angharad Wynne-Jones. Ruth Ewan and Astrid Johnston were commissioned to design a meal and Åbäke designed a publication.
Download the full programme here
Download the publication designed by Åbäke here
One Mile was a three-year programme of nine projects that facilitated groups and individuals who live or work within a one mile radius of Collective, but are disadvantaged or feel excluded from the cultural life of the city centre, to collaborate with contemporary artists. The program will support the development of artworks that address the concerns, interests and needs of the groups including: Muslim women (DOSTI women’s groups and women’s circle at Edinburgh’s Central Mosque); school refusers (Working Together); young offenders (Sacro); young homeless (The Ark Trust and Moving On); and autistic students (Stevenson College).
This is an archived programme entry.
