I was invited to be one of the contributing artists at the
The Freedom Room, Symposium on Socially Engaged Art
www.fib.no/freedomroom
About the session
The symposium participants are invited to take part in conversations concerning art and social engagement over a meal. The participants themselves will prepare the meal and facilitate the room where the conversations are to be held.
For the next little while we will join together to create space and make food in anticipation of our conversations. The instructions will be presented on this screen.
“Please take your chair and stack it in the provided racks.
Please come to the stage and form two groups, one on the left and one on the right.
The group on the right hand side (the food group) can now proceed to the next room, where further instructions will be given. See you soon!”
“The building group stays in this room.
Now split into pairs.”
“Each pair is to build a conversational space large enough to house 4 people.”
“You are in charge of preparing the food for the seminar participants. The food can neither be cooked nor fried. “
“After getting an overview of the available ingredients please form a circle and field suggestions for a menu. Start making individual courses from these. Please feel free to work individually or in groups. As time progresses and new menu items are suggested, please feel free to experiment and form new groups.”
Your involvement in the SEA genre
What is your primary motivation for working within the SEA field?
What type of questions or issues are you concerned with?
Are there elements from your background that motivate and aid in your exploration of these issues?”
Measuring quality or value in SEA projects
Do you have any SEA related work that has made a particularly strong impression on you? Why did this project make such a strong impression?
Have any of your SEA projects had a negative impact? Have you participated in someone else’s SEA project that has a negative impact?
Have any ethical dilemmas arisen in any SEA projects you have held or participated in?
Share with us your thoughts about projects within this genre that have significant societal importance.
“A methodology to find more relevant or better questions. The participants will in turn propose new questions that dig beyond the questions presented on page 1.”