Eds. Chrissie Tiller, Patrick Fox, Heather Peak Morison & Emma Fry
Published by Heart of Glass & Live Art Development Agency, 2019.
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Praxis Volume Two is an invitation to encounter work and thinking that is in motion. We have a number of overarching areas of development and research that this document, generated over the last 18 months, connects with. They include:
The Town as Art Centre stemming from our belief that everyone has the right to be part of the making of meaning, and that art opens up a space for thinking, sharing and challenge that is unique and necessary in contemporary society. The Town as Art Centre is a developing vision for us as an organisation, as we grapple with our role as a partner, working in solidarity with colleagues and communities struggling with austerity and political oppression or encountering democratic deficits. We wish to be part of the solution and Town as Art Centre gives us a mechanism to place art, and the making of art into issues of place, care, identity and prosperity.
Fierce & Urgent Conversations is a new format we are exploring with a range of national and international partners, to establish St Helens as a central hub for critical thinking in this field of practice. We’ve called it a Triennial and we hope for something to happen in 2021. We will build it together over the coming years and one thing we are sure about is that this will not be a triennial as we understand it currently in contemporary art. We are actively trying to disturb and disrupt the ways in which we gather and convene around forms of artistic practice and we want to create a space for fierce and urgent conversations with comrades and colleagues around the corner, and around the world.
The Archive of Social Practice is our ambition to create a way to meaningfully encounter collaborative or social artwork beyond the act of creating it. To be able to connect with something that exists in the ephemeral. How do we give weight and presence to the social ties and bonds that are created in the making of art work in this way?
This publication houses our desire to extend the conversation beyond ourselves, to share completed work and work in progress, to consider different perspectives and try to create a moment of solidarity with care and compassion. It is a window into a moment of time.
With contributions by: Patrick Fox, Chrissie Tiller, Jack Welsh, Heather Peak Morison, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Michelle Browne, Karen Smith, & Alastair Roy