Praktika
2008
Praktika brought together twelve artists for a peer group discussion of their work in an environment of mutual trust, hospitality and critical analysis. The event was hosted by David Harding and Rosie Gibson, in collaboration with Deveron Projects. The aim of the workshop was to raise the profile of socially engaged art practice, while documenting and discussing significant developments in Scotland.
Socially engaged practice has taken many forms in Scotland since the formation of the environmental art course at Glasgow School of Art in the 1980s. However, as after graduation the majority of artists focus on artistic practice, little critical analysis of this work has been undertaken outside of the academic institution.
To address this situation the workshop’s objectives were:
to learn from professional development of art practitioners across Scotland working in the field of socially engaged practice in the community
to have an opportunity for discussion and sharing for artists working in this field
to be able to raise the threshold of good practice through critical interrogation; in particular with a focus on key issues of process, production, output and evaluation.
The workshop consisted of an intensive programme of presentations and discussions that scrutinized the practices and aims of each artist for democratic analysis, reflection and contextualisation. Reflecting the nature of the artists’ interests, the workshop and of course Deveron Projects’ the town is the venue approach, the guests were coupled with local people throughout the town for overnight accommodation.
Participants included: Deborah Beeson, Sylvia Grace Borda, Jacques Coetzer, Will Foster, Alhena Katsof, Shauna McMullan, Eva Merz, Janie Nicoll + Alex Hetherington, Anthony Schrag, Pamela So, Kirsty Stansfield and Iseult Timmermans.
