The Future Is on the Table- Printable

"The Future is on the Table"

seeks to explore the territory where artists test how far they can engage their art in the daily politics of the world, without losing their poetic edge, the ability to "perceive things differently". We do not seek answers. Art has the power to open doors, keep them open and invite all to enter and experience possibilities. We place our art in this process, the making and the aftermath! With social justice as a backdrop, we embrace ... we embrace ... let us say: we embrace! The list of limitations is yours to write.

With this project, we are attempting to build a language to mirror the conventional lingo of "globalization". We see globalization as the most hopeful way to promote all cultures, as varied and rich as they are. This is not meant as "the globalization of culture", but globalization as a tool for cultures, a fine point which seems very hard to make through today's "global" media. It is the role of participants in "The Future is on the Table" then, to cultivate their own garden and community. Artistic relevance, interactivity, where from, where to ...

"The Future is on the Table" is an open dialogue about social justice at a global level. We chose WATER and SHELTER as a common starting point, because so many millions of people today are being and/or will soon be displaced by war, hunger, the search for water.

Towards this end, we have built 58 three-legged stools. The seats are cut from a singe sheet of marine plywood painted with a map of the world, oriented towards the North Pole so that all continents have equal visual representation. Each seat is a piece of a large 58-piece puzzle..

As a participant, you will receive a bundle of seats but will not get to choose the pieces. The puzzle will be reassembled in 2 or 3 years at project's end. Whether the end result be a show, a video, a virtual open space, a book... we do not know. The decision will more likely be made by all of us, depending on the type of works generated and the support received.

You are to use the seats as a symbol for starting a work group, or a rhizome, to speak in ROOTS terms. The work group will be made up of anybody you wish, and its work will be what you want it to be. You only need to keep us attuned!

A first group has already formed in Besançon, France. The artist envisions working with children, with a video as the final product. A second group is forming in London, England. Two dancers are focusing on a local community garden and will invite a mix of people to devise an event around it, perhaps a performance and/or other ways of recording the moment in its specific place in time. Groups are also developing in Canada and Nigeria.

Our role we will be to coordinate the efforts of all the groups: (1) passing on the information you send to us, whichever form it takes, (2) coordinating the meanings of the "varieties" represented, (3) building an environment of real and/or virtual tables which will communicate our understanding of your work and the dialogues, then (4) the next move is yours...

“ The Future is on the Table #1 and #2” emerged as presentations, which have been presented in Orangeburg SC (SCSU 2001) and Lexington KY (FOCAS 2002).
“The Future is on the Table #3” starts differently, with a gift from us to you: the stools. We will trade works as the project develops. It will be a "fair trade" though, where the arts are not a commodity but accomplishments, invaluable for the depth of their anchors, the breadth of their reach...