Walking, talking, making
Walking, talking, making was a partnership between Alias and Art Quest.
Independent maker, curator and academic Helen Carnac was involved as
collaborator and facilitator.
The overarching purpose of the event was to bring together a group of people
who are actively concerned with the crafts, whether as makers, writers,
academics, or interested observers, or all of the above, and to have a
conversation.
8 people were invited, and each was asked to invite one other. In this way, we
would be starting from our knowledge of the field and drawing on our own
networks, but expanding those networks. Participants were predominantly
makers, but represented interests including design history, teaching, writing, and
curation.
The thinking behind the event came out a growing dissatisfaction with more
formal fora, such as academic conferences and panel discussions. We felt that
even the most successful of these was never quite as sustaining, or agreeable,
as the conversation around the kitchen table. There was also a sense that the
kind of exchange that is facilitated by these gatherings, takes place within a
cloistered community that is comfortable with the conventions of such platforms.
We want to build a different platform for the diverse voices that represent the
crafts, a space where an inclusive and enriched discourse about the fundamental
importance of the crafts can take place.
Walking, talking, making was an experiment. The intended outcomes were
simply to engender a feeling of community amongst those who attended and to
get a sense of a way forward.
A full project report can be downloaded here