Darkplaces

D A R K P L A C E S_S E M I N A R @ S P A C E_G A L L E R Y_3 0 / 0 5 / 0 7

C O R P O R A T E_P E R S O N A E : a seminar on corporate social responsibility and the role artists and activists, such as Platform and Alasdair Hopwood’s With, play in “identity correction” and interrogating the activities of big business. Can business ever balance public good with corporate wealth, or does the balance sheet always win? How do corporations use concepts of “healthy”, “normal”, “good for us” to market pharmaceuticals and therapies? How do artists critique and challenge the process of big-business PR? Speakers included Dan Gretton from www.platformlondon.org, Felicity Mukherjee from NFHC International Inc, Alasdair Hopwood from www.withyou.co.uk, social anthropologist David Leitner from Cambridge, and artist Lucy Panesar (me). www.artscatalyst.org and www.scansite.org

Images from the event by Richard Cobelli

The panel + Dan Gretton

David Leitner + Lucy Panesar (Played by Sheila Ghelani)

Alasdair Hopwood + Felicity Mukherjee

Panel discussion + Audience

B A C K G R O U N D

The work I have produced in the last year has developed in response to a call for submissions from The Arts Catalyst and SCAN, who planned to commission a number of projects by artists or scientists that culturally and/or politically interrogate a scientific site or body of ideas in the UK. Dotted around the UK, often in improbable settings – underground or in unremarkable rural settings – and unseen by the public, are scientific research institutions that are pushing the frontiers of investigation. Dark Places will result in a series of artists’ or scientists’ projects that take the lid off sites or ideas on the cutting edge of science.

This seminar, launching Darkplaces, provided a platform for me to discuss how the following action research/live art projects have explored issues addressed in my initial proposal.

A C T I O N_R E S E A R C H_P R O J E C T S

1. 'Fill my shelves, transform my life' (June - Aug / 2006)

2. 'The 1/2 Smile Test' (July - Nov / 2006)

3. Felicity Mukherjee (Since Jan 2007)

4. 'Good Vibrations' (May - June 2007)

5. SOMA: An Anarchist Experiment (TBC)

Darkplaces is a project by The Arts Catalyst and SCAN