At The Table

It is their first major exhibition developed from the initiative they call MACtivate - the work they do with their five Associate Partners which speaks to some of the most pressing and challenging issues in our society.

At The Table aims to challenge who is and isn’t invited to “the table” where decisions that determine our lives are made.

The exhibition showcases the work they have co-designed with ttheir Associate Partners. A community table will cut through the length of the gallery acting as an invitation to actively participate in the programme - whilst also providing a space for social interaction and communal dining.

The core of the exhibition will contain works made through collaborations with their Associate Partners and socially engaged artists. These will include:

• Art created by participants of PPR's social housing campaign #BuildHomesNow, in response to Anne Tallentire’s exhibition (8 Sep-21 Nov 2021) in the MAC addressing social housing provision.
• Images by Emma Campbell from Turner Prize award-winning Array Collective which respond to women’s health and wellbeing in collaboration with Alliance for Choice. Body casts made with breast cancer support group Knitted Knockers.
• Working in collaboration with PPR, asylum seekers and people living in housing distress, multi-media production company Dumbworld will juxtapose the opulent beauty of a 12-acre garden with a brownfield, wasteland, industrial inner-city site.
• Members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the Array Collective and The Rainbow Project will present artwork inspired by their exploration, using all five senses of the experiences and history of the queer community in Belfast.
• A library containing reading material and policy documents across a range of social issues which highlight the issues being addressed through At the Table. This resource will sit alongside a Compassion Library for Children which will be home to a series of animated storytelling workshops co-designed with Young at Art and Still I Rise Diversity Storytelling.

Public events will include, but are not limited to:

• Weekly workshops: Imagining what a kinder economy looks like.
• Screenings: Programmed by LGBTQIA+ community.
• Debates & Campaigning Events: With politicians/policy makers exploring asylum seekers rights
• Monthly communal dinning: Bringing asylum seekers, refugees, and local people together to encourage greater integration.

The ethos of MACtivate reflects current approaches towards integrating collective activity and community empowerment more visible in the art world. Documenta 15 curated by ruangrupa, the Jakarta-based artists’ collective presented an artistic and economic model rooted in principles such as collectively, communal resource sharing, and equal allocation. These concerns have influenced the thinking for their presentation of the evaluation of their MACtivate project.

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