Think-and-do tank | London | EXPOSED ARTS PROJECTS

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March 23 - April 16

An immersive installation inviting the public to explore the grid as an apparatus from which we measure and align micro and macro, and virtual and material worlds.

Exposed Arts Projects is a think-and-do tank that celebrates the power of arts-based research* to produce an informed multidimensional perspective on the contemporary human condition. It is set to nurture an innovative, mindful and just society that is driven to explore the creative alternatives to the status quo. (If you wonder: "What is arts-based research?" - we do too)

We are committed to nurturing a constructive discourse about human values* at play in the interconnected, technologically-augmented world. We believe that the switch of the moral compass is needed today more than ever: from assessing what we want and feel — towards establishing why exactly we want and feel something, and why certain things, ideas and practices happen to be more important to us than others. We are particularly interested in exploring how the ethical dilemmas of modern life can be “solved” when the different configurations of values are co-activated.

In line with the THINK part of our mission, each year our research project departs from an ethically complex question and brings together a diverse group of researchers to maintain an inclusive, interdisciplinary mode of knowledge production. In this way, in 2018, we interrogated the contemporary condition of authorship and what it means to create new knowledge as a fluid body or a collective of collaborators; in 2019, we explore the state of power relations and practices of self-empowerment in the contemporary world; in 2020, we will investigate how intelligence can be recognised and understood beyond the anthropomorphic bias.

The DO part reflects the specific way we choose to make our research public: through organising various kinds of educational activities that are relevant to people of different age and background. We facilitate two kinds of engagement: volunteering that enables the members of the public to work together with our team of researchers to acquire practical skills and knowledge; and events participation — such as reading groups, workshops, seminars, Q&As and games.

*art-based research: a definition

The systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions in all of the different forms of the arts, as a primary way of understanding and examining experience by both researchers and the people that they involve in their studies. These inquiries are distinguished from research activities where the arts may play a significant role but are essentially used as data for investigations that take place within academic disciplines that utilize more traditional scientific, verbal, and mathematic descriptions and analyses of phenomena.

- Shaun McNiff, 2008

*values : a definition

Generally speaking, values are properties of things and states of affairs that we care about and strive to attain. They are similar to goals, purposes, and ends, but usually they possess a higher degree of gravitas and permanence, and they tend to be more abstract and general. Values may take a variety of forms: i.e. qualities of the environment (such as species diversity), personal traits (such as honesty), and political states (such as justice and democracy). They may be specific to individuals or shared by groups, and they may bind communities, cultures, religions, or nations. There are also different types of values: ethical, political, aesthetic, etc.

our focus

People express their value commitments in a variety of ways. Some reduce values to an economic proposition: how much are people willing to pay to save a species from extinction, promote the health of a population, or ensure territorial security? Although this approach may be useful for practical public policy decisions, at Exposed we adopt a more pluralistic approach. We are keen to understand how — in addition to expressing their commitments through economic decisions — people express them through symbolic gestures, artworks, words, companions, work, and the designs for things they build.

In this regard, the formation of ethical values today is something that interests us most at Exposed. Typical examples of ethical values include kindness, honesty, generosity, fidelity, integrity, respect, safety, autonomy, creativity, peace, pleasure, well-being, friendship, collaboration, health, responsibility, happiness, and contentment. All of these contribute to the moral dimension of our lives—how we treat others and how they treat us. The programmes we organise each year explore how the ethical values are manifested in the emergent material-cultural practices — including (yet not limited to) contemporary art and design practices.

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values

art-based research