LATEWI is an experiment in social engagement. An exploration of the unmapped relationship between the council estate, the community and the arts. In partnership between Camberwell College of Arts and Peckham Platform, the project aims to provide a forum to discuss, dissect and disseminate the collision of the utopian ideal of socially engaged art with the equally utopian notion of the council estate and how these visionary ideas translate into reality: can art be used to solve social problems? How do estates, class and culture interrelate? Can art foster community?

 

Through a public event in Peckham, a short documentary film and a publication, LATEWI will present a current and honest discourse on the (e)state we’re in through the involvement of practitioners, artists and researchers within related fields, but also with the inclusion of the local community through workshops, panel discussions and interviews. The event will take place in May 2015 at various community venues throughout Peckham, including Peckham Pulse Healthy Living Centre, Peckham Liberal Club, and Kentish Drover pub; points of convergence between the diverse class and culture within the area and adjacent to PeckhamPlatform, our partnering organisation dedicated to accessible social arts practice.

 

In addition to critiquing social practice through discussion, a trail of shows by established and emerging artists will be set up in popular landmarks around Peckham, providing an alternative discourse through art and further pushing the boundaries of social engagement through the re-contextualisation of art onto the high street, where it can be encountered as part of the every day, outside of the conventional gallery environment.

 

Follow this groundbreaking, live social experiment on Twitter @latewi and on Facebook, and have your say in the Great Estate Debate.

 

Text by Geraldine Cooper, BA Sculpture student, Camberwell College