Open Source’ was a dinner and drinks-based workshop and formed part of a larger collaborative exhibition by Christopher LG Hill, ‘a do ocean.’ The exhibition explored the informal streams of collaboration and mutual aid through which artists support each other, outside of institutional structures.
The workshop explored ways of working around and beyond institutional agendas in collective creative practice, as spaces and resources are increasingly difficult to access. Over a shared meal, participants co-authored a work, each contributing an A4 sheet through which they shared knowledge or skills that have allowed them to practice collectively and creatively in a neoliberalised built environment/industry/academy/institution. Discussion and markups were invited throughout the event, and a copy of the collectively produced document was shared with all participants.
As part of the broader exhibition, Helen Hughes (curator, writer and co-founder and co-editor of contemporary art journal Discipline) collated the Discipline Artists’ Cookbook, foregrounding cooking as one of the most obvious ways that artists care for and support each other. 60+ artists contributed recipes and Second Place cooked selected recipes from the book to serve on the night.