Long Table


The Long Table is an "experimental open public forum that is a hybrid performance-installation-roundtable-discussion-dinner-party designed to facilitate dialogue through the gathering together of people with common interests" developed by the artist and academic Lois Weaver. The Long Table is part of Weaver's Public Address Systems project, under the strand "Strategies for Engaging the Public Through the Everyday".
The idea was inspired by the 1995 Dutch film Antonia's Line, directed by Marleen Gorris. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Development

The Long Table development was funded by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2003, and the Regional Lottery Program and the Arts Council of England in 2004. The first Long Table a "Long Table on Feminism", was held as part of the Live Art Development Agency's third Restock Rethink Reflect initiative, and constituted a discussion on what and who is missing from historical accounts, and what to do about it. The event was attended by over 100 artists and thinkers.

Common Elements

The Long Table was designed to stage public conversations around difficult subjects. Long Tables begin with a group of people sitting around a table that is set with empty chairs. To begin the conversation a question is asked, and participants are able to take a seat at the table if they wish to speak. Participants are not allowed to speak unless they are sitting at the table, and they may join or leave the table at any time. If there are no seats available they are permitted to ask for a seat.
The event has been described as 'a performance of a dinner party where conversation is the only course.'

Locations

The Long Table has been installed in many location, including Casa de Lapa, Rio de Janeiro; Tanzquartier Wein, Vienna; National Review of Live Art, Glasgow; University of Indiana, Illinois; Queen Mary University of London, Space Gallery, Battersea Arts Centre, London International Festival of Theatre, and South Bank, London; Hemispheric Institute’s Encuentro in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

2009