The Ethics of Participatory Research and Arts Practice

On Monday 14 March 2016, Tate Research Centre: Learning ran The Ethics of Research and Participatory Arts Practice in the East Room at Tate Modern. This research event was extremely popular, attended by 70 researchers, artists, curators, educators and participants in the field of arts and learning across the UK.

Delegates included representatives from University of the Arts London, mima, South London Gallery, Whitworth Gallery, Kings College London, Chisenhale Gallery, Royal College of Art, Engage, CCA Glasgow, Goldsmiths University, Turner Contemporary, Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Whitechapel Gallery in addition to artists independent curators, students and Tate staff.

The day included presentations from:

• Barby Asante: Artist, curator, educator and co-founder of Agency for Agency
• Dr. Pratap Rughani: Documentary filmmaker, Reader in Film and member of the Transnational Art & Identity Research Centre (TrAIN) at University of the Arts, London
• Dr. Roz Hall: ‘Critical friend’ for the Tate led Circuit programme
• Steven Hyland: Artist, curator, researcher and member of Tate Collective Liverpool and Circuit
• Sam Thorne: Director of Nottingham Contemporary
• Prof. Steve Benford: Professor of Collaborative Computing in the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham
• Alice Fox: Artistic Director of Rocket Artists, Associate Head and Principal Lecturer in Inclusive Arts Practice at the University of Brighton

Further information can be found in the full event programme.

The presentations were followed by breakout sessions where delegates discussed questions proposed by the speakers. The talks addressed ethical practices and challenges when working with issues of race and difference, neurodiversity, disability and young people in addition to power dynamics and ownership in participatory projects, interactive performance and digital ethics.

As part of the documentation process at this event Prof. Pat Thomson from the University of Nottingham typed notes live, which were projected on a screen during the presentation.