Drop in for freshly produced coffee with artist John Freyer in a week-long conversation as he creates space for dialogue about addiction and recovery. Working in collaboration with the Tate Roastery and with participants in recovery, John and VCUarts will be producing 'Recovery Roast' for Tate Exchange which you are invited to drop by and enjoy. You may be in long-term recovery yourself; or a parent or loved one who is grieving the loss of a son, daughter or friend to addiction; you may work with people with addiction – or you may just want to find out more.
Free Ice Water
Wednesday, 27 June, 14.00-15.30
Free Ice Water is about conversation. This workshop creates space for individuals to have one on one, uninterrupted conversations about significant turning points in their lives. At the end of each conversation participants share water from a jar, add a token of the conversation to the jar, and sign and seal the lid.
UK Recovery Choirs Unite - part of UNIQLO Tate Lates
Friday, 29 June, 18.00-22.00
As part of UNIQLO Tate Lates, join us for a special performance by the UK Recovery Choirs Unite, featuring music from three UK based recovery choirs, including Recovery Connections of Middlesbrough, Cascade of Brighton and Calderdale. We will premiere a new choral work composed by Pete Wyer. UK Recovery Choirs Unite is led by Lee-ann Sara.
Recovery Roast Coffee Tasting
Saturday, 30 June, 12.00-13.00
Join Tate Exchange Associate John Freyer for a special coffee tasting event. Participants will taste a variety of single origin coffees from the Tate Roastery. This coffee “cupping” event will introduce participants to the rich history of coffee and the complexities of roasting, tasting and preparation options. All coffees will be freshly roasted by Thomas Haigh, Head of Coffee at Tate.
Surplus Food Workshop with People's Kitchen, Borough Market
Saturday, 30 June, 16.00-18.00
Join Kemi Akinola of the Brixton People’s Kitchen and John Freyer for a surplus food walk of the famed Borough Market. Participants will get to meet and hear from market traders, learn about the Market's history and find out about the latest efforts to share surplus food supplies with community groups across London. Participants will help Kemi and John select surplus ingredients for Sunday’s Free Hot Supper, and will receive a token/invitation to join the private dinner on the following day.
Please note that the walk begins at Tate Exchange at 16.00. Participants must be able to help carry food supplies back from Borough Market.
Free Hot Supper
Sunday, 1 July, 14.00
Free Hot Supper is about community. In partnership with the Brixton People's Kitchen and PemPeople, participants and guests are given a token with the date, time and location of the closing event: a simple community supper. Token holders can attend the dinner themselves or if unable to attend, are encouraged to give the token to someone belonging to a population affected by addiction. Free Hot Supper is a celebration of the opportunity for individuals, groups, and communities to have meaningful conversations about addiction and recovery during the entire week of Fifty/Fifty events.
This event is programmed by John Freyer for Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, a Tate Exchange Associate.
About Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts)
VCUarts is pleased to develop John Freyer’s Fifty/Fifty project for the Tate Exchange program. VCUarts is the top-ranked public art school in the U.S. and offers degree programs across the visual and performing arts and design. VCUarts is housed within a major urban research university that has been recognized for its community-engaged research. Encouraging intellectual inquiry in and through the creative fields, VCUarts fosters rich, interdisciplinary collaborations between artists, designers, health practitioners, and more.
About John Freyer
John Freyer is the first U.S.-based Associate from the the newest Tate Exchange partner, the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Freyer’s work offers a unique opportunity to engage people in recovery with broader publics, emphasizing creative expression as means of assisting in the recovery process and reducing the social stigma and isolation associated with individuals struggling with addiction. It also revives the simple yet meaningful practice of face-to-face dialogue ‒ a growing rarity in an increasingly technologically mediated world.
