A Seat at the Table
Walker Art Center Magazine, 2014
The metaphor of the table evokes images of folks coming together to break bread, to discuss personal and political issues, and to cultivate an atmosphere of community. For artists Seitu Jones and Theaster Gates, the table is more than a metaphor; it’s also a medium. In the Twin Cities, their tables are provoking dialogue about systemic reform, in local foodways and cultural institutions. Can these conversations actually effect change? Or is the change the conversation itself?
Top left: Seitu Jones, The Community Meal, 2014. Courtesy Public Art Saint Paul. Top Right: The Community Meal, 2014. Photo Andy King. Bottom left: Installation view of Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, with Theaster Gates’s Holding Court, a table made using salvaged wood from a shuttered Chicago school. Photo: Gene Pittman. Bottom right: Ralph Lemon (at left) with Walker staff and community members at Theaster Gates’s Holding Court, September 17, 2014. Photo: Gene Pittman.