Porcupines/Arthinking 1999

Graham Higgin, the author of Porcupines: a philosophical anthology, has used the book as a pretext to bring together the work of eleven artists whose quizzical relationships to the world and art mirrors his own. Peter Harris, Gideon Möbius-Sherman, Stuart Taylor, Amikam Toren, Gera Urkom and Chris Warmington have been invited to make works which respond to philosophical sentences taken from the book, while works by Martin Creed, Gideon Cube-Sherman, Carlo Guaita, Matthew Higgs, Barry Martin, Cornelia Parker and Simon Patterson have been selected to further a critical dialogue between the visual field of art and the textual domain of philosophy. The whole 291 Gallery building will become a place of search and research, a site of paradoxes, brain teasers and philosophical conundra for the audiences enjoyment, puzzlement and perhaps enlightenment.

291 Gallery Soirees with Porcupines 

beginning at 7pm every Tuesday in November

Tuesday 2nd November: Talking about Arthinking. A public discussion between artists, curator and audience.

Tuesday 9th November: Socrates and his Demons. A series of readings and performances which examine the Socratic legacy in the west.

Tuesday 16th November: Arthinking Performances. Performance artists Bedwyr Williams, Laurence Harvey and Mark Wayman, Anthony Howell and Lorna Stewart, Rosemary Lee and Graeme Miller engage with themes drawn from the book and the show.

Tuesday 23rd November: Stroking Porcupines. Philosophical disputations on the sentences from Porcupines. Guests will include: Martin Cohen, author of 101 Philosophical Problems.

Porcupines: a philosophical anthology ( published by Penguin 28th October 1999 )

Porcupines is an ingeniously constructed anthology which celebrates the lasting power of philosophy. Taken from two and a half millennia of brilliant philosophical thinking, from Thales to Derrida, the sentences in this anthology have been selected and arranged to spark the reader's imagination and to inspire creative enquiry. Philosophy is too important to be left to specialists. In Voltaire's words: 'It's up to you to learn to think!'

Porcupines/Arthinking 1999 is sponsored by 291 Gallery with the support of Penguin U.K.