Artists Are Doing It For Themselves

THE GREEKS had a word for it—symposium. Today, that sounds like a rather stuffy, formal affair, but for Plato, Socrates and their mates it was just a dinner party. Except that some of the most influential ideas in Western thought were hammered out by them over the figs and the watered wine.
 

Dr Sheila Lodge, Dean of Faculty Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UHI Millennium Institute, sends the following message:

UHI is keen to fulfil that aspect of its mission statement which refers to playing ‘a pivotal role in [the]…cultural development’ of the Highlands and Islands. One of the ways in which we hope to do this is through increasing the range and diversity of the cultural events in which we are engaged: and as a result, we see the ‘Virtual Dinner Party’ as a particularly appropriate way of encouraging debate and reflection across the region on matters of cultural interest. Given UHI’s use of technology, such as video conferencing and virtual learning environments using the World Wide Web, the use of such technology to enable this discussion to take place seems very apt.

On behalf of UHI, I am delighted that we are taking part in this activity, and hope that it will be useful and enjoyable.' 

With the Highlands and Islands Visual Arts Gathering which took place on the 15th & 16th May 2008 we took the theme of the Visual Arts Gathering as our first debate topic—Artists are doing it for themselves.

Read the full text of the Virtual Dinner Party here

© HI-Arts, 2008

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Links

• Highlands and Islands Visual Arts Gathering
• UHI