Talking Quilt

Talking Quilt is a project designed by ActiveArt community artists and facilitators for a community / university research team working on a research project about Community Gardening, Creativity and Everyday Culture funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.  This research aims to explore the cross-section of community development and community supported agriculture in the UK through art making and gift exchange.

As part of the national research project Connected Communities, ActiveArt ran a series of arts workshops with Spitalfields City Farm in London, exploring food and community, and how they relate. Over the course of a couple of months, we built an interactive textile artwork.  This Talking Quilt includes conversations, interviews and art-making produced by the very diverse communities and people who use the farm.

The quilt is an exciting record and archive of a snapshot of the farm’s history, and an exciting exploration of the use of physical interactive technology in a community artwork to support and access depth of content, enjoyment and efficacy.