When people first come in to the Tate Exchange,
they look lost.
They say, "I don't know where to go,
don't know what to do."
And I came here, had no idea what to expect
We were introduced by a woman at the door.
And we say, "What's going on?"
And she say, "Just come in for
just for five minutes."
And I had a look around
and there was a table with some people
so I joined it.
-All I walk around is just seeing people
on their phones.
Head down.
They're not talking to no one.
You can't even get a smile from anybody.
-This is the commodity that we're losing out on.
Time and space.
Real human exchange is getting sidelined.
-Culture's changed.
People want a space where they can be more active,
more part of something.
I would define Tate Exchange
as an experiment in a major public institution
that tries to get into a conversation
and a dialogue
and a creative collaboration
with the public.
To open up opportunities for
people from different communities
to meet and talk.
-We would talk a lot about this idea
of the "museum of the 21st century",
looking forwards.
How will things change?
How do we need to make things change?
The Tate Exchange Associates in year one
were 53 different organizations from
different sectors beyond the arts sector.
Education, health, public sector, third sector,
youth organizations.
And they really created a national network
that came together to create the program
between January and June in 2017.
Using the space as an open rehearsal space.
So it wasn't like,
"Come and see this polished final performance."
It was, "Come and learn about
the tango."
Or, "Come and see dance students
and how do they choreograph?
How do they take inspiration from the collection
or different pieces of music?"
So I suppose in some ways
it was trying to kind of connect our public to
different forms of artistic practice
and then how do you invite them into that process?
-Art for me has never been about
wanting to tell something, or to say something
in this very explicit way.
I think the thing that I come back to all the time
is this idea of the way that
an art object, whatever it is,
makes a kind of offer,
makes a proposition
into space, into a room, into a house,
into the mind of the reader or the viewer.
They invited me, would I make an intervention
at the very beginning of Tate Exchange
in this first year.
Tried to think, "What does it make sense to do
in that room, on that floor,
with this public?
How can you animate that space?
What's the gesture that make sense there?"
-The Three Tables performance is
an exploration of
of the idea of exchange between strangers.
-Doors opening, level five.
-If you were to arrive at floor five
and step into Tate Exchange
while Three Tables is in operation,
probably the first thing you would do
is see this very beautiful floor,
and these beautiful windows,
and then you would notice that
there are these three clusters of chairs around tables.
And at each of them
a performer or at least a group of people,
you wouldn't even know it was a performer.
And you'd see as well that beside the tables
there was a sign.
If you read the signs you'd see that they said,
Table for the exchange of stories about
work and money.
Table for the exchange of stories about
love, family, and friendship.
Table for the exchange of stories about
ephemeral things."
And you might kind of wander
around the whole room and think,
"I'm going to sit here."
And you'd hear that there was
a conversation already in place
and maybe somebody would explicitly
sort of turn to you and try to pull you into that
-I think what Tim's intention was,
this is an experiment.
Would people do it?
Would they come and sit down at this table?
Would they give of themselves?
We've come up with this theme of exchange.
What does that mean?
What would it actually mean
to participate in something of exchange?
I was listening quite a bit, but I mainly talked about
what was on my mind probably holding her in my arms.
Thinking about the work of looking after children,
and how that seems to be something at the moment
that it's okay to pay someone to look after your children
and that's valued,
but looking after them yourself
is not necessarily valued.
I felt quite calm and relaxed and
really nice to come to the Tate where
often you're just sort of looking at things and
actually to interact much more, so
it was something quite satisfying.
-I had someone who came and sat at the table with us
and he had his hair in a bun.
And one of the other participants asked him,
"Is this because of a religious
what's behind it?
Or is it just because it's hot?"
And that led him to actually talk about his sister
dying of cancer.
And because of that, he decided
he's going to grow his hair
and he grows his hair because
he then wants to donate it.
So I mean, there's someone who came
to the Tate to look at art
and there he now made
a completely different contribution.
-When I was on the way to the lift,
a young man came up to me and said,
"I too late to join you, but
I really really wanted to speak to you."
He had witnessed what was going on
and that led on to him wanting to talk to me.
I took him and showed him all round Tate,
and said, "Look, it's a lovely summer evening.
How would you like to walk round the building,
and I'll take you into our community garden?"
So I'm describing that this
Three Tables event has the opportunity
in it to act as a trigger
where you do not know where
the ripples from this event are going to end.
-I think people were prepared to
open themselves up
and take on a level of risk
which we were completely blown away by.
They were there for half an hour,
an hour.
Some people were there for two hours.
And then some people have now connected
with each other and continued to email.
They've kind of told us this connection goes on.
So for some, it was quite a moment
in their lives where they had this different
form of exchange that they had
no idea that they were going to do that day.
What's special about Tate Exchange is that
it's an unpredictable space.
-You would see opportunities where people can make.
Doing
Talking
Debating
Showing
Filming
Performing
Dancing
Human interaction.
-It's like a new birth to Tate
because I used to say,
Don't lean over there.
Don't touch the glass.
Don't do this.
But now I'm kind of saying,
Hang on a minute,
it's okay.
Come here, come and touch.
Come and feel. We're ready to hear.
-I think what is at stake if you aren't
open as an organization and taking on
the kind of values and ideas that
Tate Exchange has tried to explore,
I think Tim described it quite well of saying,
"A museum can then just be seen
as a repository of objects."
I think this is a way of trying to
connect with different voices, different ideas.
-It's about having faith in this idea even more.
Opening a space
and knowing that people will step into that
if you've designed it in a good way
and that something exciting will happen.
I really enjoyed listening to everyone.
I think it's quite rare you get
opportunities in person to just sit and listen
to different people that you don't know.
You know, you might sit with your friends and talk,
but that's quite a different context,
and it's people you know and you probably
share similar views about things.
I think that you always keep something
from every experience that you have,
especially a positive experience
with foreign people, people that you don't know about.
I think it's just stuck there in your mind
and it opens your mind.
You know, if you were to have this
like permanently
And people would know about this
I think you would have massive
people coming in and
be able to share and to hear and to listen.
I think that it's great!
I found myself in a situation where space,
non-threatening space, had been provided,
and the opportunity for dialogue
on a topic, could have been anything.
You go into the unknown.
It takes the form
of an ordinary wooden table.