Drawing Utopias is an exhibition that assembles works of 27 International artists, that tried to respond to Thomas More book Utopia. Besides their works, the artists answered the following two questions:

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1. Drawing utopias - how do you connect your work with utopia?
2. Dream economics - what would be an ideal scenario for your art practice/live in terms of economics?

500 years ago, Londoner Thomas More published his famous book Utopia. Utopia described in detail an imaginary island located in the Atlantic Ocean and the socio-economic organization of its society. The title of the book resulted from the Greek: οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place") and means "no-place". Utopia became a celebrated text and has inspired the imagination of people for more than 5 centuries. Its influence was so important that even today, the book and the word, stand as a symbol of innovation, creativity and the human drive of sketching/inventing alternatives to better worlds.

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The exhibition Drawing Utopias is part of Dream economics, a larger artistic research project led by artist Maria Lusitano, that investigates the interconnection between night dreams, the relational self and novel economic models that break with the rational paradigm, which are broadly entitled “New Economics”. The project unfolds through a mix of research, experimental exhibitions and participatory workshops.

Dream Economics tests the hypothesis of tapping into the potential of the oneiric, seen as a portal to the shadows of the individual/collective unconscious. These need to be dealt with, if we want to proceed to a proper house keeping (oikos-nomics) to truly heal the planet and find socio-economic alternatives which serve us better.

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The project happens in a partnership with IKLECTIK Art Lab.

Artists

Alena (Vladlena) Kuznetsova, Alice Geirinhas, Alison Miller, Andreia Alves de Oliveira, Anne Marte Overaa, Antonio Occulto, Daniel Fernandes,

Ditte Ejlerskov, Esperanza Vaquerin, Gizem Enuysal, Hugo Houayek, Ines Rolo Amado, Jill Rock, Joana Patricio, Johanna Bolton, Johan Furåker, Karen Piddington,

Lawrence Crane, Maria Lusitano, Maria Papacharalambous, Maria Teresa Silva, Marta Caldas, Mercedes Marin, Niamh Murray, Rosario Rebello de Andrade, Valerie Oliver,
Wayne Clements.

Performances, Tuesday, 1st November at 6 PM

Johanna Bolton: Reading of I Twang, A system for divining the future
Maria Lusitano: Laboratory of dreams II, Communal drawing

Joana Patricio: Intimacy levels, participatory sharing

Utopia and The William Blake Congregation:

“William Blake lived in Hercules Buildings in Lambeth near to IKLECTIK ART LAB. William Blake was a poet passionately believing in the life of the imagination above all, seeing life as a process whereby man accepted the "contraries' but resolved them through the power of the imagination rather than systems politically imposed by what we call reason.In that he was not a man who celebrated Utopias, a word  invented by Thomas More and meaning no-where.  The question is, did Thomas More (Mora meaning fool) intend Utopia as a serious attempt to describe an ideal society or was it a satire on the very idea of an ideal society ? Do poets describe ideal societies or do they question accepted norms with vision?” Jill Rock

The William Blake Congregation was formed by Simon Miles in the eighties.  It is a gathering of poets and lovers of William Blake who celebrate his works and thoughts by performing his poetry and poetry inspired by him, annually at Tate Britain on his birthday November 28 and at Bunhills Cemetery Shoreditch on his death day August 12 and at other events throughout the year.