There are other ways to know and be in the world. We at Arika explore how aesthetics contribute to those different worlds, or changing this one, through an organisational artistic practice, based in research, relationships and encounters, and engaging with experimental or un-recuperated aesthetics.
We explore alternative perspectives and understandings drawn from the intersections of art, philosophy, ethics and politics, as they contribute to cultural, social or political change, and give our lives meaning. We seek to find ways to prefigure a future world by the ways we move in our current one.
We contribute to practice and discourse; adding to the sum total of collective knowledge, creating meaningful ways for artists and communities to understand the conditions of their cultural, social, political, economic or environmental context.
We have been creating events since 2001.
Research – We study how worlds are perceived (art), conceived (philosophy) and lived (ethics and politics).
Relationships – We foster connections with artists, thinkers and activists who we think make important contributions to local, national and international art forms, discourses, movements and communities.
Encounters – We create experimental, speculative, heightened social aesthetic experiences and interactions; to further, share and involve others in the research and relationships we are entangled in.
Arika is a Japanese word, which a friend of ours 1 thought could give a name to our activities. We have heard many translations of it – ‘a secret hiding place’, ‘the location of all things’. But the one we like the best is – ‘a place where maybe you might find the thing you desire 2
We think of art as a relationship that constantly unfolds in the realm of the common, a process and a continuum. We see our role in this unfolding relationship as celebrating and supporting connections between art and social change. When we say art, we mean the ways we sing and dance together, the ways we listen […]
Archive Since 2011 we’ve been working to bring documentation of our past work into the public domain through our website. On this site you can access an extensive archive of video and audio recordings of experimental music, art work, discussions, films and performances. If you, or an organisation you are a part of would like […]
Arika is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. Our current staff are: Bryony McIntyre – Co-director Barry Esson – Co-director Emma Macleod – Company Manager Cloudberry MacLean – Local Organising Co-ordinator Siobhan Carroll – Programme Producer Ophelia Walpole – Communications Co-ordinator Our current freelance project team who are or who will be working on Episode 12 […]
We recognise that Arika has, over time, accrued certain access to resources and potential to leverage funding that others might not be able to access. In our Episodes, we try to use those resources to centre the ideas, voices and practices of communities seeking to dismantle the oppressions that are disproportionately killing them and damaging […]
Arika believes the most important way to exchange solidarity is in practical, ongoing, tangible ways. We try to do this via both our local organising and public programmes. Local Organising involves long term partnerships with grassroots groups in which we co-operate to create events initiated and chosen by the groups. Our public events are always […]
Arika is a Community Interest Company Registered in Scotland SC299245
Arika is currently supported by:
Fair Work Fair Work at Arika is part of how we organise and relate to each other, grounded in a practice of Rigorous Care. It is not a fixed framework, but something we work through in practice, in relation, and over time. Power and Difference We are attentive to power in the workplace, understanding it […]