Peel Eezy was the collaborative practice of Gemma Crook and Mina Heydari-Waite. The Plaza (2017) was a temporary space developed by Peel Eezy at EMBASSY Gallery. We built a spatial installation and workshop framework that aimed to contribute to an evolving conversation surrounding artist-run activity.
The Plaza focused on three key questions:
- What do we want the Edinburgh artist-run network to look like?
- What uses do/could artist-run initiatives serve the artistic community and the wider public?
- What challenges do we face in getting there?
We invited Edinburgh’s artist-run initiatives and the general public to occupy The Plaza for hour long slots, using the above questions as a starting point to investigate and speculate; generating writing, artwork and other content.
This working environment was documented in real-time using an in-house risograph printer, with Mutual Press acting as technicians, converting all work produced in The Plaza into printed pages live each hour. These printed pages where collated into an edition of 50 loose leaf publications (The Living Archive). As part of this project, we also held an open discussion event with Dr Deborah Jackson, a transcript of which was printed and added to the archive.
The Plaza (2018), photos by Eden Hawkins