Freee is an art collective bringing together the practices of Dave Beech, Andy Hewitt and Mel Jordan. Freee were invited by One Mile to develop a project to address people who had newly immigrated from Poland. After a period of development involving a research trip to Warsaw, Freee created an exhibition How to be Hospitable and three billboard pieces placed within the Mile radius. The billboards were located on Abbey Lane, Easter Road and Salamander Street.

Freee’s billboards intended to create a dialogue with the traffic between the gallery and the street, between art’s institutions and everyday culture, and between art and politics. Through this work, they aimed to use the Polish experience to trigger a much wider debate about the underlying issues of global capitalism that Polish immigration is just one part of. As part of the exhibition, the film How to be Hospitable was created from documentation of a workshop with three members of the Polish community expressing their reactions to the billboards.

Events

Art in the Public Sphere Symposium, 5 April 2008, 2—5pm
An afternoon symposium with Dave Burrows, Mark Hutchinson and Freee which discussed slogans, the counter-public sphere and critiques of participation.

Discussion Forum, 17 April 2008, 6—7pm
Public discussion between Mark Lazarowicz, MP for Edinburgh North, poet Joanna Jarzymowska and One Mile co-ordinator Siobhan Carroll about the themes in How to be Hospitable.

Tasting Evening, 24 April 2008, 6—8pm
Deli Polonia, one of Edinburgh's first Polish delis, visited Collective to host an evening of Polish food tasting.

Download the exhibition information here

One Mile was a three-year programme of nine projects that facilitated groups and individuals who live or work within a one mile radius of Collective, but are disadvantaged or feel excluded from the cultural life of the city centre, to collaborate with contemporary artists. The program supported the development of artworks that address the concerns, interests and needs of the groups including: Muslim women(DOSTI women’s groups and women’s circle at Edinburgh’s Central Mosque); school refusers (Working Together); young offenders (Sacro); young homeless (The Ark Trust and Moving On); and autistic students (Stevenson College).