PLATFORM has been described as many things - an arts group, a forum for political dialogue, an environmental campaign - but, in essence, it is an idea, a vision of using creativity to transform the society we live in; a belief in every individual`s innate power to contribute to this process.



Statement of aims

PLATFORM - promoting creative processes of democratic engagement to advance social and ecological justice through...



Catalysts for Change

- harnessing the power of art, the commitment of campaigning, and the imagination of education to unleash citizens’ creative and democratic potential.



Individuals not Representatives

- creating unique spaces where people from different backgrounds and perspectives come together in an atmosphere of trust to discuss complex issues - ‘communities of interest’.



Practical and Poetic

- using a variety of strategies from research to performances, from walks to renewable energy systems, from publications to discussion-feasts.



Interdisciplinary Creativity

- creating the work by consistently combining the skills and experience of people from many different disciplines - economists to artists, psychologists to environmentalists.



Here & Elsewhere

- evolving long-term projects which embody a deep commitment to London’s ecology and peoples while also exploring the nature of the city’s impacts on the wider world.



Infectious Visions

- feeding innovative ideas into the bloodstream of society like a benevolent virus.





A biography of PLATFORM

Since 1983 PLATFORM has established itself as one of Europe’s leading exponents of social practice art, combining the talents of artists, social scientists, activists and environmentalists to work across disciplines on issues of social and environmental justice. PLATFORM works in London and the Thames Valley, but its methodologies and strategies travel far beyond Britain’s capital. PLATFORM’s projects have been recognised for their innovation and imagination both in Britain and internationally - over recent years it has been invited to make major presentations of its work in Germany, Yugoslavia, Canada, Bulgaria, Ireland and the U.S.A.



In 1992 PLATFORM won the Time Out Award for ‘Still Waters’ which looked at London as a water city and proposed the recovery of its buried rivers. Growing out of the success of ‘Still Waters’ the ‘Delta’ project, involved sculpture, music, performance and the installation of a micro-hydro turbine in London’s river Wandle, and has in turn led to the creation of the urban renewable energy scheme - RENUE. Another strand of PLATFORM’s work began in 1993 with ‘Homeland’, a commission from London International Festival of Theatre, which investigated Londoners’ links to producers through international trade systems. Since 1996 it has been working on its most ambitious and multi-faceted project to date - ‘90% CRUDE’ - a long-term enquiry into the culture and impact of transnational corporations, with particular reference to the oil industry. Since 1999, as part of this overall project, ‘killing us softly’ and ‘Unravelling the Carbon Web’ have been acclaimed for raising critical questions regarding individual responsibility in the context of corporate impacts on human rights and climate change.



The work of PLATFORM has been featured in numerous books and articles, among these the recent essay ‘Imagination is the root of all change’ by Jane Rendell in ‘Bridge, The Architecture of Connection’, Lucy Blakstad, August Birkhauser, [2002]; Phaidon’s publication ‘Land And Environmental Art’, Jeffrey Kastner [1998]; and Routledge’s ‘Art, Space and the City’, Malcolm Miles [1997]. PLATFORM members are on the advisory board for Corporate Watch and on the management committee for Black Environment Network.



In 1997 the Environment Foundation [UK] recognised PLATFORM’s project ‘Carbon Generations’ with a travelling scholarship. PLATFORM subsequently received Britain’s most prestigious environmental prize, the Schumacher Award in 2000, the first artist-led organisation to be honoured in the history of the award. In 2001, having been selected for a Bridge Program award, the group undertook a successful residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco.



PLATFORM is a company limited by guarantee no. 2658515 and a registered charity no 1044485.