Under The Paving Stones is now over and you can find out more about how the event went over on the official UTPS website

The Official UTPS Website
Images from the event can also be found on the UTPS Gallery post

“The valorization of leisure is not, then, a mere pleasantry. We remind you that this means inventing new games”
/Debord & Fillon, Potlach, 1954/

A festival of art in the public realm
Chapeltown, Leeds

‘Under the paving stones, the beach’ is a translation of the Situationist International slogan ‘sous les pavés, la plage’ used during the protests of May ’68 in Paris. The slogan refers to both the practice of lifting paving stones by rioters to use against police in demonstration but also the possibility of imagining the city beyond what is obvious in our current social and urban organisation. Both ideas are relevant in Chapeltown, a place known both for its incredible – but often overlooked – multicultural and archeological importance as well as its – very well documented – social problems and violent past.

Under The Paving Stones, The Beach is a festival of art in the public realm throughout Chapeltown. Featuring artists from across the UK – including artists resident in Chapeltown – the aim is to create social interaction and offer different opportunities to the public to engage with projects about what kind of art represents Chapeltown. Working outside white cube spaces and in partnership with local landlords and businesses the project offers exhibitions, public discussion, games and parties, internet-based and billboard projects on the street, in  other cultural venues, cafes as well as disused buildings reanimated for the occasion.

Judit Bodor, Programme Curator at East Street Arts explains:

“East Street Arts has been operation in Chapeltown through Union 105 creative space for more than two years now. Through our projects we look at what different ways art can feature significantly in everyday lives of people. Chapeltown is a place that has been mythologised in both internally as well as externally over the years.  Our particular aim with this project is to explore the double-edged potential of leisure to release imagination and creativity through play but also to support economies of consumerism, tourism and regeneration. This project offers a lot of fun but also aims to encourage debate and discussion about social relations as explored and produced by art and artists in public spheres. ”