Slow Art Day is held this year on Saturday April 28th at 80+ galleries around the world. I first became aware of the day last year when a friend from Brisbane mentioned it to me and suggested that I may want to host it. Being naive or courageous (you decide!) I then signed up and agreed to host a pilot event at Tate Britain at short notice. Four people signed up for this and two people attended, a slow, small start. However the two people found the event very interesting, and we managed to talk, listen, discuss and change our ideas about the pieces of art we looked at, and with good feedback from the people attending I came away feeling that the event had gone well, and that this is a great way to view art. It reminded me of a mindfulness course I had been on, suddenly your awareness of what you are doing alters when you consciously take your time and become more aware of the action you are doing at that precise moment. Viewing art in this way new thoughts and feelings about the art seem to emerge, and the piece of art itself may become much clearer and more interesting. There is a satisfaction to this that is difficult to describe.

Two weeks later -now known as my ‘slow phase’ – I then participated in a slow walk at Tate Modern facilitated by walking artist Hamish Fulton, in support of Ai Weiwei (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCc8Rs4sOVY)  This was a wonderful experience that again gave me respect for doing things slowly, and an understanding how this also affects the physical body.

For this year’s Slow Art Day I have been had discussions with Tate Community and Education about the event, and they are supporting this. We are still taking it gently so it will still be small and personal. The event is free and to join in please go to http://www.slowartday.com for information and simple registration. I have now gathered together what I call the slow art day “longlist’ of pieces that we may look at, to be reduced to six pieces shortly. To give you an idea on the ‘longlist’ one piece is by Mark Gertler Merry-Go-Round  (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gertler-merry-go-round-t03846) and another by JMW Turner The Shipwreck  (http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-shipwreck-n00476).

No previous experience of discussing art is needed, the idea is that you come with an open mind and be willing to look at pieces of art that you may not normally choose yourself, and be willing to see what emerges from this way of looking at art.