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Global
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Mission and Values

Slought was a non-profit organization on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania that engaged publics in dialogue about cultural and socio-political change in Philadelphia, the world, and the cloud. We were a new form of institution that built relationships and social trust through collaboration and the exchange of ideas.

For twenty years, we worked with artists, communities, and institutions worldwide to develop projects that encouraged inclusiveness, advocacy, and the sharing of knowledge.

Public Voices

Learn what Slought meant to our publics

Alanna Rebbeck, a musician and student, interned at Slought.

Jeannine Cook was a youth facilitator at Mixplace Studio at Slought.

Sue Ann Prince, founder of the APS Museum, supported Slought since its formation.

Our values

Our identity as an organization and our projects were shaped by nine values. They guided our continued formation, and held us accountable to our history and our publics.

Urgency
Our projects were responsive to social issues and concerns
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Dialogue
Our projects enabled and performed polycentric conversations
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Resistance
Our projects questioned power, ethics, and institutionality
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Partnerships
Our projects built informal economies and collaborations
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Exception
Our projects resisted classification and made alternatives possible
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Display
Our projects rethought display to enable new forms of encounter
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Publics
Our projects cultivated publics and new modes of engagement
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Geographies
Our projects negotiated local and global borders
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Process
Our projects were marked by change, exchange, and self-reflection
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Values in Action

Browse highlights from past activities to learn how our values informed our programs and approach to public engagement.

Artists and activists gather to discuss the Baltimore uprising of 2015 and the power of photography and protest to change the cities we live in

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Students interact with Fazal Sheikh's exhibition and publication documenting dispossession and displacement during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948

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Scholars, activists, and students participate in a trust building exercise, part of a workshop and dialogue series about the urgency of love as a political virtue and practice

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Philadelphia's top reentry experts — a group of formerly incarcerated individuals who power the Reentry Think Tank— address a group of aspiring social workers

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Arts writers engage a research initiative and archive about the experiences of 1001 Chinese participants who traveled to Germany with Ai Weiwei

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Artist Ko Siu Lan questions the dichotomies and boundaries between public/private and collective/individual in her 2012 performance, Love Me If You Can

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Slought staff take part in John Cage's permanent installation at Slought, which features a rarely heard performance by the composer and a self-recording studio

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High school students from Mixplace Studio lead a walking tour of the the neighborhood, to preserve local history and encourage community participation

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