Empire Cafe

The Empire Cafe was an exploration of Scotland's relationship with the North Atlantic slave trade through coffee, sugar, tea, cotton, music, visual art, academic lectures, poetry, debate, workshops, historical walks, film and literature. The project, led by an author and architect, was a temporary event/exhibition forming part of the 2014 Culture Programme as part of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games.

The event, and associated working cafe, was based in the main hall and formerly redundant shop unit at the Grade A listed Briggait in Glasgow's Merchant City for 8 days in August 2014.

The space was animated during 8 days through the introduction of a new 'pop up'cafe, a temporary main stage for a programme of events and a series of bespoke pavilions/spaces for exhibiting work relating to the theme.

The event attracted 4000 visitors over the course of the week. Whilst the project addressed a challenging - and important - theme, this was set in a convivial and welcoming environment.

A new poetry anthology commissioned 18 new works by Scottish and Caribbean poets with poets presenting at the Café from Jamaica and Ghana.

The Empire Cafe served dishes developed through a series of outreach sessions delving into the history of trade between Scotland and the Empire.