COLUMBIA, S.C. — University of South Carolina's Philosophy Department teamed up with Cola Love to bring the Philosophy of Five Points event to the community Friday night.
"Our inspiration was actually Socrates. He had this crazy, radical idea that he was going to bring philosophy to the people by going out into the marketplace and asking people philosophical questions on the street," USC Philosophy Department Chair Matt Kisner said. "And so we were like, 'Let's do that', but we have something that Socrates didn't have; we have artists."
The event brought several different businesses throughout Five Points together in a collaborative effort to create activities that helped the community explore various topics as they went around to different spots.
Kisner says the intent was to allow people to get to know Five Points in a unique way.
"We want people to think about Five Points as not just a place to go and drink on a Friday night, but a place that's integrated with the University and surrounding neighborhoods, and it's a place where you can come with your family, and it's a place where you can come to think," Kisner explained.
Using a bingo card to go business by business, groups of people were able to go through the participating businesses, pondering questions like, "What is emotion?", "How do we wear art?" or "Can a machine replicate all we make with our hands?"
Over at All Good Books, the artists stationed there started a discussion about movement.
"I'm very interested in voice and speech work as an actor and as an acting teacher, and I think we can always have our voices more free and I think that we can have our bodies exist in more freedom also. So I think the more freedom we can have in our bodies, then the more stories just effortlessly emerge," said artist Mario Haynes.
As people filled up their bingo cards and moved through the city they were able to be a part of hands-on experiences, and some art projects that will stay in several of the Five Points businesses for weeks to come.