Image by The Future is on the TableImage by 20080912table.jpg The project is an effort of many artists, view a slideshow of them and their works.

Water and shelter are the focal points of a 5-years-in-the-making project orginated with local artists Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet, and was then completed from sources including India, England, South Africa, Nigeria, and France.

From gifted stools as inspiration, to a weeks long presentation intertwined with globalization, here's a bit about the project in their own words:
With this project, we are attempting to build a language to mirror the conventional lingo of "globalization". We see globalization as the most hopeful way to promote all cultures, as varied and rich as they are. This is not meant as "the globalization of culture", but globalization as a tool for cultures, a fine point which seems very hard to make through today's "global" media. It is the role of participants in "The Future is on the Table" then, to cultivate their own garden and community. Artistic relevance, interactivity, where from, where to ...

"The Future is on the Table" is an open dialogue about social justice at a global level. We chose WATER and SHELTER as a common starting point, because so many millions of people today are being and/or will soon be displaced by war, hunger, the search for water. ...

The seats [are] a symbol for starting a work group, or a rhizome, to speak in ROOTS terms.

What's going on and when

The project has displays and events running across the area through November. I suggest checking out their event page for all the details. And there are, of course, many artists involved. I'd suggest the Charleston City Paper's round up of them, their works, and where you can find them.