The Giving and Receiving Project
2017
2017
Wondering what motivated my art-making practice, I came up with this idea of exchanging things with people and then using the things that I collect to do another piece. I did this exchange to 52 people. I would give a prepared speech, in the middle of which I would give out a booklet, saying that I want to exchange this with something of theirs. That thing can be a physical object, or it can be intangible. But it has to be something that they think is worth giving to me, for me to keep for good and to remember them with. In the end, I would say, “Haha, what I just said was totally scripted.” And the script (attached below) includes both my imagination and what previous people actually said to me. This fusion of reality and fiction, as well as the judgement of value, is what I wanted to explore in this project.
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I started making a chart about the people to whom I gave the booklets. The chart records the answers to the following questions:
-When did we have the conversation? -When did the person give me the “thing”? -How soon did the person give me the “thing”? -How long have we known each other? -What did the person give? -What’s the story about the “thing”? -What did we talk about in our conversation? -What is the story between us? |
Translating the memory of conversations into the form of writing is one way of fantasizing my relationships with people. By writing things down, I tend to only remember the good things. After I wrote the last row of the chart, I came to a stopping point because I think I already knew what I learned from this project. What they gave or whether they gave at all doesn’t matter as much. It is the “thought” of that person that keeps me going. Among those people to whom I gave the booklet, there are those who I secretly admire and think I can never do something that they do. There are people who I want to be in the future. There are people who I feel grateful to but feel awkward to say thanks to, etc.
Without knowing why, I am living in the zone of wanting to reveal yet feeling resistant. By putting human relationships on a chart in grayscale, I'm battling with my desire to communicate; and yet, at the same time, I'm afraid to face the failure of achieving it.
Without knowing why, I am living in the zone of wanting to reveal yet feeling resistant. By putting human relationships on a chart in grayscale, I'm battling with my desire to communicate; and yet, at the same time, I'm afraid to face the failure of achieving it.
Appendix 1: Script on the back of the booklet
What to say when I meet people and feel awkward:
Hi! (Greetings, blah blah blah...) I have an idea for a performance/installation piece, and I would like to ask for your advice.
The person stares and says, “OK.”
Okay. The action of me talking to you for the next 3 minutes and 46 seconds is also part of the project. So stay grounded and be prepared!
“My wife is coming soon. What’s it about?”
(I shamelessly stay, till...)
“Oh sure! I’m glad to hear about that!”
There are two components in this piece, the performance and the installation. They take place in the same room. The performance part might include me playing with my own sculptures, reading books about Richard Wagner, singing about things that I have never done before, and reading poems that I made up about singing, etc. All of them should be the things that I would do alone and for myself.
The person looks really confused/serious/zoned out at this point...
In the performance, I will also interact with the things surrounding me in that room, which are collected from other people. So, what I am trying to do right now is to “exchange” things with people that I know or not know, and then install those things from around the world into this one room. And at my final critique this semester, I am going to present how I “live” with these things that I have collected.
The person looks a little bit scared, thinking, “oh no, she’s coming for my thing…”
And I chose to talk to you because first, I feel like talking to you (look at the person with a sincere smile); second, I believe you must have something interesting to offer. And here is the “thing” that I prepared.
(Happily give out the thing and tell the person to open it RIGHT NOW.)
I am giving this to you no matter you’re gonna participate or not, just to thank you for bearing with my talking so far. They are a set of mini postcards, which are totally useless, as well as a collection of my art works, which are equally useless (haha). Anyhow, since they basically sum up the essence of my brain, I want you to think of it as my way of self-introduction.
(Watch the person look at the booklet and see if they really focus on reading the text.)
If you do want to participate, I have some hints for you. The thing that you give me can be as physical as a piece of paper. It could also be not physical, like an email, an idea, a title of a book that you want me to read, or you hum a melody and I record it on my phone.
The person shows a weird smile on the face, thinking, “Hmm...interesting...”
There is only one rule, which is, it has to be something that you think is worth giving to me, not just for this piece, but also something for me to keep for good and to remember you with. And probably only you know the value of the thing that you give out.
The person looks either really awkward, or ginormously awkward...
So this booklet and my speech have both evolved several editions as I talk to people. At first, I was seeking for this absurdity from putting random things in one place. And then someone told me it’s apparently showing my attitude toward cultural diversity. Most recently, I think it is more about the fact that what is eventually presented is not the objects, but different ways of connections between human beings, and technically, the connection between everything in the universe. But all of these are subject to change. I don’t know how this is gonna turn out yet till I receive the things. So, what you have to give is really driving my work.
This is towards the end. Actually, everything that I just said to you was carefully scripted, rehearsed and revised for a lot of times. How about that? The end.
“I don’t know what to say, Wendy.”
“I need another five hundred years to process this.”
“Here’s the thing.”
The person gives me some serious feedback on the piece.
The person goes on to say something else.
Hi! (Greetings, blah blah blah...) I have an idea for a performance/installation piece, and I would like to ask for your advice.
The person stares and says, “OK.”
Okay. The action of me talking to you for the next 3 minutes and 46 seconds is also part of the project. So stay grounded and be prepared!
“My wife is coming soon. What’s it about?”
(I shamelessly stay, till...)
“Oh sure! I’m glad to hear about that!”
There are two components in this piece, the performance and the installation. They take place in the same room. The performance part might include me playing with my own sculptures, reading books about Richard Wagner, singing about things that I have never done before, and reading poems that I made up about singing, etc. All of them should be the things that I would do alone and for myself.
The person looks really confused/serious/zoned out at this point...
In the performance, I will also interact with the things surrounding me in that room, which are collected from other people. So, what I am trying to do right now is to “exchange” things with people that I know or not know, and then install those things from around the world into this one room. And at my final critique this semester, I am going to present how I “live” with these things that I have collected.
The person looks a little bit scared, thinking, “oh no, she’s coming for my thing…”
And I chose to talk to you because first, I feel like talking to you (look at the person with a sincere smile); second, I believe you must have something interesting to offer. And here is the “thing” that I prepared.
(Happily give out the thing and tell the person to open it RIGHT NOW.)
I am giving this to you no matter you’re gonna participate or not, just to thank you for bearing with my talking so far. They are a set of mini postcards, which are totally useless, as well as a collection of my art works, which are equally useless (haha). Anyhow, since they basically sum up the essence of my brain, I want you to think of it as my way of self-introduction.
(Watch the person look at the booklet and see if they really focus on reading the text.)
If you do want to participate, I have some hints for you. The thing that you give me can be as physical as a piece of paper. It could also be not physical, like an email, an idea, a title of a book that you want me to read, or you hum a melody and I record it on my phone.
The person shows a weird smile on the face, thinking, “Hmm...interesting...”
There is only one rule, which is, it has to be something that you think is worth giving to me, not just for this piece, but also something for me to keep for good and to remember you with. And probably only you know the value of the thing that you give out.
The person looks either really awkward, or ginormously awkward...
So this booklet and my speech have both evolved several editions as I talk to people. At first, I was seeking for this absurdity from putting random things in one place. And then someone told me it’s apparently showing my attitude toward cultural diversity. Most recently, I think it is more about the fact that what is eventually presented is not the objects, but different ways of connections between human beings, and technically, the connection between everything in the universe. But all of these are subject to change. I don’t know how this is gonna turn out yet till I receive the things. So, what you have to give is really driving my work.
This is towards the end. Actually, everything that I just said to you was carefully scripted, rehearsed and revised for a lot of times. How about that? The end.
“I don’t know what to say, Wendy.”
“I need another five hundred years to process this.”
“Here’s the thing.”
The person gives me some serious feedback on the piece.
The person goes on to say something else.
Appendix 2: Record of conversations and feelings that had to be written down
Notes on the Giving and Receiving Project | |
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