Free Pile
If the Lord gives you a Mercedes-Benz, what do you give the Lord?
If the Lord gives you a color TV maybe you can settle the debt by paying it forward.
New Particulars on the Utopian Free Economy Project (August 2011)
Four parts/segments/ideas for Free Economy Project:
1 – “Free Pile” I get, pile, photograph then give away
2 - “Barter For Booty” I exchange a piece of my art, painting or ceramics and get whatever the people want to give me in return - sometimes these goodies are services (a fantastic, freeing haircut) sometimes stuff; sometimes I keep it and sometimes I add it to the "Free Pile".
3 – Manipulate – I get supplies/alternative materials for free, manipulate them into an art object then give it away, maybe, or maybe I will barter it, maybe for real money. Question – does it have more value now that it has been sanctioned an art object or less value because it has been rendered useless (Miss Havisham, the jewelry covered chair)
4 – Pay it Forward – Sometimes I keep what I get for free so then I give something away (A wiggly hose to the ceramics studio, a fridge to my art studio, a painting to my neighbour)
"The Greeks had two meaning for it (Utopia): 'eu-topos', meaning the good place, and 'u-topos' meaning the place that cannot be.” Madmen: Babylon
FREE PILE at KALA INSTITUTE in BERKELEY,CA
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| 2pm |
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| 5:45 pm |
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| day two |
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| one week later |
Thoughts on Utopia: it's expensive! Free costs a lot of money;
If you get something really cool, like the above patio set, even though you had to drive out to San Ramon to get it, does it seem fair to give back to the community, put out into the ether, something not as cool? Cool has value, so leaving clothes that are torn, ratty and ugly on the street for scavengers to pick up doesn't seem to fit the 'free economy' model, so the Free Economy only works if you give value for value;
Love/like/appreciation has value, so if you give some of your artwork, which nobody else is buying, and value is only based on what people will pay for it, what is the value of that artwork? basically nothing unless someone really loves it, then giving something someone loves and is excited about equals whatever you have gotten for free and were excited about;
There is always someone who wants to take it all;
There is always something that nobody wants, those are the sad things, so maybe sad has value.
Isn't it ironic that a gallery hosting a show on alternate economies would ask for a $25 entry fee?
In whatever this economy is now, this economy in which we live, we tend to give away stuff we no longer value, and probably has no re-sale value, like laser disc movies, but just because we don't value something somebody else might although is there a false comfort, a false sense that 'one person's trash is another's treasure'?
Is giving to a donation centre the same as Giving in a Free Economy? I don't think so - since the donation centre then sells the items, encouraging a monetary economy.
Lawnmower Love (San Jose and Oakland)
The Utopian Free Economy Project is about collecting, displaying, photographing then letting everyone take what they want from the display, leaving only the photograph as a document and the conversations as a memory. Items collected fit my personal aesthetic: a mix of mid-century/vintage cool to whatever-era whacky or melancholic.
A large map with tiny images of each treasure on their original location may also be part of the project, maybe, maybe not?
A book compiling the fun/ironic Craiglsist ads will also be present, a small example:
1 gorgeous and 1 alright chicken (berkeley)
These chickens do not lay eggs and are highly skilled in the art of escape. we would also prefer if you didn't eat them or at least don't tell us your going to eat them if you decide you want them (meaning don't come dressed with a chef's hat on or with a knife hand etc etc.)
