News
GIFT - Press Release
12/11/06
inadvertently) in his/her debt, with the initial act of giving setting in motion a series of exchanges not
dissimilar to that of an exchange of goods or capital, yet the terms are less easily defined. The recipient
is bound by an implicit duty to reciprocate, in the way that we are all aware of the social pressure to send
greetings cards to those who send them to us. This process of exchange will be revealed by the
encounters activated by GIFT.
Visitors will be invited to request an object that they would like to keep as a gift; if accepted, they will
enter into a verbal contract that will make explicit their duty to reciprocate the act of giving, and their
responsibility for the fate of the object/idea. In return for taking home the object, the visitor will be
required to document their use of it, and this documentation will be given, as a GIFT, to the original
contributing artist. The documentation will also be published in a bookwork, as a record of the
collaboration and exchange between artist and visitor, mediated by the event and the object.
GIFT by Daniel Simpkins and Penny Whitehead, will take place Fri 17 Nov 7-10pm & Sat 18 Nov
11am-7pm, at Museum MAN, 25 Parliament Street, Liverpool, Adjacent to A Foundation Greenland
Street Building. Entry is free.