Monday, February 16, 2009

The gift that keeps on staring back at you.

Just because I’m back from San Francisco doesn’t mean the San Franciscan fun has to come to an end. As part of Jochen Gerz’s work, The Gift, Felix and I received photographs that previously hung in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). You can check out my previous post for more of the story. Our “gift” came with instructions. “The last step is to exhibit your piece of the collection, and document how you display it.”

The Gift was highly interactive with a Web presence that serves up photographs of all the participants on a random basis. You can see it here. I’ve been trying to find my photo on the site but have had no luck. I did find the photos that were given to Felix and me. And they were even next to each other.
The project includes mentions on the SFMOMA blog and a Flickr site where participants can post photos of where they’ve shown their “gift.” Since most of the people participating in the gift were from San Francisco, I thought it would be fun to post some photos from snowy Salt Lake City, Utah. So we took our "gifts" on a tour of Salt Lake City’s best parks.

For now, Felix and I have decided to hang the photographs in my office, where they stare creepily at anyone who walks by. And hopefully they’ll encourage discussions about art and community.
One last note, I love the label that appears on the back of each photograph.

3 comments:

  1. I love the pics from Sugarhouse park. This is such a cool concept and community.

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  2. hello! thank you for taking my picture to places i've never been! did you see we made the SFMOMA blog? i give you all the credit for making the Gift your own and finding a home for my portrait.

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  3. Mary

    Thanks for the post. I hadn't seen the post on the SFMOMA blog so thanks for the heads up. I'm really excited. It's great to have some contact with the person that appears in my portrait.

    Hope all is well in SF.

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