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Free Not Free
In our market society, the general understanding is that if something is labeled 'FREE', you don't have to pay for it. Of course, after reading the fine print, one realizes that some sort of cost is always involved. What about things that are thought of as FREE, because they have no commercial significance? How do we value everyday actions of love, kindness, affection, support, freely given, freely taken?
The FREENOTFREE project questions the nature of "free" labor and investigates the basic transference of energy which is present in every form of exchange whether, physical, emotional, economic or psychic. It celebrates acts that are both mundane and extraordinary, that give comfort and love, that express some of the deepest expressions of human emotion and defy absorption or control by the boundaries of a market society.
The FREENOTFREE project involves the participation and voices of ordinary people as they talk about 'free' labor. It is a community celebration that brings together the spiritual and the material dimensions of life.
To participate email or write to me about
- The things that were done for you or that you did for others, actions of comfort, tradition and care giving and the people responsible for them.
- Everday actions that have sustained and comforted you through your life.
- Comfort foods that have nourished you through troubled times.
- Words, letters, pictures, recipes, anecdotes that have made you feel loved and cherished.
FREENOTFREE is the 8th ArtConText residency. ArtConText, a partnership between the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the Providence Public Library (PPL), is designed to introduce new audiences to contemporary art; to bring art and reading programs to library branches throughout Providence; and to provide RISDE students to apply their talents. Funding for the ArtConText project is provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about ArtConText, visit the website at http://www.risd.edu/artcontext
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