FREENOTFREE
In our market society, the general understanding is that if something is labeled ‘FREE’, you don’t have to pay for it. How about things that are thought of as FREE, because they have no commercial significance? Can we put a value on the everyday actions of love, kindness, affection, support, fellowship, freely given, freely taken? What is the real cost of these actions that are integral to our physical and spiritual sustenance that give us life, breath, growth and move us into the space and time continuum?
FREENOTFREE questions the nature of “free” labor and its marginalization, and investigates the basic transference of energy which is present in every form of exchange whether, physical, emotional, economic or psychic. Human activity revolves around those who take and those who give and the two groups interchange frequently. FREENOTFREE draws the viewer into a deeper understanding of what is really free and our dependence on each other for support and courage. Nothing exists in isolation. Every single thing, be it a human being or a distant star, exists in relation to everything else, in a vast web of interrelationships.
The FREENOTFREE project involved the participation and voices of ordinary people as they talked about ‘free’ labor. It celebrated acts that are both mundane and extraordinary, that gave comfort and love that expressed some of the deepest expressions of human emotion and defy absorption or control by the boundaries of a market society. It was a community celebration that brought together the spiritual and the material dimensions of life.
FREENOTFREE is based on a dialog between the artist, community members, and each other. Discussions centered on actions of comfort, tradition and care giving exploring the very personal, emotional and physical aspects of labor. Participants will be encouraged, to share anecdotes, photographs, recipes, drawings etc. which become part of an interactive exchange, installation/ exhibition at the RISD Museum.
FREENOTFREE questions the nature of “free” labor and its marginalization, and investigates the basic transference of energy which is present in every form of exchange whether, physical, emotional, economic or psychic. Human activity revolves around those who take and those who give and the two groups interchange frequently. FREENOTFREE draws the viewer into a deeper understanding of what is really free and our dependence on each other for support and courage. Nothing exists in isolation. Every single thing, be it a human being or a distant star, exists in relation to everything else, in a vast web of interrelationships.
The FREENOTFREE project involved the participation and voices of ordinary people as they talked about ‘free’ labor. It celebrated acts that are both mundane and extraordinary, that gave comfort and love that expressed some of the deepest expressions of human emotion and defy absorption or control by the boundaries of a market society. It was a community celebration that brought together the spiritual and the material dimensions of life.
FREENOTFREE is based on a dialog between the artist, community members, and each other. Discussions centered on actions of comfort, tradition and care giving exploring the very personal, emotional and physical aspects of labor. Participants will be encouraged, to share anecdotes, photographs, recipes, drawings etc. which become part of an interactive exchange, installation/ exhibition at the RISD Museum.
