Take a look at this bird’s eye view of artist Stephen Truax’s piece “Project Present”, a Secret Santa like game where art is traded. This piece took place last night at the #Rank event, part of the SEVEN fair.
Here is the artist’s statement about the piece:
“Project Present, 2010”, is a contemporary art trading game intended to highlight the purest transaction in the art world: the Artist Trade. While in the context of the highly consumer-and career-driven environment of the Miami art fairs, artists still have the ultimate way of hedging their bets and maintaining sincerity…
How we assign value to works of art, both personally and financially, will become clear by the end of the game. Does this game sound familiar to you? Project Present’s close relationship with Secret Santa games is not unintentional. Lets not forget what the December art fairs are all about: holiday gifts!
RULES:
BEGINNING THE GAME
Every participating person …
1. will arrive with a work of art that they made, gift-wrapped
1.a. only an EVEN amount of people may play – no odd number of participants allowed
1.b. people who do not have a work of art to trade may BUY THEIR WAY INTO THE GAME by paying $100 US upon entry
1.b. i. the $100 entry fee will be treated as a gift for the duration of the game
1.c. will write their name on a piece of paper and put it into a hat
1.d. will roll two ten-sided dice to see who goes first – the person who rolls LOWEST (e.g., double 1s) goes FIRST
FIRST TURN
2. the person who goes first will draw a name from the hat at random, and GIVE their gift-wrapped work of art to the person whose name they drew from the hat
2.a. this unfortunate person should not despair, as luck may give them the opportunity to get something great by the end of the game
SECOND TURN
3. the person who was just given a gift must draw a name from the hat
3.a. BEFORE THE GIFT IS UNWRAPPED,
the person who just received a gift now must give THEIR work of art (that they brought with them), or the UNWRAPPED gift that they were just given, to the person whose name they drew from the hat
3.b. after the second gift is given, the first gift must be unwrapped
THIRD TURN — and subsequent turns
6. the person who was just given a gift must draw a name from the hat
6.a. BEFORE THE GIFT IS UNWRAPPED, the person who just received a gift now must give THEIR work of art, or the UNWRAPPED gift that they were just given, or the person who was just given a gift has the option to STEAL ANY OPENED GIFT
RULES FOR STEALING
Applies only to artworks, NOT to participating people
ONLY GIFTS THAT HAVE BEEN UNWRAPPED ARE ELIGIBLE FOR STEALING
1. The first time a gift is stolen, it is free
2. The second time a gift is stolen, the stealer must pay the person from whom they are stealing $20
3. The third time a gift is stolen, the stealer must pay the person from whom they are stealing $100
4. One gift cannot be stolen more than three (3) times
5. The only opportunity to steal is when you are GIVEN A GIFT, BEFORE YOU HAVE UNWRAPPED YOUR GIFT
6. IF YOU STEAL FROM SOMEONE you must give them the gift you currently have in your hand
7. This process continues until EVERYONE has received a gift
7.a. The rules of the game require EVERYONE to have ONE gift at the end of the game
For complete rules to the game, click here.
OK, now go try this at home!
I love this. Great idea!