Intimate Commissions,
an online project and artist gift exchange
created by John Borstel and Catherine Mueller
Read more about Intimate Commissions on their blog:
interdisciplinaryness
an online project and artist gift exchange
created by John Borstel and Catherine Mueller
Read more about Intimate Commissions on their blog:
interdisciplinaryness
Each artist invited to participate in this project received the following description:
THE PROJECT: Intimate Commissions
“… for it is when art acts as an agent of transformation
that we may correctly speak of it as a gift.”
Lewis Hyde
What if going to an art event were more like a holy mass, a potlatch, a potluck family reunion, a Secret Santa exchange, or an 8-year-old’s birthday party in 1965?
Everybody likes getting presents, right? And they say giving is even better.
IMAGINE THIS: You are asked to give a reckoning of yourself by answering three questions: How did you get your name? What are ten things you consider beautiful? What’s the story behind one item you carry in your pocket? The answers you share form a story of you, a lyrical dossier that travels out into the world to be picked up by another artist* who responds to this intimate commission by making you an ART PRESENT. At the same time you’ve received a commission and made a gift for a stranger based on their three-question profile. (From the curators’ national networks, 16 to 30 artists of varied disciplines will be engaged to participate.)
* Artist: A person who makes things out of love and/or passion.
“… for it is when art acts as an agent of transformation
that we may correctly speak of it as a gift.”
Lewis Hyde
What if going to an art event were more like a holy mass, a potlatch, a potluck family reunion, a Secret Santa exchange, or an 8-year-old’s birthday party in 1965?
Everybody likes getting presents, right? And they say giving is even better.
IMAGINE THIS: You are asked to give a reckoning of yourself by answering three questions: How did you get your name? What are ten things you consider beautiful? What’s the story behind one item you carry in your pocket? The answers you share form a story of you, a lyrical dossier that travels out into the world to be picked up by another artist* who responds to this intimate commission by making you an ART PRESENT. At the same time you’ve received a commission and made a gift for a stranger based on their three-question profile. (From the curators’ national networks, 16 to 30 artists of varied disciplines will be engaged to participate.)
* Artist: A person who makes things out of love and/or passion.
