The final tally

I am presenting the results of Satlwinning's social economy (and an earlier piece, the Dawson City Trash Project) at Berkley this weekend at the Cultural Studies Association conference. The panel is about "Visualizing Economies." So I have gone through the surveys and made up a tally according to some of the main themes:

Total surveys: 79
Total pieces taken: around 82 (some people took more than one and some people did not fill out a survey)

The vast majority of people left art or other handmade objects on the basis that they were like items. Equal "time and effort" appeared on a lot of these surveys. There is a break down in that group, though:
People who made something by hand themselves: 17
(this included art, but also pickles, mittens, jewelry, and this lovely "mon chat" drawing:)
People who traded something handmade from another person: 5
People who made something by hand with similar materials such as found objects or trash, so there was an aesthetic equality between handmade-ness, time and effort, AND materials: 17
(this included things made from found materials and glass, and things made specifically for me)
Things that were cultural production, but not "handmade":8
This included books and CDs, but also facsimiles of art (such as magnets and stickers of paintings)

A lot of people left things of personal or sentimental value: 15
One person wrote "it was difficult to leave my object behind" and used that as an indicator of value.
These objects included mementos, love letters, or objects that belonged to loved ones.

Some people left things that they thought would be useful to me or desirable to me: 12
This means they were thinking of the exchange as an exchange with me and not an exchange in the abstract.
- some of these objects were made specifically for me based on what the person knew about me and my life
- it also included objects that I choose-- several artists invited me into their studios and let me pick something
- finally, it included practical objects such as day timers or money when the survey specifically said its usefulness to me was part of its value


Some people dealt with value in a very explicit way:
- people who left money: 6
- one person was unsure of how to deal with value and left a lottery ticket, since s/he didn't really know the value of it "but it could be worth millions!"
- one person left a student saver card and $1.01, which would theoretically allow the artist to save money in the future
- there were four amounts of money left: 1 of $300, 1 of $100, 4 of $50, and 1 of $40. The $40 was left at the very end with the note "It's what I could afford." In academic terms, it would seem that a "moral economy" formed when a group of people decided that the lowest monetary value of a piece was $50. In other words, people formed a "rule." I can say this with some confidence because one person left a gift certificate, where no one could determine its monetary value, for $50, and the one person that left $40 tried to match $50, and explained why s/he couldn't.


Some people got "bargains": 6
In these cases, the person either explicitly or otherwise acknowledged that the trade was not of "equal or greater value," but less
- in some cases, people used objects as the basis of equivalence instead of value: ie, "I took an object and I left an object, and because all objects turn to dust they are equal", or trading "an animal for an animal" (in this case, one of the best pieces in the show, a glass deer, for a mass produced sticker of a cat), or, of course, garbage for "garbage"
- it also included what I am scientifically calling "jerks"- people who acknowledged on the survey that the trade was not equal, but made the trade anyhow.

There were a few people who measured equivalence according to feelings: 6
- In some cases, this meant that the feeling they had for the thing they left felt just like what they felt for the Saltwinning piece
- In other cases, the piece left behind was meant to give me a similar feeling to what the person felt for the art-- these people left gift certificates for organic food, or chocolate, or warm mittens.

People who noted that they were giving the piece as a gift: 6

People who left garbage IN ADDITION to their trade so that I could use it in future pieces: 3


Another interesting trend is how people "traded down" or "added up" their trades.
- In once case, someone talked about how they chose a saltwinning piece, but then decided that their trade wasn't worth as much, so swapped it out for something smaller.
- In at least five other cases, people left something behind but then came back to add to it or to swap it for an even better object
(this person kept adding pieces throughout the show)
- Two people gave me something for the experience alone-- they didn't take an object, but they left an object (and filled out a survey).

What I find inspirational about this type of work is that there is a sort of bell curve of responses. A few folks are "jerks", a lot of people take the piece seriously and engage in it in ways that make sense according to the "rules," and then another group of people, which always seem to outnumber the "jerks," get really creative and expand upon the rules in ways I could not have anticipated. The creativity and generosity of these people really prove that Adam Smith had "human nature" all wrong-- people aren't inherently self-serving or competitive; people are generally cooperative and lucid, and many are even original and lavish in their creativity.
So thank you, Nelson. I had a great time and you made this a great project.

Before and After

Here are pictures of the installation before trading began, and after it was over.

Before the opening:





After the trading was done and the exhibition was closed:

Growing Art

I got an email this morning from Deborah Loxam-Kohl, the independent curator that wrote the essay for the catalog:
"I was by the gallery today and found a piece that is growing salt on the outside of the jar - it looks amazing! The piece is primarily faux fur and pins. There are drops of water on the inside of the glass... it may keep going for a while."




I wonder how many pieces that have been taken away are evolving? Let me know if they are, and please send pictures! maxliboiron {at} gmail.com

Some Exchanges...

Each of these exchanges include an image of what was taken, an image of what was left behind, and what the exchanger wrote on their survey:

Please describe the object you took:
small, white, with fluffy, springy feather looking thing inside

Please describe the object you left behind:
OLD key. Worn it around my neck for a year or so. I had little luck finding the knock it opens, maybe you will find it.

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
Objects are objects. In a million years, most of them will be gone or broken. I really liked having the hey necklace, but I must remember to let material things be material things ie: go away, get lost, be stolen, traded, given with love...

What will you do with the object you have taken?
Put it in sunlight & watch rainbows bounce around on my walls then give it away

Comments: Thanks for not taking everything to New York and selling them for lots of $$$. You've inspired Nelson!




Please describe the object you took:
Serene one altered deer.

Please describe the object you left behind: Sticker of a cat woman, a drawing I did.

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
One animal for another, sharing the animal kingdom

What will you do with the object you have taken?
Place in a pot with a plant.

Comments: Thank you for an amazing show.
The little people will be happy.




Please describe the object you took:
Shrcom [sic] Ville Ice Palace.

Please describe the object you left behind:
4x prints of my paintings with magnetic backing

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
I went with the feeling I had when I saw this particular piece & choose paintings that created a similar feeling for me in their making. value = feeling (rather than value = $).

What will you do with the object you have taken?
I will put it on my alter [sic]

Comments:
Thank you for thinking outside the box & creating alternative vessels for our thoughts.




Please describe the object you took:
It's a small punch glass turned over a dinosaur salted.

Please describe the object you left behind:
A 1960's GOBO made by the Toronto Sculpta [sic] Michael Hayden.

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
It is a rare cut out of a city landscape used in sixties light shows.

What will you do with the object you have taken?
Save cherish- perhaps gift to my son.

Comments:




Please describe the object you took: grey glass [Note- this was not descriptive enough for me to pair it with its traded object]

Please describe the object you left behind: copper pipe

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
it's what I brought

What will you do with the object you have taken? look at it

Comments:




Please describe the object you took: Very scary rooster figurine in a collapsed mason jar.

Please describe the object you left behind: A box I made out of fir scraps with dog shapes sprayed on it. Inside the box is a bird head of painted plaster I made.

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
There were similarities of scale, made from discards, sculptural, an object in a container, bird imagery and slightly morbid.

What will you do with the object you have taken?
I will display it in my bedroom on the dresser with my prosthetic ear and burning mattress painting. It belongs there.

Comments: Thanks for the opportunity




Please describe the object you took:
black origami

Please describe the object you left behind:
handmade alpaca & merino wool mittens-- mostly pink

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
well it's about sensation. Looking at ART really make [sic] me feel happy and warmer in my chest. Just like a pair of mittens could warm you up. Also, this exhibit has a "double" effect, it creates a 2nd exhibit of what people left in exchange. Double exhibit = double mittens!

What will you do with the object you have taken?
talk about it

Comments:
I wish the artist the awesomest rummaging among left behind stuffs. Thank you!




Please describe the object you took:
Piece with freeway. Somewhat obscured glass- I like that I have to find the image.

Please describe the object you left behind:
"big locket for a small world" or "super conductor for a small world" with maps of Nelson and NY and other found objects

How did you determine that the object you left behind was of equal or greater worth than the object you took?
I collected and found the various aspects and then assembled them- hoping to reflect or respond to the found object concept-- transform trash into treasure. Also responding to place-- maps of where max is "located"-- here and there with the idea of holding the tension of places and homes so different inside one self and being the conductor.

What will you do with the object you have taken?
Observe it.

Comments:
Thought-provoking, stimulating, clever, subversive & very excellently crafted. Lovely work. Thanks for coming. N.

The Opening!

The opening was a success!! Lots of people, lots of exchanging. People were wonderfully engaged, excited, and supportive. There was a huge crowd (thank you, everyone!). And lots of interesting conversations.

Most importantly, there was trading:
I got a rock that a woman had been meditating on for ten years. Someone else left $300. Another person left a rare Gobo made by a famous theater artist in the 1960s. A first proof of someone's comic book. Ian Johnston left one of his plastic bag ceramic pieces from Refuse Culture. A copper pipe (no, really-- just a bit of piping). A deer skull. Someone took off all her jewelery. A love letter (alas, to someone else). Some children put some origami flowers in water in jars and they looks very much like my own pieces.

It seems like there are a couple of trends: people left intensely personal objects of great sentimental value. Others left cash, which has an obvious value (interestingly, the "moral economy" seems to have capped at $50. There have been a few higher amounts, but nothing less that $50). Other people leave their own art (books, music, visual art). Some people have left "placeholders," where they leave a token (lottery ticket, vitamin C package) and a note saying they will come back later for the "real" exchange. And a very, very few have left trash.

I am very happy with the engagement, interest, and excitement around the project. I am really looking forward to the rest of the show.

More finished pieces...IV

Glass Experiment

Two days ago I found a glass cider jar in the the trash. Could I turn it into a massive bell jar?
Could I clip the neck off and make it short enough to fit in the kiln? Wherever there is a hard corner on a glass jar, there is a very high chance that the glass will crack in a direction you don't want. But I clipped it none the less!:



Then I cleaned it and put it in the kiln over top of two molds instead of just one. The next morning:

See those hairlines in the glass? Those are cracks. The back was worse. I guess the glass was so thick that it needed extra time to cool down so that different parts of the glass weren't contracting at different speeds. So it was an experiment for the recycling pile. Easy come, easy go. Today I loaded up the kiln with tried and true salsa and jam jars.

The Problem with Five Dollars

There are three possible outcomes to the performative, exchange aspect ofSaltwinning, two of which are uninteresting and one of which is fascinating and at the core of the project. The first is that I can take some of the best pieces back with me to New York and sell them for three or four digits. But all New York's art market can tell me is that trash art is trendy, which I already knew.

The second is that people can leave me five dollars, garbage, or that macrame plant holder that has been sitting in the house for months but hasn't been brought down to the Sally Ann yet-- junk, in other words. Expendable, undesirable stuff. And while this might be personally insulting (valuing my work at less than minimum wage), it actually means something more important: If garbage is defined as unwanted detritus, disgusting residue, worthless junk, expendable disposables, ugly crap, then by definition, this object they desire cannot be garbage. And even though someone wants a piece, wants to touch it, to look at it, has had fun with it-- desires it, in short-- the category of "garbage" is stronger than their personal experience.

The third possibility, and the reason I do all of these trash-based art economies, is that they could recognize that these objects are exquisite. They are beautiful, desirable, intimate, mysterious, delicious. And therefore not garbage. They are some other thing with some other value. In which case the dilemma is to figure out what kind of thing with what kind of value? This is what I am interested in. In a way, the artists in the crowd have it easy. They can leave an in-kind donation: their artistic pick of the litter for my pick of the litter. Other folks have to be more creative.

And this creativity, this moment of being stumped but open to possibilities is the basis of the project. Saltwinning is a microcosm of the cultural work that has to be done for a sustainable future. If garbage is always garbage, always worth five bucks or a piece of junk, even in the face of experiences that might dictate otherwise, then there is no other future, no other possibilities for garbage. Sustainability has to be a paradigm shift: the same old objects have to mean something new, circulate differently, get used differently, have a new ontology (being) with a new epistemology (knowledge). This is what is important and interesting about what can potentially come out of the exhibition. I look forward to how the City of Nelson responds to the challenge.

More finished pieces...III

I have 65. I want 100 by Friday.

Plastic Holiday Trash

Last week, the dumpsters were full of Christmas wreaths. And tinsel. And plastic trees. And ho-ho dishes. If you don't want to be wasteful, stay away from seasonal kitsch!

But the wreaths are practically ready to be thrown into the salt after I dismantle them in a destructively aesthetic manner:

Taking and Leaving

One of the most interesting-- and potentially frustrating-- parts of this exhibition is its exhibition "economy." People can take any piece at any time provided that they leave something behind of equal or greater value. Starting in 2006, I've been letting people take the art from my trash-based exhibitions, and their willingness, creativity, and generosity has lead to this current economy.

I've been having conversations with various people in the community about what might happen. Yesterday a man told me I ought to expect that if people left money, it would be five dollar bills and change. That surprised me. This is a community full of artisans-- at the Craft Connection, the local artisan craft store a few blocks away, a mug sells for at least $30. People know how much time, effort, and technical expertise goes into hand making a unique object-- surely more than $5. Perhaps I can only expect five dollars or change from him.

Another woman I spoke to, a fine artist (as opposed to a craft artisan) and a curator, wanted to know if things she left behind could then be taken by other people. There is no rule against that, so it is certainly possible. In theory and according to the rule of "equal to or greater than," if things are traded out more than once, the overall value can only increase or stay the same. But she and I both knew that if people consistently go after the best pieces and do not have "best pieces" to leave in exchange, the opposite might happen. Many years ago when I was a pre-teen, I was involved in a version of "equal to or greater than" with a youth group in Lac la Biche. We went door to door, starting with a dollar, and asked people to trade for something of equal or greater value. I remember one house in particular. We had something fantastic-- I don't remember what it was, but I remember what we got for it. The woman wanted the fantastic object so badly that she gave us the closest thing she had on hand: a brown macrame plant holder. We had a hard time trading that away.

On the other hand, in other exhibitions (like the Dawson City Trash Project), a moral economy developed where gallery visitors schooled each other and kept tabs on what appropriate taking behaviour ought to be. Only take one thing. Leave the best things for others to see. But that was also an economy where you could take anything you wanted at any time, period. At the time, I wasn't sure if people would take former garbage (they did. In spades). Here, since there is a market-like equivalency being determined, people might just do as they please, since they are technically paying for things.

We shall see. The opening is going to be a mad house. There were 41 people at the artist talk, and all of them seem to be coming to the opening to take/exchange art. At the end of the night, we'll see what remains behind.

Garbage Girl

On my way to the artist talk last night, I did a quick styrofoam run to a couple of electronic stores. Once I had my styro, a customer recognized me: "You're that garbage.... artist." Thanks to the generous articles in the Nelson Star and the Daily News, people know what I'm up to.