Free Art anyone?

This week I've been to a very unusual exhibition (I'd say even more unusual than the Golden Toilet I wrote about in the previous post.

Every time you go to the museum or a gallery, you can be sure that whatever you think of the artwork, it's anyway considered precious at least by the museum and the artists themselves.

You are encouraged to look at the works, sometimes interact with them, but there is almost always the same rule everywhere:

Look but don't touch!

image credit

In the exhibition, called Take me, I'm yours in the Jewish museum in New York, the rule is exactly the opposite.

It is a collection of the artworks from different artists all over the world, with the one main thing in common:

You are encouraged to interact with the artworks, modify it, copy it, and, most importantly, take a part of it with you!

At first, I got a little bit confused after receiving a plastic bag at the entrance of the exhibition. While it gives you the feeling that you are more shopping than engaging in cultural activity, I was still hesitant to grab the staff from the museum stands or walls.

That's why breaking the taboos is another fun part of it!

And then you read more about each work and why the artist actually wants you to own a part of it, and it gets really exciting!

Some of the pieces in this show were very much expected, like the famous installation of Felix Gonzales-Torres, where he piles the gallery space with candies, that represent the exact weight of the artist when he created it.
This way he is sharing a part of himself with every viewer.

Or these automatic candy dispensers by Yoko Ono, which instead offer you little plastic spheres filled with... pure air.

But there were also many works that I didn't know about before!

Like this pile of used clothing by Christian Boltanski, that is the headline photo of this post. In this artwork you don't even know where the art ends and charity begins...

And how about about taking a pill from the museum floor?

This installation called Pill Clock is created by Christine Höller as an artwork and a social experiment. She offers this pile of placebo to the gallery viewers and suggests either to take the pill, or just keep it. The artist explores decision making and audience perception in this work.

Would you take it?

There were many other curious works like free t-shirts with a quote Freedom cannot be simulated by Rirkrit Tiravanjia or refugee blankets by Daniel Joseph Martinez...

Or this interactive map, where you are given a choice of words that you can attach to the canvas, making this work evolve over time with the visitors' perception of their environment.