So I have been thinking hard about the context complex that I am suffering from. I am currently working on a fairly large scale sculpture that references a stomach form but through material choice and construction method also has connections to decks, garden boxes and the like. It also has a bit of a greenhouse aesthetic. The end result will be a mint garden where people can harvest the mint, make tea bags, send one to a friend, and then enjoy a cup of the brew. The idea is to create a place where you participate in a type of labor, then labor for someone else, before you do for yourself. It is about digestion of culture, and the opportunity of giving that exists between laboring to be able to give, and reaping the benefits of your labor - leisure. Mint is a diuretic, and so I like the idea of drinking something that makes you urinate so that you then drink more... so that you then urinate. As a play on words but also direct relationship, digestion of culture is a thread for this project (maybe all of my projects... more on that later). I have been struggling over understanding what the gallery setting means to me, and how to use it, without it being the easy answer for where to place a given project. All along I have intended for the piece to be seen/experienced in the gallery, and I still want to show the work in the gallery show this spring... i mean I don't want to not participate with my classmates just because the show is in a gallery - also, I don't want to be afraid of utilizing the gallery because contemporary sculpture says it should go almost anywhere but the gallery. At the same time, I want to be able to consider and articulate a possible context in public that could have similar, or better connections to the piece in terms of where it is placed.
So as a thought experiment of a possible public site, I was thinking about how the digestion piece is a three fold process for the participant - harvesting and fabricating a product (work/labor), giving the product away (share/exchange), and consumption of the product (reaping the benefits of the labor). In life we make money (work/labor), then we exchange that money for things we want/need (share/exchange), so that we can then consume so as to live - although sometimes in excess (reaping the benefits of the labor). So the disconnect between the idea of the project and the way that labor-money works is the aspect of sharing, which may exist for some and not for others. The piece then, levels that playing field, still providing people with the option to not share (because they are not forced to make someone else a tea bag) but also to provide them with the option to do for others, without expense - in hopes to stimulate thinking towards giving while also having the pleasure of enjoying (consuming the tea).
When people go to a bank they have participated in labor and are going to deposit the rewards of that labor, whether with intentions of helping someone else or not. The Mint creates money for people that goes into circulation so that people who labor have a measure of value for what they do, and so that they can then exchange that value for something else of a different "type" of value. If time spent laboring is money then the value of money is often time, even in the case of needing things to live - one week's worth of groceries costs 5 - 10 hours worth of labor (depending on the pay rate - maybe less if you are a baller). So by placing the installation in a bank, where people are already in the mode of labor and money, they have the option to remedy the missing aspect of "sharing" rather than participating in "monetary exchange," while also reaping the benefit of "consuming" by "harvesting." Could this then be a point of reflection for people as to what to do with the money they have just deposited? I am in no way asking people to give up their money and not pay their bills, but maybe there is something derived from the experience - especially in a bank, that can relate to how we value labor/money/time, in regards to others, and how taking the moment to participate in a non-monetary activity actually produces time to enjoy a cup of tea. The locational output of the Mint, becomes a place for people to share and consume the value of their labor; communi-tea. (sorry i couldn't help it - i like cheesy)
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