Reciprocity

Can generosity be a reciprocal practice?

Artist interview with Kate Murdoch (part two, continued from yesterday)

JM: Having done the project in several locations and contexts now, have you observed any differences in how people of different ages, background of responded to or participated in the project?
KM: In terms of age, yes. The children who have participated on the whole have a much more immediate response to what they’d like to take while adults have tended to take a more considered approach. I suspect the children’s decisions are based more on the object’s visual impact than any kind of emotional response. Other differences I’ve noticed are in the objects themselves. I’ve always been interested in how the things we surround ourselves with, the clothes we wear and so on say so much about our place in society, both socially and politically. I’ve noticed some real class distinctions reflected in the objects brought to the cabinet and equally as fascinating to me is what people choose to take. I’m also interested in the feminine/masculine impact on exchanges.

JM: From what you have observed, did people factor in or consider monetary value of the objects in their exchange decisions?
KM:In one or two cases, maybe but on the whole no, I don’t think so. I remember a student leaving 20p for a vase he said he was going to give his Mum for Mother’s Day; he behaved in a slightly cocky manner as he made the exchange and spoke out loud about getting a real bargain. Interestingly, the group of friends with him were quite verbal in expressing their indignation and disapproval of what he’d done, accusing him of ‘taking the piss.’ On the whole, though and certainly, as far as the many conversations I’ve had with people about the things they’ve left in exchange, the narrative has been very much about the emotional rather than the monetary value of the objects.

JM: In the video for the Lewisham College project, 6 items were taken without being replaced by other objects. Is this the only example of people ‘breaking the rules’? Have you changed anything about the project since this experience?
KM: The only thing that’s been altered since starting the project is the addition of a perspex cover to the cabinet, taken down when the exchanges take place. The screen came about because the curators at Herne Bay museum insisted the objects were made safe in their hands. I was averse to the idea of it at first but the perspex totally transforms the objects, giving them a more museum-like appearance. As my position has changed more into being a curator of the objects rather than the owner, the perspex screen then seems more appropriate.

The final part of this interview will be published in this blog tomorrow.

Many thanks to Kate for taking the time to answer my questions and contribute to my research. I ‘met’ Kate virtually, here on a-n and found out about 10×10 via her blog, ‘Keeping it Going’ which can be found at www.a-n.co.uk/p/2295372

To find out more about 10×10, visit Kate’s website at http://www.katemurdochartist.com/ten_by_ten.html

This interview is published in full in Issue 1 of my new zine series ‘Reciprocity’ which documents, alongside with this blog, my research findings into ideas of generosity, sincerity and gift. For more information and to purchase the zine for £3 plus postage, visit http://jeanmcewan.com/2012/11/05/reciprocity-1/

Can generosity be a reciprocal practice?

Artist interview with Kate Murdoch (part one)

Kate Murdoch is a London based artist whose work reflects a fascination with the passage of time and the contrast between the permanence of objects and the fragility of human existence.
Her participatory project 10×10 was originally created in response to a call for art around the theme of trade and currency for the tenth anniversary of Deptford X in 2008, and has since been recreated for Lewisham College, Herne Bay Museum & Gallery Whitstable 2010 Biennale Satelite Programme and more recently, for Coastal Currents in Hastings. 10 x 10 is an everchanging display of 100 objects. Wherever it goes, people are asked to take one item and leave something in its place.

The only rules are:

• One swap per person

• The item must fit in the display space (14.5cm x 14.5cm)
10 x 10 asks:
What is an object worth to you?
How much do you want it and what are you prepared to give in return?

JM: 10×10 structured around a swap: people are invited to take an object but are asked to give one in return. You talk about the inspiration behind 10×10 coming from North American pack rats which leave objects behind in place of things that they take. Have you always been interested in ideas of exchange/reciprocity?
KM: Yes, I have. It’s always been around me I suppose, that idea of reciprocal gift giving and exchange. On our frequent returns from family visits in Scotland, for example our family car would be filled to the brim with coal and briquettes from the local mines, while we’d take up sacks of root vegetables from the local farm which were harder to find in Scottish villages in the 1960s.
I was brought up in a small Cambridgeshire village where daily exchanges of exchange and reciprocity went on. The local farmer for example once brought a brace of pheasants to our home, I remember as a thanks for my family helping out with the difficult breech birth of a calf.
It was from 1987 onwards that my interest in the idea of exchange really started to develop. I saw how successful it was during the time I lived in Ithaca, a small town in upper New York state. A green dollar system, which was basically a means of exchanging skills without using money, originated and developed there and went onto be very successful. I worked for a short time in Ithaca’s Self-Reliance Centre, helping to match up the skills which were offered. A carpenter then, might offer 10 hours work in exchange for 10 hours of child care, a masseuse might take up the offer of exchanging eight one hour massage sessions say for an equivalent exchange of language classes. It was a real success and had a huge positive impact on creating a solid local community.

JM: What were your aims when you first did the project in 2008 at Deptford X art festival? How did you envisage people would engage with the project?
KM: I had no agenda and had no idea how people would respond. I was slightly anxious but also very intrigued. Would it be people’s generosity or meanness that triumphed when it came to the value of the things that were exchanged is one of the leading questions I ask. There’s no doubt that my fundamental belief that people are generally good, fair and have an innate sense of what constitutes appropriate, decent behaviour helped me dare give up the 100 objects in the first place. I keep going back to my friend’s response to what 10×10 would be about after I’d talked him through my initial proposal: ‘It will be a comment on humanity.’ I anticipated that people would interact with 10×10 with a generous spirit and with one or two exceptions, that’s exactly how they have.


The rest of this interview will be published in this blog tomorrow.

To find out more about 10×10, visit Kate’s website at http://www.katemurdochartist.com/ten_by_ten.html

Kate’s a-n blog, ‘Keeping it Going’ can be found at www.a-n.co.uk/p/2295372

This interview is published in full in Issue 1 of my new zine series ‘Reciprocity’ which documents, alongside with this blog, my research findings into ideas of generosity, sincerity and gift. For more information and to purchase the zine for £3 plus postage, visit http://jeanmcewan.com/2012/11/05/reciprocity-1/