Group Exhibition Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
What is in a gift?
From social act to cultural performance or philosophical concept, the apparently ordinary act of gifting is in fact ambivalent and paradoxical, and consequently a source of fascination, vexation and debate. Unlike the economic transaction, the gift is more than the object of its exchange. It is an embodiment of an expansiveness of spirit by the giver, that often obliges its receiver, and may even unintendedly become an onerous burden.
The exhibition, The Gift, is part of a broader project titled Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories that is developed as a dialogue between collections of four museums. The conversations extend into four related exhibitions that include artwork exchanges. This exploration of collections also uncovers histories of collecting – of gifts received, rare discoveries unearthed, and acknowledgements of significance. As with the gift, the value of these accumulated objects confer upon the collection stature and prestige, but also impose a duty of care and responsibility for these riches.
Yet a gift may not necessitate reciprocation or result in obligation. Without a return, the receiver simply yields to the gift. After all, it is the asymmetrical condition of power and obligation that gives the gift its meaning. For it is not the gift itself but its performance of interrelation that binds the bodies it intertwines, leaving its trace in object and memory.
A gift is only a gift if it is entangled.
Collecting Entanglements and Embodied Histories is a dialogue between the collectionsof the Singapore Art Museum, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, MAIIAM Contemporary ArtMuseum, and Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, initiated by the Goethe-Institut. Its exhibitions are curated by June Yap, Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Grace Samboh and
Gridthiya Gaweewong
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