Thanks to all participants who took part in this event. The first day’s discussion focused on the sociology of gift economies, and moved to discussing art objects as a kind of public gift that engaged with the possibilities and difficulties that entails. What if a gift is unwanted by a public? Can reciprocity be forced?
This first discussion went well over the alloted time, so on the following day we cut out our walk to Project and focused more closely on a discussion of the text in the Geology Museum. Surrounded by fossils and rock samples, it was an opportunity for a revised understanding of our attitude and ordering of the past into ways we might currently understand. While the text focuses on the Paleolithic era, we were still able to use it to discuss contemporary rituals of economic donations, from IMF loans to charitable gifts, particularly in the context of Ireland’s current financial crisis.
Photos by Sarah Browne & Damien McGlynn.
