Exchange Value: The Economy of Giving

September 16 - 25, 2021
Event Types
MIT Community

MIT List Visual Arts Center invites community members to participate in a project considering the value of exchanges. Exchange Value: The Economy of Giving hopes to provide participants a creative outlet to cement the coming together on MIT’s campus. 

Recently, we’ve had some unreal, unforeseen circumstances that have altered how we navigate through our everyday reality, but also have provided windows of opportunity for many of us to re-evaluate what we consider important. This social art project engages participants to share what they value and appreciate through the act of art making and economy of giving.

In this kit, you will be provided various sized wooden discs that you may create a message or design reflecting on what we value about an individual, ourselves, or a particular space. Consider directly exchanging your artwork with friends, or place them in a public space for others to discover. 

To be able to participate you must be a member of the MIT Community in the Covid Pass system, and be able to pick up Thursday – Saturday, September 16 – 25, during the List Visual Arts Center open hours. Limited to the first 100 participants.

If you are an MIT Student interested in participating in this activity as a workshop with the artist, please view the workshop event listing.

Jonathan Santos is an educator and interdisciplinary artist whose work centers on the subject of geography, in broad terms. His projects explore the physical landscape, the political environment, and cultural narratives of space. He is particularly interested in the productive lacunae and the hidden parts in the narratives and is drawn to speculative and evidentiary forms of storytelling. Santos is a professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.