Dafna Talmon, "Gift Project Tokyo 2021" What is a gift that makes you think?
Overseas artists were invited to participate in the open call for the Social Dive Project at the Tokyo Biennale2020/2021, but due to the Covid disaster, none were able to come to Japan.
However, Dafna Talmon kept in close contact with the project participants in Tokyo from Israel before the exhibition. With the support of many volunteers, her first project outside Israel was held.
Zoom meetings with gift donors in Tokyo
The meeting with the Japanese gift donors began with the story of how Dafna started the gift project.
When Dafna euthanized her dog, NINA, of cancer in 2012, she left everything behind and started working in Costa Rica five days later. A few months later, Dafna's father in Israel asked her if he could put the belongings she left behind in a warehouse, and she said she hoped it would burn down. She was not ready for another dog. She couldn't settle down anywhere, and She wanted to be free wherever she was. Without a fixed residence, she took a live-in pet care job; in three and a half years, she moved from one house to another, taking care of more than 60 homes, 43 dogs, 50 cats, and three chickens.
With more time on her hands, Dafna enrolled in a graduate program in fine arts. When a friend of her invited her on a two-day tour of the desert, but she couldn't go because of the parakeets, she thought, "I've lost, I have to redefine what freedom is”. After taking pictures of all her possessions in the warehouse, she asked the crematorium if she could burn them all. The person at the crematorium said that only human beings could be burned, but I insisted that it was the "old me" that would be burned, but they would not.
This experience was a great opportunity for her to get involved with art in Dafna. As her graduation project, she wrapped all her belongings in brown wrapping paper and gave them to visitors. People tried to choose the best gift, but they couldn't because they couldn't see what was inside the wrapping.
This project is an irony against consumerism, and there is a nasty side to it that asks visitors to take things they don't need. On the other hand, one person's junk can become another's treasure.
After giving away all her belongings, she approached others to collect their unwanted items. The project, which involved traveling from the north to the south of Israel in an ice cream truck, collecting unwanted items and giving them away as gifts, was realized at the Fresh Paint Art Fair 2019 in Israel.
I asked Dafna if there was anything she didn't want to give or had given but had to buy again.
"Basically, nothing." She said she keeps a lots of lists with photo to record what she gives away and what she keeps, and she keeps a diary and other things she wants to look back on. The only regret she has is his homemade geography notebook, where she writes about things that are not on the Internet, which is unique point Dafna, who has a bachelor's and master's degree in geography with a specialization in urban planning.
At the meeting, each participant shared the story of the gift they brought.
I prepared three gifts. One was a crystal windmill key chain that I bought in Holland. In addition, I prepared two brand-new amenity sets to be handed out on the plane.
Gifts I have offered
A message card was attached to the gift, and I anonymously enclosed the following letter.
“ Gift1： LASER-ENGRAVED Dutch crystal windmill Key chain
*I lived in the Netherlands, where there were many wonderful cultures, and windmills were one of them. When I returned to Japan, I bought one at a gift store. I tried to use it myself, but it was too nice to use. I thought about giving it to someone else, but it was too good to give away. I thought I could give it away if it would be a part of an art project like this one.
（Omitted）
*I also thought about "letting go". Why can't I let it go? Because I have memories. Because I might use it in the future. Because it's brand new. Because it is still usable. Because it's not broken and I feel guilty. For a variety of reasons, they have value to me, but I also want to be light and free. I can't let go of the things that I've put on hold to stop judgment. I realized that in order to be free like Dafna, I have to pay for the decision time = cost to "let go".
*However, I hope you will like this gift, or give it to someone else. I've already had a chance to think about the gift, and I've also realized that " The cost for the decision time " is an opportunity to think.”
Volunteering at 3331 Arts Chiyoda
The gifts were collected at a special corner at 3331 Arts Chiyoda and wrapped in a variety of colors by volunteers. The collection and wrapping process continued for many days to fulfill Dafna's wish to make the gifts as colorful as possible without revealing the contents. The wrapping paper and masking tape were provided free of charge by the project's supporters.
Where to submit your gifts gift-wrapping volunteering
One month after the first Zoom meeting, the exhibition finally started.
The Gift Project Tokyo 2021 was exhibited on the first floor of Matsuzakaya Ueno Store for two weeks from August 4 to 17, 2021. The installation, which was decorated with colorful wrapping paper and masking tape because of the Tokyo version, was different from the exhibition in Israel, which was uniformly brown. The gift donors could receive gifts in exchange. I chose three of them. A pink soft package, a blue square package like a book, and a and multi-color small long and thin package.
When I opened the wrapping, it was obvious that it wasn't what I needed. The number of unnecessary gifts I had let go of came back to me. Dafna was right. She said that if that's the case, I can give them to others or get rid of them.
Gifts I got in the exchange
It reminded me of a bazaar I held myself as a child. I think it was in the first or second grade of elementary school. I thought I could give away some of the small things I had on hand to my friends, so I invited my friends at school to come to a bazaar at my house. I remember thinking it was kind of nice to have a bazaar once a year in kindergarten.
My friend's mother called and asked my mother, " Was my child really invited?" and the bazaar was discovered. I was furious, but since I had already invited my friends, I was allowed to hold the bazaar only once. What I vaguely remember is that I set up a low table in a tatami room (Japanese traditional style room) and asked our friends to choose what they wanted. It wasn't an exchange at that time. Of course, like Dafna, I was not in deep despair over the death of my dog, but I guess I just wanted to please my friends like a child, and it was strange to see my seven or eight-year-old self's superficially similar memories existing as an art project in another country.
Dafna Talmon's gift project seems to have a way of evoking memories and making people think. Each person who offers and receives a gift will have a different story to tell.
Dafna is now in Israel, where she is considering a new project. Will it make us think again, or will it evoke memories? I am looking forward to the next project of Dafna, who calls herself a "new artist”.
Kumi Sato