Eva Barto & Sophie Bonnet-Pourpet
The Gift Society, 2021

Under a harmless appearance, mostly abstract, without rules, The Gift Society aims to introduce the youngest to the ambiguities of giving and receiving. The set constitutes a device that notably allows the apprehension of the stakes of ownership, dispossession, gratuity and interest. It refers to the tradition of plays for children as a form of social moulding. (…)
The Gift Society is deliberately marketed as a necessity to turn “break hours” into lucratives hours and to consider their critical status of “ancillary activities”. As the Covid crisis classified essential and non essentials activities, these debated notions are challenged by using the public grant Stiftung Kunstfonds, devoted to an official exhibition at the Gallery, to exclusively finance the production of the play The Gift Society.

Text taken from the introduction text of Eva Barto and Sophie Bonnet-Pourpet’s exhibition TO OBTAIN, RESOLVE OR MAINTAIN, Galerie Max Mayer, Düsseldorf, 29 January – 07 March, 2021