Gifti(n)g
gift noun 1 : something voluntarily given by one person to another without compensation 2 : the German word for poison.
Is there is such a thing as a truly unconditional gift, one which doesn’t emerge from —or generate — a sense of debt? Is a gift genuine only if it’s offered anonymously and without a motivation or expectation of any kind of return (be it a countergift, gratitude, recognition, praise, approval…)? Or is there a way to develop a free-gifting practice that doesn’t demand (the impossibility of) absolute altruism?
To explore this question I have been making hundreds of handmade, life-size, realistic-looking and bio-regionally-correct ceramic mushrooms by hand and distributing at undisclosed sites. In other words, sometimes, instead of mushroom picking, I discreetly go “mushroom placing”, so those attentive to their surroundings — or those who simply get lucky — might end up with a one-of-a-kind offering.
