| FREE FOR ALL RE-EXHIBITION STRATEGIES |
| If
you obtained a variety of free materials from this show, you probably
have enough things to mount a small exhibit of this work on your own.
You are a collector now so you should feel socially obligated to let
people see your collection. It will be a lot of fun and you don’t
need to have your own gallery space. The following suggestions are to
help you mount your own portable “Free For All” exhibit.
These are just a few of the many ways that you could share this work
with a larger audience. Public Library: Visit your local public library. Neatly arrange the contents of your “Free For All” box on a large available study table. This will probably attract some attention from other library patrons. Encourage them to pull up chairs and look at the work. Answer their questions to the best of your ability. Share your own observations about the materials if they solicit your opinion. The library may have a small conference room that you can use to hold a larger discussion. Work: Bring your "Free For All" collection to work and leave it in the break room or by the vending machines or coffee maker. This will allow people to see a little bit of contemporary art or give them something to read during the work day. Airplane: The next time you fly take your "Free For All" box on the plane with you in your carry on luggage (it will fit underneath the seat in front of you during take off). Once you are in the air, attempt to share the contents of your collection with the passenger sitting next to you or the flight attendants. If traveling internationally, freely allow the customs agents at the airport to have a look. Apartment or House: When friends or family invite you over for lunch, dinner, a party, or just to visit, bring your "Free For All" collection and share it with them. It can be viewed while food is cooking, when all the guests arrive, or after dessert. Nursing Home: Elderly people that live in nursing homes don't get out very often and if they do have the opportunity to see an exhibit, it will most likely be at some type of museum rather than a gallery. Call a nursing home in your neighborhood and explain that you are an art collector and would like to bring a portable exhibit to the home to show to the residents. Allow the nurses to find out which residents are interested in viewing your collection and then set a date where space and time can be allocated to view and discuss the materials from “Free For All.” Train: Bring your "Free For All" collection on a long distance train ride. Occupy a table in the cafe car and turn it into an impromptu exhibition space for the length of the trip. Buy food and drinks and have an opening. High School: Send a student to school with your "Free For All" collection. Let them share it with other students during lunch, study hall, or detention. Emphasize that many of the forms in the collection such as flyers, stickers, booklets, and tracts, would be good mediums for them to use to express their own ideas. Encourage them to design, create, and distribute their own multiples. Government Offices: Government offices such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and Immigration Services are known for their long lines where one must wait for hours on end with little or nothing interesting to look at. Bring your “Free For All" collection and present the whole box to someone who will be waiting at least another fifteen minutes. Ask them to take a look and then pass the box to the next person behind them. Then you can go to the end of the line and begin waiting. Eventually your collection will reach you and you can step out of line and go home (unless you have some Government business to take care of). This will simulate the experience of loaning works to a museum and having to wait for them to return. Prison: Attempt to mail the entire "Free For All" box to someone in prison as a care package (be sure to get a package slip and instructions in advance to ensure that all of the items are acceptable and will not be confiscated or returned as contraband). Right before the recipient receives parole and returns to society, ask them to pass the collection on to another inmate, who will in turn give it up at the end of their sentence. This way the collection will always remain in prison for future generations of incarcerated people to enjoy. |