Events Archive
30 October 2015
FULLY BOOKED - 6.30-9.30pm
All About the Gift - Alinah Azadeh
Museums at Night - Connect! 2015
Freud Museum London, Sigmund Freud’s final home and the recent winner of the Connect!/Museums at Night 2015 Competition has teamed up with the artist Alinah Azadeh to create a unique night event inspired by its collections.
Join us for a playful and profound exploration of gift and generosity – with inevitable detours into debt and gratitude! Ponder the bright and dark side of giving and receiving, with a cross-over of psychoanalytic, anthropological and artistic perspectives on the very foundations of our social relationships.
The evening is inspired by Freud’s love of, and attachment to, his collection of objects, his interesting ideas on the topic and those of his contemporary – the French sociologist Marcel Mauss. Be guided through the less obvious dimensions of the act of giving and receiving and engage in a range of stimulating activities. We invite you to celebrate unexpressed acts of gratitude and generosity, listen to short talks on the topic from psychoanalysts and authors. Create your own symbolic mixed-media gifts, recline on a replica Freudian couch and tidy up unfinished business; write up and wrap up your own tales of deserved thanks not given and engage in symbolic exchanges and rituals.
Food, music and a warm atmosphere of generosity provided
Alinah Azadeh is a UK artist working across media. Whether a small sculpture or a dialogue with a stranger – her works are rooted in the living and disclosure of personal experiences – which act as a bridge into the work for others to take. Involving the public in acts of gift, ritual and playful exchange, they create dialogue around the nature of loss, longing and our social identities. Installations include; The Bibliomancer’s Dream (2009, South Bank Centre), The Gifts (2010, Bristol Museum) and All Is Not Lost (2014, Museum of Picardy). Burning the Books is a collaborative performance project exploring the power of debt, currently on national tour.
