Social Sculpture Arenas

Work with the ‘invisible materials

Through the integration of the aesthetic and the political, an imaginative space is created in which we can engage with the re-shaping and transforming of our lives and our society, and explore ways to develop a more humane, participatory and ecologically viable society.

This expanded workspace where we work with “the invisible materials” available to us all – “speech, discussion, thought” [Beuys], “values, attitudes, questions and habits of thinking” [Sacks] – where the personal and social imagination moves and weaves, is a creative workspace accessible to all.

Social Sculpture Arenas and the ‘connective practice’ processes enables an experience of this creative agency as an individual and a collective.

First Exchange Values Forum with Farmer Representatives, Nottingham, 1996
First Exchange Values Forum with Farmer Representatives, Nottingham, 1996
Copyright Shelley Sacks, Exchange Values.



In 2018, 22 years after the first forum in UK [1996], Exchange Values on the Table was at the Frans Hals Museum, Netherlands for 6 months. The image shows one of 18 social sculpture organised processes and assemblies in the Exchange Values ‘social sculpture arena’ when Exchange Values on the Table was part of an international exhibition in the Frans Hals Museum/De Hallen about the global food trade and colonialism.

Beyond Monocultures: A one day forum with farmer representatives of the World Banana Forum [WBF], Geneva; a trades union representative from Ecuador, and several Research and Development leads from European Fruit Distributors. With Renwick Rose and Alistair Smith from WBF. Feb 2018, De Hallen.

Exchange Values on the Table: Social Sculpture Process, De Hallen/Frans Hals Museum, Netherlands 2018. Copyright Shelley Sacks, Exchange Values.

Logistics

COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT

a. 20 sheets of skin, suspended on metal frames on the walls. 19 CD players with headphones are in each of the numbered metal boxes beneath each skin. [One skin has no recording. I did not find the farmer].

b. 5-meter round table
, with recess to contain 10000 loose banana skins

c. 8 curved benches fit round the table. 24 people can sit, closely, but comfortably, at the table. [With children/young people up to 30. With a second row of people –one can have a ‘conference’ style exchange of approx. 100 people. See photos from 2007].

d. A ‘connective practice’/social sculpture process is designed for use at the table [See details below], and accompanying printed handbook. The installation can be experienced casually by individuals and by groups. Museum visitors do not have engage in the structured process.

Note: There should be no visual or other secondary information about the growers available, particularly in or near the installation space. Such ‘documentary’ material takes people out of the experience into a different headspace. The experience derives partly from the absence of the growers, apart from through their ‘number’, their ‘skin’ and their voices.

Other material including: contextualising information by curator/s e.g. about ‘free trade’ /slavery / colonialism; extracts from ‘the story of the project’; notes about ‘social sculpture’ [its history, the contemporary field of social sculpture and ‘connective practice’]; explanations about ways of participating in the process; and the invitation to participate in a structured, sign-up process, should be outside the space.


SPACE REQUIRED

A square space is best.

It works well in a square space of 9 x 9 meters, but this can vary, from between 12 meters square to 20 meters square. Between 12 meters square and 15 meters square is best.

Alternatively, it can be a rectangle. The two shorter sides need to be minimum 9 meters and the longer ones up to 11 meters long.

Exchange Values must have 4 walls, creating a semi-enclosed space. So sometimes a temporary wall needs to be built.

Minimum height of walls: approx 3 metres.

Other points about the space
A semi-enclosed space is best. The 4-walled space needs to have as few entrances and exits as possible. However, with the round table, and the loose, unnumbered skins in the recess in the table, if there is more than one entrance/exit, this is now less critical.

The walls need to be clear. That means – no heaters, handrails, architectural ‘furniture’, minimal visual information, preferably not wallpaper. White is best. Grey or concrete also works.

Floor material is not an issue. But it should be plain, neutral. Not brightly coloured or patterned.

5 power-points in or near space, to plug in 5 small transformers [220 volts].


TRANSPORTATION

Transportation from UK or mainland Europe [presently in Germany] and back to UK to mainland Europe, needs to be covered by the venue.

There are 5 wooden crates, the large 5 meter table and 8 benches. The table splits into two halves. Each half is 5 m x 2.5 m and about 20 cms deep. The ‘legs’ are separate. The table and crates fit in a large van that can be driven with a motor-car licence.

Two people are needed to lift the crates.

One crate contains the 20 sheets of skins. This crate cannot be in high temperatures [e.g lying at the docks in a hot country], as the skins are backed with pitch and beeswax, and will melt.

One crate contains the 10000 loose skins.

All the skins were fumigated at the last venue, but might need to be checked and fumigated again.

If transported to countries outside the EU, permits for the skins will probably need to be obtained. This has been done before.


CRATES – DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CONTENTS

Crate 1 and 2
2 x 2 metre x 20cms x 25 cms
Approx weight: each long crate 35 kg
Contents: 10 folding metal frames in each crate

Crate 3
1 x 180cms x 60cmc x 50cms
Approx weight: 20 kgs
Contents: black plastic bags filled with dried and cured banana skins
(they have been round the world several times..
with no problems; no different to transporting basketwork)

Crate 4
1 x 60 cms x 80 cms x 50 cms
Approx weight: 35 kgs
Contents: 20 audio cd players, wiring, electrical equipment, 20 metal boxes, metal bolts

Crate 5
1 x flat crate containing 20 stitched ‘pictures’ made of dried banana skin covered in wax.
(These pictures or ‘sheets of skin’ must not be in places that are too hot, because the wax will melt. They are wrapped in plastic and tissue paper in the crate. They are very delicate)

Set up for ‘Going Bananas’, Zurich, 2011

History

1972-1975

Reading the World Economy in the Banana Skins
The precursor to the first Exchange Values project in 1996 was begun in the early 1970s, when one day, with a banana skin in my hand, I began to wonder, who and where the person was who had produced the fruit I had just eaten. I kept the skin and hung it on a string. Soon other skins joined it. When I left to come to Germany to study with Joseph Beuys, the skins filled a small wooden suitcase that I decided to take on the plane.

‘Reading the World Economy in the Banana Skins‘ took place twice in a small German town.

The suitcase full of dry, blackened banana skins, that had accompanied me from South Africa, became the basis for this work. On a mat on the pavement I laid out the skins. This was an echo of the way my grandmother had read the tea-leaves in a cup. When passersby asked me what this was all about I said that like people read tea-leaves, I read the world economy in the banana skins. This was 1974. I was trying to understand how to develop social sculpture processes, but wasn’t sure how. I knew it had something to do with some kind of in-depth engagement and opportunities for re-thinking. This much I had understood from Beuys.

Although some fascinating exchanges took place, they were not substantial. This ‘pavement action’ with the banana skins did not feel much different from the small performative actions and interventions I had already become disillusioned with in my work in South Africa in 1972.

1996-2006

Exchange Values: Images of Invisible Lives
This was the first form of the social sculpture process that involved the producers themselves, their organisations and consumers. This phase of Exchange Values lasted for 10 years – from 1996 to 2006. See ‘The Story of the Project’ and IMAGES 1996-1998 and 1998-2006

2007 ongoing

Exchange Values: On the Table
This new phase of Exchange Values was begun in 2007 in Switzerland as part of the exhibition Social Sculpture Today and the conference Ursache Zukunft’/ ‘The Cause lies in the Future’ – which draws on a statement by Joseph Beuys. See ‘Exchange Values – 11 Years on’ for 2007 developments. See IMAGES 2007-ongoing [coming soon]

Using Exchange Values

Exchange Values on the table as a social sculpture ‘instrument of consciousness’ is designed for use in a wide range of social, political, educational, art and other cultural contexts.

The physical space required is a museum type venue, with full invigilation.

This new version includes a social sculpture ‘connective practice’ process, especially designed for the project.

Such processes take place with organisations, schools and other educational institutions, consumer groups, farmers and Fair Trade groups, NGOs and organisations dealing with trade issues. These processes are guided by Shelley Sacks, museum educators and other volunteers trained to use the Exchange Values ‘instrument of consciousness’.

The rates for use vary depending on the organisation, venue, group and country. We can discuss this when you make contact.

If you are interested in presenting Exchange Values and making its social sculpture process available, please contact Shelley Sacks for full details and to discuss the viabilty.

Shelley Sacks Tel: UK (0)1865 484961 E-mail: ssacks@brookes.ac.uk

Components of Exchange Values on the table

a. 20 sheets of skin, suspended on metal frames on the walls. 19 CD players with headphones are in each of the numbered metal boxes beneath each skin. [One skin has no recording. I did not find the farmer].

b. 5-meter round table
, with recess to contain 10000 loose banana skins

c. 8 curved benches fit round the table. 24 people can sit, closely, but comfortably, at the table. [With children/young people up to 30. With a second row of people –one can have a ‘conference’ style exchange of approx. 100 people. See photos from 2007].

d. A ‘connective practice’/social sculpture process is designed for use at the table [See details below], and accompanying printed handbook. The installation can be experienced casually by individuals and by groups. Museum visitors do not have engage in the structured process.

Note: There should be no visual or other secondary information about the growers available, particularly in or near the installation space. Such ‘documentary’ material takes people out of the experience into a different headspace. The experience derives partly from the absence of the growers, apart from through their ‘number’, their ‘skin’ and their voices.

Other material including: contextualising information by curator/s e.g. about ‘free trade’ /slavery / colonialism; extracts from ‘the story of the project’; notes about ‘social sculpture’ [its history, the contemporary field of social sculpture and ‘connective practice’]; explanations about ways of participating in the process; and the invitation to participate in a structured, sign-up process, should be outside the space.

Space required

A square space is best.

It works well in a square space of 9 x 9 meters, but this can vary, from between 12 meters square to 20 meters square. Between 12 meters square and 15 meters square is best.

Alternatively, it can be a rectangle. The two shorter sides need to be minimum 9 meters and the longer ones up to 11 meters long.

Exchange Values must have 4 walls, creating a semi-enclosed space. So sometimes a temporary wall needs to be built.

Minimum height of walls: approx 3 metres.

Other points about the space
A semi-enclosed space is best. The 4-walled space needs to have as few entrances and exits as possible. However, with the round table, and the loose, unnumbered skins in the recess in the table, if there is more than one entrance/exit, this is now less critical.

The walls need to be clear. That means – no heaters, handrails, architectural ‘furniture’, minimal visual information, preferably not wallpaper. White is best. Grey or concrete also works.

Floor material is not an issue. But it should be plain, neutral. Not brightly coloured or patterned.

5 power-points in or near space, to plug in 5 small transformers [220 volts].

Transportation

Transportation from UK or mainland Europe [presently in Germany] and back to UK to mainland Europe, needs to be covered by the venue.

There are 5 wooden crates, the large 5 meter table and 8 benches. The table splits into two halves. Each half is 5 m x 2.5 m and about 20 cms deep. The ‘legs’ are separate. The table and crates fit in a large van that can be driven with a motor-car licence.

Two people are needed to lift the crates.

One crate contains the 20 sheets of skins. This crate cannot be in high temperatures [e.g lying at the docks in a hot country], as the skins are backed with pitch and beeswax, and will melt.

One crate contains the 10000 loose skins.

All the skins were fumigated at the last venue, but might need to be checked and fumigated again.

If transported to countries outside the EU, permits for the skins will probably need to be obtained. This has been done before.

Crates – the dimensions, weight and contents

Crate 1 and 2
2 x 2 metre x 20cms x 25 cms
Approx weight: each long crate 35 kg
Contents: 10 folding metal frames in each crate

Crate 3
1 x 180cms x 60cmc x 50cms
Approx weight: 20 kgs
Contents: black plastic bags filled with dried and cured banana skins
(they have been round the world several times..
with no problems; no different to transporting basketwork)

Crate 4
1 x 60 cms x 80 cms x 50 cms
Approx weight: 35 kgs
Contents: 20 audio cd players, wiring, electrical equipment, 20 metal boxes, metal bolts

Crate 5
1 x flat crate containing 20 stitched ‘pictures’ made of dried banana skin covered in wax.
(These pictures or ‘sheets of skin’ must not be in places that are too hot, because the wax will melt. They are wrapped in plastic and tissue paper in the crate. They are very delicate)