the act of giving – SUR

The Act of Giving is a research-based project about “gift giving” which aims to explore and understand the complex topic as much as possible. A multi- disciplinary research was conducted to analyse various gifts’ manifestations. Indeed, the subject matter was investigated through the support of already existing, extensive studies in the anthropological and sociological field and thanks to design driven exploration on the field. The analysis led to the development of a diagram which is usable to read the phenomenon itself and compare its different phenomenons. Gifts are powerful tools, mediators of interpersonal relationships. Handling gifts in a conscious way means to use their potential to create, develop and maintain relations between community members.
A system which re-evaluates the so-called “gift articles” has been conceived as the outcome of the preceding study. Its focus lies on specifically thought gifts, objects designed to generate, regenerate, and organize relationships among people.

Sur is the name of the designed system. It is a process which aims to reflect upon the relationship between giver and receiver and to develop suitable, beneficial objects. Assisted by a designer and the tools provided by Sur, the giver is guided through the conception and the creation of a gift which is ex- pressly realized to support, recover, and/or nourish the relationship with the receiver. The system is divided in three main phases:
1) the dialogue phase between the designer (who takes on the role of the “Personal Gifter”) and the giver, which aims to get to know the context and the pre-existing relation between giver and receiver;
2) the collaborative conception and design phase between the designer and the giver, that is meant to draw and create the object which will be given;
3) the production phase, that involves both designer, giver, and local artisans and experts.

The system’s flexibility makes it a format which can be applied and adapted to different spaces and contexts, since it is developed to take advantage of the local potential and resources of every place which will host it. In fact, Sur gives birth to a network of artisans, designers and givers belonging to a (al- ways-changing) specific location. It connects local, sustainable materials and production technologies with abilities that every single giver can already pos- sess and, thanks to the conformable, different way of payment, it promotes support and exchange in terms of capabilities and out-of-date objects/ma- terials.
Student involved in the project:

Giulia Bencini – Master in Eco-Social Design at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano.
www.sur-gifts.net