Take Me (I’m Yours)

42 international, intergenerational artists present work made for audience participation.

Opening September 16, 2016, the Jewish Museum presents Take Me (I’m Yours), a highly unconventional exhibition that encourages visitors to touch, interact with, and even take home works of art by a group of 42 international and intergenerational artists, many of whom are creating new and site-specific works for the exhibition. The exhibition aims to construct a democratic space for all visitors to participate in the creation and ownership of an artwork, thus commenting on the politics of value, consumerism, and hierarchical structures of the art market. Take Me (I’m Yours) encourages shared experiences and direct engagement with works of art, suggesting alternative ways that artists can live in, contribute to, and gain from society at large.

First mounted by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and artist Christian Boltanksi in 1995 at the Serpentine Gallery, London, Take Me (I’m Yours) featured works by 12 artists that explored concepts of value and participation in the arts. More than 20 years later, Take Me (I’m Yours) at the Jewish Museum features an expanded roster of artists and projects specific to both New York City and an institution of art and Jewish culture, including several from the original exhibition. In addition, the Jewish Museum’s installation marks the first time that Take Me (I’m Yours) is on view in a collecting institution, examining the role of museum collections by giving works away rather than holding them.

Take Me (I’m Yours) at the Jewish Museum is curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs, the Jewish Museum, New York; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London; and Kelly Taxter, Associate Curator, the Jewish Museum, New York. 

Participating artists
aaajiao, Kelly Akashi, Uri Aran, Dana Awartani, Cara Benedetto, Christian Boltanski, Andrea Bowers, James Lee Byars, Luis Camnitzer, Ian Cheng, Heman Chong, Maria Eichhorn, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Claire Fontaine, Andrea Fraser, General Sisters, Gilbert & George, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Yngve Holen, Carsten Höller, Jonathan Horowitz, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Alex Israel, Koo Jeong A, Alison Knowles, Angelika Markul, Adriana Martinez, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Jonas Mekas, Rivane Neuenschwander, Yoko Ono, Sondra Perry, Rachel Rose, Martha Rosler, Allan Ruppersberg, Tino Sehgal, Daniel Spoerri, Haim Steinbach, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Amalia Ulman, Lawrence Weiner


Related public programs 

Writers and Artists Respond
Gallery conversations with artists, moderated by Kelly Taxter, Associate Curator.

Rachel Rose and Haim Steinbach
Thursday, September 22, 6:30pm
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish admission; RSVP recommended

Uri Aran and Ian Cheng
Thursday, January 19, 6:30pm
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish admission; RSVP recommended

Coactivities: The Relational Sphere and the Internet of Objects
Thursday, September 29, 6:30pm
Theorist and curator Nicolas Bourriaud discusses the concept of Relational Aesthetics as applied to art and 
the digital realm.
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish admission; RSVP recommended

Bang on a Can: Performance by Pauline Oliveros
Thursday, November 10, 7:30pm
Composer Pauline Oliveros performs The Sound of Meditation on V-Accordion, an instrument that produces both accordion and orchestral sounds. The concert blurs the boundary between performer and audience by asking the listener to participate.
Tickets

Adult Studio Workshop: Art for Sharing
Sunday, December 4, 1:30–5:30pm
Inspired by concepts of generosity, metaphor, and communication found in the exhibition, this class, taught by artist Golnar Adili, introduces various ways to create artworks in multiples that can be given away.
Course fee includes all materials

Dialogue and Discourse: Christian Boltanski and Jens Hoffmann
Thursday, December 15, 6:30pm
The Jewish Museum’s installation is discussed by the artist and the Director of Special Exhibitions and Public Programs.
Free with Pay-What-You-Wish admission; RSVP recommended

Gallery talks
Discussions related to the exhibition led by Jewish Museum educators.
Free with Museum admission; RSVP recommended

Touch, Taste, Talk: Art for the Body
Fridays, October 7, November 4, and January 20, 2pm

Framing and Reframing
Fridays, October 21, December 16, and February 3, 2pm


Also opening September 16:
John Singer Sargent’s Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children
Masterpieces & Curiosities: Memphis Does Hanukkah
The Television Project: You Don’t Have to Be Jewish

Take Me (I’m Yours) is made possible by The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, AIG Private Client Group, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Amanda and Glenn Fuhrman, Midge and Simon Palley, Charlotte Feng Ford, Ann and Mel Schaffer, and our Kickstarter community of supporters. Additional support is provided through the Melva Bucksbaum Fund for Contemporary Art and the Leon Levy Foundation. 

Public programs are made possible by endowment support from the William Petschek Family, the Trustees of the Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Foundation, Barbara and Benjamin Zucker, the late William W. Hallo, the late Susanne Hallo Kalem, the late Ruth Hallo Landman, the Marshall M. Weinberg Fund, with additional support from Marshall M. Weinberg, the Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Foundation, the Saul and Harriet M. Rothkopf Family Foundation, and Ellen Liman.

Additional support is provided by Lorraine and Martin Beitler and through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.