Untapped Cities is a proud media sponsor of No Longer Empty’s latest exhibition “How Much Do I Owe You?” at the abandoned Bank of Manhattan in Long Island City. Jennifer Dalton‘s piece ‘Reckoning’ asks viewers to fill out a survey explaining whether they have given more than they’ve taken or vice versa and then take a button that labels them as a ‘giver,’ ‘taker,’ etc. Over the course of the exhibition, Jennifer has been charting the responses as drawings that are displayed on the wall behind the receptacles. We had a chance to ask her about her experience as part of No Longer Empty.
Photo by Whitney Browne
Untapped Cities: Can you tell us a little bit about the concept behind ‘Reckoning’?
Jennifer Dalton: For me, it is about how hard it is to feel comfortable with either how much you’re giving or how much you’re receiving, and it always feels fraught. It never just feel like things are working out. It feels like, I’m giving too much, I’m getting too much, and in these aspects of my life I’m so indebted and in other aspects of my life, I give and I give and I give, you know? And so I just sort of wanted to get at that, and so ‘Reckoning’ is… there is no reckoning. It’s an attempt at reckoning. It’s something we aspire to, but it never really happens, you just muddle through.
And it’s been really great as I’ve seen some of the responses. It’s really obvious that people are filling out both sides. So it isn’t like some people are givers and some people are takers. We’re all both. And at different times or in different spheres of our lives, we can feel this imbalance. And there’s no such thing as balance, I guess is what I’m trying to say.
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