Gift-it-Forward creates a rich and elegant interactive space to explore the stories, questions and ideas related to the film. A series of multimedia gifts to be explored and shared by the user, it draws inspiration from the magical, dreamlike boxes of artist Joseph Cornell.
Released before the film is available, some boxes contain a small clip from the film itself; all have multimedia components to be explored, deepening and expanding the theme. Each box is a singular construction, containing original artwork and content. The series of boxes then becomes a kind of curated art project – each conceived in collaboration with a different artist or creator. Hyde’s beloved book is a theory of “gifting” that becomes a metaphor for creativity, art, and how we share our gifts.
Inspired by Hyde’s ideas, the project is structured as a “gift economy”: each box is unique, and designed to be shared as a gift. Each box may be gifted for a period of time: whoever has the gift keeps it as theirs to enjoy and watch, and no one else’s. If they are inspired to “pass the gift” to you, it’s yours, not theirs anymore – in fact, it’s deleted from their hard drive. And you are made aware that you are watching the ONLY copy.
Gifts originate from a Wall: a webpage where the “wall of boxes” resides. A viewer begins the gifting cycle by sending to a recipient via a mobile deep link – at which point the gift becomes closed to the viewer, and anyone else on the wall. In its stead is left the cover – something that gives people an idea of what is missing or gifted, and, through tracking, tells the user where the gift has travelled, and where it is right now.
