“I am interested in ‘making life better’ in its broadest sense and not necessarily in a scrupulous fashion.” (Sam Curtis, Artist’s Statement, 2006) Engaging with the potentialities of participation, collaboration and exploitation, Sam Curtis’ installation and performative works involve an often-subtle process of investigation, experimentation and research into social transactions. Employing Conceptual Art’s use of formal instruction and mimicking existing official frameworks and institutions, the artist produces a set of strict directions or a defined structure within which to work. Adopting a position as author and director, Curtis embraces the tensions and power dynamics embedded in systems of generosity and social exchange. For example, in School, 2005 Curtis constructed a classroom-sized school out of paper, duck tape and string in order to stage his own personal system of education, within an existing art school (Goldsmiths College). The process involved a series of participants paying their tuition fee of 60p for home students and £2.40 for international students (the actual cost of fifteen minutes tuition at Goldsmiths College). The participant submitted a chosen subject that the artist then researched over anything from one hour to two days. Curtis gave a fifteen minute lecture, teaching a subject determined and decided by the student, ranging from ‘belly dancing and laughing’ to ‘oral sex’ or ‘how to start your own business.’  The artist created a framework of generosity and collaboration, wherein he provided personal and individual choice and a service. However, within this playful imitation of the school institution, it is the artist who structures the social and educational transaction. It is his subjectivity that determines the limits of the participant’s choice and the artist retains the authority and control to decide what information to ‘teach.’ Curtis’ structuring of generosity is central to his proposal for a piece of work for a current commission. In conversation with the artist, we discussed the circumstances and process of the commission. The commissioning party expressed that the piece had to be a ‘Sam Curtis Original’ painting. Within this rationale the artist is working on creating a painting that will function aesthetically, according to the commissioner’s expectations. Curtis’ practice does not involve painting and as part of the commission the artist intends to provide an art historical lecture on the ‘Dematerialisation of the Art Object’ in order to insert information about his own practice. Through this strategy Curtis aims to enact a critical investigation into the expectations involved in this personal, social and economic exchange. The artist will apply the responsibility and model of the public art institution; to educate and interpret, to a personal and commercial transaction more akin to an art dealership. This process performs an experiment while bringing the varied locations and responsibilities of art and the artist into focus. The exchange seemingly generous, also embraces the possibility of patronising the ‘audience,’ of awkwardness and reductive discourse; complexities that engage with the problematics of ‘interpreting’ art in publicly funded institutions. The generosity, instability, uncertainty and expectations involved in collaborative practice form a central position in Curtis’ work. The diverse and productive possibilities of, democratic co-authorship, manipulation, and exploitation are explored by the artist in a playful and critical examination of the social impact of art and the artist’s social role. Continued conversations with Sam Curtis are forming an interesting and productive process for learning about the artist’s practice and for discussing the B+B archive as a springboard for ideas. In particular our conversations have begun to develop thoughts around the concept of the artist ‘making the world a better place.’   Jennifer Copley 2006   *Jennifer Copley is an independent curator