GIFT ENGINE: A Retelling of 50 Years of Stony Brook

An installation by Nick De Pirro

Gift Engine: A Retelling of 50 Years of Stony Brook presents an interpreted history of the university. With Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass as a point of departure, De Pirro describes nine pivotal events from the university's past.

This is not a literal narrative, but describes historical incidents as abstracted fables. These range from the discovery of MRI technology to the bar code. For the artist, this show is a gift and represents a celebratory offering or a tribute, like the university itself. The machine embodies the core motivating aspect of the university, and is represented as part of every event that shaped the history of the school. Integral to the artist's memory and the Duchampian fable is coffee or chocolate as a symbol of the grinding of the raw bean into an energy-giving source of inspiration. In this spirit, the gallery and the artist invite all to enjoy the gift of free coffee.

The exhibition's core theme is a remix of Stony Brook University through a combination of the artist¢s memory, actual historical events, and the creation of tall tale that gives birth to a new legend rather than a codified history.