Comment procéder/entreprendre une recherche sur les (publications) gratuits?

Firstly, how does "les gratuits" translate into English? gratuit=free, "les gratuits" approximates "free things"­ ­ in this case the object of research has been narrowed to "publications," although the definition of what "publications" encompasses is open for me to define. I will use the French "les gratuits" throughout this essay rather than "free things" because the designation les gratuits potentially includes more than material/concrete "things." To commence this research, I propose to engage in an initial "collection period" of samples, during which I will work with a very open definition of "publications." Rather I am being generally attentive to things offered for, or advertised as "gratuit"/"free." The purpose of this methodological approach is to observe the operation of "the free"/"gratuit" in multiple social contexts and to include in my scope things that I might not typically encounter or consider to be publications per se. For example, websites have become a significant means of publishing for "free" (although access to the Internet is not typically free). Many websites disseminate further publications in the form of (free) software, (free) music downloads, etc. As a digital medium the Internet inherently enables unlimited (re)production; its capability to distribute for free/freely offers the potential of subversive/activist activity.

What free publications/gratuits have I encountered and am I likely to encounter in the coming weeks? What are my usual collection habits?

In approaching this research, I am starting from my own relationship with regard to les publications gratuites with an aim to analyze my own habits. I habitually keep an eye out for free cultural publications (generally of the information kind such as leaflets, cards, invitations, small magazines, weekly newspapers, guides, etc.) that I perceive to be relevant to my interests. Having just moved to a new city, my propensity to collect free publications was exaggerated prior to the circumstance of researching les publications gratuites. My motivation in collecting free publications is a desire to be informed, to be current and not to "miss out" on something. I seek to glean information about my (new) surroundings and orient myself with regard to organizations and events that I may be interested in. My needs are different in a new place: I pick up free local newspapers and buy-and-sell papers because I have to buy things like appliances, and because I donÕt know where I might be able to take a yoga class or go swimming.

I notice that I am more open, or perhaps less selective, about which gratuits I pick up in an unfamiliar context because I havenÕt yet determined what I can rely on as a good source, or organization relevant to my interests. Collecting these kind of "freebies" gives me a sense of security because I then have material access to the information. I donÕt usually read everything right away, but am reassured that I have them to hand should I need them. I try to dispose of them once they are no longer current.

I also collect "publications" of the more "arty" sort in the form of pins, stickers, and so on ­ ­ if I am interested in or subscribe to what they represent (perhaps these are more aptly described as multiples). I have a small collection of free pins made by artists, some of which represent art events. I also have a small collection of drawings and small artworks that were given away by artists for free. I am very interested in artists who offer services for free, such as Michael FernandesÕ Free Haircuts, Sheilah WilsonÕs Mending Service, Fear Collector Service, and Apologies Service, The Ladies Afternoon Art SocietyÕs activities, Ben KinmontÕs many projects, and Rirkrit TiravanijaÕs dinners, etc. Another manifestation of the free that I am very interested in is the international movement Food Not BombsÕ regular offering of free vegetarian meals.

Where does one typically find les gratuits?

One most commonly encounters free publications/les publications gratuites in entrance spaces, lobbies, or reception areas, for example upon entering a gallery, organization, cultural centre, or shop. In the case of commercial spaces such as shops, they are set apart from the merchandise and commonly found in the transition space of entranceways, or at/next to the cash desk. The commercial gratuit often has to advertise/proclaim itself as FREE to encourage people to pick it up because there may also be ambiguities in terms of its existence in a shop, where (almost) all items exist as commodities.

A common commercial strategy is to keep what is promised for free at a distance. Typically we encounter a representation of the gratuit, such as an advertising flier, poster, or coupon showing what we could potentially receive for Ôfree.Õ It can only be obtained after the completion of a transaction, such as the ubiquitous "free gift with purchase" or your 6th cup of coffee free (loyalty cards). If you received "the free" up front, or even saw it in the real, you would be less likely to fulfill your end of the transaction.

What has been our collective approach in gathering samples?

In collecting les gratuits around Paris, London, and Grenoble, items were often displayed by the door, sometimes arranged carefully on the floor, more often arranged on a counter, windowsill, table, shelf or rack. That displays of free publications are customary in both commercial and non-commercial spaces attests to this free circulation as a valuable service, a kind of "favour" to the producers and consumers of these free publications.

Our collective approach to this research has been to gather a copy/sample of every free publication we encounter along our trajectory in visiting galleries, museums, art organizations, bookshops, cafes, and stores. We have also spoken with people in various cultural spaces about our research and have been given some good leads to follow, including the names of groups who are active around the idea of les publications gratuites: for example Bureau dÕétudes, éventaire, rhinoceros, and les subsistences. Other manifestations that come to mind include the artist-trading card movement, and email publications such as Instant Coffee. Our research has motivated a visit to the Publicity Museum in Paris and has turned particular attention to an exhibition around the complete production of Art & Projects Bulletin.

How does one know when something is free? By what means does it announce itself, make its availability known, summon the passerby?

As consumers in the city we have been trained to differentiate what we can take for free and what must be purchased. Are there habitual locals and characteristic appearances of the free/gratuit? For example, a friend regularly visits her townÕs Free Box, a dumpster titled as such on the edge of town, where she has collected clothes, furnishings, etc. As a phenomenon, the "Free Box" is typically located in a public space (such as the lounge area in an art school, or left on the sidewalk with the unsold leftovers of a yardsale) where people either pass regularly, or will chance upon it. As discussed above, key to identifying les gratuits is their location, but additionally, what signifiers conventionally announce something as free? In developing a typology, can we differentiate between commercial manipulations of the free/gratuitÑbetween the free/gratuit that has to announce itself as such by carrying the word FREE/GRATUIT, a kind of wolf in sheepÕs clothingÑversus that which we just know is free? And how do we just know something is free?

How do free publications/les publications gratuites hail their potential subjects?

A differentiation between which gratuits I am collecting because of this research, and which I would be inclined to collect regardless, is significant in attempting to be aware of what I might (typically) consciously reject, ignore, or perhaps miss altogether. I typically reject the free packets of crappy cereal and samples of tampons and shampoo that appear as "back-to-school-campus packs." Ditto for free CDs included in daily newspapers and specially-marked cereal boxes. When I lived in Japan there were the ubiquitous packets of Kleenex handed out as one descended escalators, entered department stores, exited stations, serving as a vehicle for an ad tucked in either at the top or bottom of the packet. Sometimes I thankfully received them because tissue is useful. However, I avoid coupons and promotional fliers handed out ­ ­or rather often forced upon you ­ ­as you walk down a busy street, or in the line-up to go see a band. I am sickened by the wasted resources (paper, ink, etc) to produce this stuff that within seconds litters the streets, or else in its over-abundancy languishes unwanted in racks or in piles on countertops.

I feel somewhat uncomfortable­ ­ even false­ ­ about gathering information about events/organizations I would not be interested in outside of research on les publications gratuites, or items that I would usually disdain for their rampant consumerism or environmental wastefulness. Attempting to maintain this awareness signals a line of question central to undertaking this research: how am I hailed (as a subject) by particular gratuits? What signifiers (comprise the aesthetics, or transmit the information that) capture my attention? Conversely which solicit me as a potential consumer/recipient and fail?

I propose that Stuart HallÕs theorization of how we are summoned as subjects by meanings produced via particular discursive modes and codes would be useful in analyzing what free things we respond to with interest, and what we ignore or reject(1). For example, we are interpellated as consumer-subjects via the convention of sales fliers promising buy-one-get-one-free deals displaying what have become recognizable commercial tactics and aesthetics. Alternatively, counter-cultural producers of les gratuits often reject or manipulate the aesthetics conventional within the dominant discourse and create their own to transmit a different politics. For example a poster created to advertise a "clothing-exchange" or A Food Not Bombs event might be obviously hand-made and cheaply produced to reflect a particular politics. In this way we are interpellated as particular kinds of subjects, summoned into particular political discourses, through a variety of aesthetic and stylistic approaches.

Economies: through what framework do I read the offer of "free"/"gratuit"?

The announcement "free" is so familiar to have become banal, taken-for-granted and certainly often taken with a grain of salt. Anything "free" is something of a boon in our consumerist culture: and as is the nature of the late-capitalist beast, the concept has been completely appropriated in the service of generating additional monetary exchange and profit. Any visit to a grocery store will yield infinite examples that "free" and similes such as "bonus," "plus" and "complimentary" are signs that circulate abundantly: "buy-one-get-one-free" and "bonus 30% more free," etc.(2) But a sort of parallel economy exists where the offer of "free" or "gratuit" is arguably more genuine­ ­ in this sphere the offer of something for no money could even be propounded as a subversive gesture or stance. Linux offering a free operating system, Food Not Bombs regularly providing free vegetarian meals, and an artist giving away her/his artworks, exemplify gestures that must be read in relation to the capitalist economy. However, another form of capital exchange is being sought: that of a symbolic or cultural capital. In his theory of the cultural sphere of production, Pierre Bourdieu suggests that symbolic capital takes the form of prestige and peer recognition.(3) While BourdieuÕs theories provide a useful framework through which to interpret les gratuits, I would suggest that their application needs to take into account the evolution of late capitalism, particularly globalization, which has been the motivation behind the creation of many organizations/movements which produce les gratuits as a form of critique and action (Food Not Bombs, Creative Common, Linux, Copy Left movement, etc); and the diversity of economic circumstances of many contemporary producers of les (publications) gratuits, varying from zine-makers to state-funded organizations and institutions to "urban street-wear" companies who have appropriated the production of free stickers, etc. as an advertising strategy.

Indeed in many cases the dissemination of les gratuits serves to promote an event, announce an organizationÕs activities, or put the practice of an artist into circulation. The majority of the publications we encounter function to provide information about an event or organization/institution­­a form of advertising not motivated by monetary profit, but by garnering symbolic capital in the form of visitor attendance, membership, etc (notably, these are typically categories analyzed in funding applications). We are presented with these gratuits with the aim that we might invest our personal time and interest­­and this indeed is another kind of economic transaction/exchange.

These beginning thoughts on the relationship of les gratuits to various economies will help in developing methods of analysis. Having amassed a diverse collection of free publications, we now are presented with the challenge of creating some kind of typology and model of evaluation. By what methods will we analyze, by what categories, and with what assumptions? Will we specify a time-period and locale, or will we look at historical examples (such as Art & Project Bulletin)? What social contexts inflect the gratuitÕs meaning, its production and dissemination? And importantly, we will need to investigate how the gratuit manages to exist, to subsidize itself.

1 Stuart Hall "Introduction: Who Needs Identity?" Questions of Cultural Identity, Stuart Hall and Paul Du gay eds. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications Ltd., 1996; "The Work of Representation," Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. Stuart Hall. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1997.
2 Additional familiar phrases include:10% additional free, buy one get one free, 2 for 1, 3 for 2, complimentary gift, bonus offer, free offer, (your) free gift, free gift with purchase, special offer, 6-months interest free...
3 Pierre Bourdieu, "The Sphere of Cultural Production, or the Economic World Reversed," in The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 29­73.