In his 1923 book The Gift, Marcel Mauss analyzes different models of a gift economy that can be understood as a form of resistance to an expanding market economy. Mauss describes how the exchange of objects between groups builds relationships among them. Giving a gift triggers an inherent obligation on the part of the receiver to reciprocate the gift. The resulting series of exchanges between groups hence provides one of the earliest forms of social solidarity.

This book departs from this notion of solidarity, working with Mauss' analysis in the context of a regulated system of gift-giving common to us. Libraries, museums, research and activists centers, as well as many educational institutions often rely on the generosity of donors, who not only support them monetarily but also through in-kind donations. Institutions establish systems regulating the latter, specifying lists of gifts that they are willing to accept and the conditions under which they are to be received. These rules not only allow institutions to physically preserve and manage their materials and collections, but also to strengthen the fields and causes to which they are devoted. Through such contracts, these rules mediate the emotional and social bond that Mauss describes as a "true gift," dissolving the obligation to reciprocate.

Following my interest in the logics of economic and cultural transactions, this project consists of making and donating a gift --in the form of this book titled Localization, Location, Ubicación-- to a series of libraries, institutions, research and activists centers that deal with questions of immigration and labor in North America. Having been in contact with some of these institutions and knowing some of their missions, for the most part I want to provide a bridge linking their efforts. This gift functions as a reference book promoting the institutions included within it. It is also an exercise intended to address the way knowledge production and art are formed, disseminated and organized.