This event at Tate Britain was modelled after a community gathering that I went to as a child. Traditionally a Penny Social is a fundraiser where people pay for sheets of tickets to bet on assorted knick knacks and bric-a-brac donated for the cause. My version is decidedly different in that no money changes hands; participants receive tickets in exchange for their unwanted items and any associated anecdotes they can think to share about them. Part auction, part public confessional, it is based on the premise that what people throw away is not only coveted by others, but more importantly helps to define them. My Penny Social is a counterpoint to the commercialism of our society and a way of revaluing what we might normally perceive as waste.
