do it (around the world)
do it is an ever-expanding set of creative instructions by leading artists – simple enough for anyone to do. The project first started in Paris in 1993 with Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and artists Bertrand Lavier and Christian Boltanski.
In 2020, 30 artists from around the world are making brand new instructions for people to do at home, with do its from creative figures from the fields of art, music, poetry, fashion and design, including Virgil Abloh, Chino Amobi, Arca, BTS, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Alvaro Barrington, Grace Wales Bonner, Ian Cheng, Matt Copson, Shawanda Corbett, Counterspace, Jesse Darling, Aria Dean, Es Devlin, Demna Gvasalia, Aurelia Guo, Max Hawkins, Evan Ifeokya, Arthur Jafa, Carla Juaçaba, Dozie Kanu, Ligia Lewis, Kelsey Lu, Total Luxury Spa, James Massiah, Oscar Murillo, Jeremy O’Harris, Precious Okoyomon, Nisha Ramayya, Megan Rooney, Rachel Rose, Lorenzo Senni, Solange, Patrick Staff, Jenna Sutela, FKA twigs, Jan Vorisek, Leilah Weinraub and Hsu Che Yu.
You can find the new do its alongside a set of archival instructions intended for the home environment on a hub created by Google Arts & Culture g.co/doitaroundtheworld. New do its are uploaded weekly in May and June 2020 and shared on Serpentine’s Instagram @serpentineuk. Do its are also available through the Bloomberg Connects App.
Share your own creations using #doit and #doitaroundtheworld and please tag @serpentineuk so we can see what you’ve made.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director at the Serpentine Galleries, initiated do it in Paris in 1993 with artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, gathering recipes for artworks from twelve artists. Since then, more than 400 artists have contributed instructions, including founders Boltanksi and Lavier, plus Yoko Ono, Gilbert and George, Louise Bourgeois, Adrian Piper, Tracey Emin and Félix González-Torres—an eclectic mix of things that range from the active to the absurd and the philosophical. Over the nearly three-decade life of the project, more than 150 art spaces in over 15 countries have exhibited do it exhibitions and many new versions have appeared, such as do it (museum), do it (tv) and do it (in school).
The idea for do it (around the world) began when people quarantined due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Italian cities and elsewhere began making and sharing do its via social media in March 2020. ICI launched do it (home), a selection of artists’ instructions especially suited to be realised from home and shared across ICI’s global network of collaborators. Kaldor Public Art Projects, the world’s longest-running public art organisation launched do it (australia) in 2020 http://doit.kaldorartprojects.org.au/.
Project partners: Serpentine Galleries, Independent Curators International (ICI) in New York, Kaldor Public Art Projects in Sydney, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Google Arts & Culture
