On the basis of Derrida’s wish to enforce a philosophical consideration of the ›gift‹ without expecting anything in return, we shall show the significance of ›giving‹ in the field of the Theory of Art – in contrast to the prevailing idea of confining the ›gift‹ to a question of moral philosophy –, and argue for the interdependence of ethics and aesthetics. As Nietzsche said, you need an „art of giving“ to detach ›giving‹ from ulterior economic motives. Vice versa, in the Theory of Art, the ›gift‹ is not only relevant as a form of expenditure and surplus of meaning, but is also relevant in

its ethical and social sense. The various reflections on different forms of ›giving‹ in contemporary art, as exemplified here, promise to complement the ethics of the ›gift‹ with the aesthetics of ›giving‹.