From the dawn of time to the grade school lunch table, man is long familiar with the system of exchange. But somewhere along the way we all found ourselves with a bag of Fritos in our hands and no one willing to relinquish their Snack Pack. So as the capitalist society we were born into dictates, we all went out and got jobs. Why? Because jobs equal money and money equals Snack Packs. Now in the midst of a worldwide recession our none-too-full pockets have gotten tighter and tighter. So tight in fact that our greedy little fingers have a hard time getting in there and we are forced to cut back on our Snack Pack intake. But what of that surplus of Fritos sitting in the corner? Surely their must be someone with a hoard of pudding, dying for a savory, salty treat.
A small group of artists, familiar with the lunchroom trade culture, have a strong awareness of our currenct economic climate and a desire to somehow alter or at least rethink the relationship that art has to currency. They have materialized their desire into an exhibit and a phenomenon called A New Currency. Curator Dan Cameronand 31 School of Visual Arts students have started the project at the local level and will be expanding into virtue and global realms. The idea is to create "a model for applying art's experimental methods to a fundamentally entrepreneurial task: rethinking art's relationship to systems of exchange."
At 55 Delancey Street, students have garnered themselves an empty storefront on the Lower East Side (bartering for the space instead of paying) and will be using their work to discover new bridges between the economic and the art worlds. The exhibit will be open from May 29th - June 28th. Other artists in other cities across the globe are encouraged to develop their own exhibitions as well. A website by Gregg Louis (www.anewcurrency.com) and blog have been set up to follow these artists and their work. Images and videos can be posted and viewed to see how different people from different places (St. Louis, Miami, Seoul and Taipei all have exhibitors thus far) interpret A New Currency.
Ultimately, the global, virtual and local take on A New Currency will be displayed at the Visual Arts Gallery (601 West 26th Street, 15th floor) from July 11th to August 15th. Visit www.anewcurrency.com or stop by 55 Delancey to see the exhibit.
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