Money Actions & Free Money
Art in Odd Places 2009: Sign - October 1-31, 2009
Would you leave money in the street for strangers to find? Try it and see. I'm seeking participants for Art in Odd Places this October. We'll meet in small groups in parks along 14th street, and I'll give each participant specially prepared dollar bills to place in public spaces at eye level. Meetings will take place Oct 10, 11, 17 & 18, 2pm. To participate, please RSVP to info [at] moneyactions [dot] org
I'll also be doing money actions on and around 14th street throughout the month of October - follow these on Twitter at twitter.com/moneyactions.
OPENING PARTY: October 1, 6-9pm, Theaterlab, 137 14th Street
More info and festival map: Art in Odd Places 2009
Money Actions and Free Money
Money Actions and Free Money are an ongoing series of situations in which I give away money in various settings, exploring the interactions and experiences that result.
Money Actions: February 2008 - May 2009
- $10 left in an outdoor ATM
- $5 at the Greene street post office
- $20 in a copy of Marx' Das Kapital
- $1 left at eye level
- $10 left somewhere along 26th street
- $20 in a bodega on stanton
- $2 side by side on a loading dock
- $1 left at eye level
- $5 given to an anarchist
- $5 near the corner of Grand & Wooster
- $20 left in a copy of the New York Post
- $10 buried in the sand at Waikiki Beach
- $5 left at the feet of Duke Kahanomoku
- $20 in the lock of a public surfboard stand
Follow current Money Action updates on Twitter twitter.com/moneyactions.
$1 Left at Eye Level
February 12, 2009: I placed $1 bills at eye level along Canal Street and throughout lower Soho. Each rolled bill had a hand stamped print inside, bearing the words “$1 Left at Eye Level.” An additional set of bills & prints was handed out to vistors at Glowlab with the request that they be left anyplace in public at eye level.
$20 in a copy of the New York Post
Language documenting money actions. Unique rubber stamp prints & various other forms.
Free Money
As part of the Live Biennale in Vancouver (2007), I met with 22 people one on one in Vancouver cafés. I gave each person $50 (Canadian) and asked them to make a choice as to whether they would keep the money or give it away to someone else. During the meetings, which lasted about a half hour each, I had a remarkable series of conversations about money, work, art, and life.
Free Money was presented as part of the Participatory Dissent program at Western Front, curated by Natalie Loveless (invited by iKatun).
>>Live Biennale blog Lori Weidenhammer
>>Live Biennale blog Margaret Dragu
Please Take One
Please take one and pass it on.
Dollar bills were given away in in gallery settings on recent occasions, with Glowlab at the Bridge Art Fair (2008) as part of the show "Keep the Change" at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York (2007) and as part of You Can Have it All. at the Salvation Gallery in New York (2007)
Free Money Release
A Free Money happening, Free Money Release was part of the Conflux Festival in September of 2006. During the Conflux, $1000 was distributed in the public spaces of Williamsburg in shiny gold envelopes for anyone to find. Participants from the first Free Money found places for the envelopes throughout the neighborhood in cafés, supermarket shelves, subway corridors, the public library, and telephone booths.
one2one
The first Free Money event was held during be something’s one2one festival of intimate performances. During that event, the artist met with eleven people tête à tête in a Wiliamsburg café.
Each participant was offered a choice between $20 to keep, and $100 to give away to someone else—a total of $1,020 was distributed over the course of the afternoon.
More info: Sal Randolph