Venice Gallery Hosts Barter Event 'Whatever It Takes'

From September 25 to 27, 2020, A plus A gallery in Venice hosts 'Whatever It Takes,' a three-day barter event where money is banned. Artists offer their works in exchange for personal objects, time, or skills—such as old toys, family albums, a series of truly funny jokes, a title for a future project, language lessons, collaboration with a composer, interaction with scientists and IT experts, a residency in a location chosen by the recipient, a critical text on their work, a Murano glass piece, or 12 tramezzini to combat nostalgia for Venice. The project is conceived by curators from the School for Curatorial Studies Venice, a laboratory for visual arts founded by Aurora Fonda in 2004. It was developed in January 2020 following reflections on economic and anthropological theories, and gained deeper meaning after the lockdown revealed that economies derive from concrete needs and interpersonal relationships. Organizers state the project re-engages the dialectic between individualism and community, state, and collective language in art.