Brooklyn based artist Heather Hart hopes for art to take an active roll in leading the shift of cultural value by “creating a critical space that is neither one place, nor another, yet both places.”
Barter Town Trading Posts are a series of interactive installations, curated by Hart with an open invite for participation, be it songs, ideas, goods, services or handmade art, none of it can be bought and sold, everything must be bartered for.

The most recent Trading Post took place in Brooklyn Museum’s Ruben Pavilion in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition ‘Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond’, reflecting the rich creative diversity of Brooklyn. The event spilled into the streets, the waterways and other public spaces of the borough.

Mix tapes, seeds, Arabic scripts, tattoo rituals, face painting, silent clothes swap, painted portraits, shoeshines, hair cuts, back scratches and magic tricks could be acquired from an expansive roster of artists and artisans all plying their trades in return for non-financial payment.

We’ve seen a number of alternative methods of payment recently. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington D.C have set up a scheme, 'Do Good, Feel Good,' that encourages guest to help at the DC Central Kitchen, an organisation that provides meals for its low-income and at-risk neighbours using recycled food in return for complimentary perks at the hotel.