So, you want to bring something home from an art fair, but your budget is limited? For the duration of this summer’s Art Basel fair (June 10-16), New York artist Jonathan Horowitz will organize “Free Store,” an outdoor market, open 24 hours a day, encouraging a free-flowing exchange of merchandise in which no cash need change hands. The project operates under the premise, “bring stuff in that you can’t use, take stuff away that you can,” according to a press release.
Parodying the art fair model by removing the money, Horowitz plans to create “an alternate economy parallel to that of the art fair,” the artist says in a press release. There are no rules or regulations, and simple signage will encourage visitors to take and trade goods. Horowitz hopes to engage a wide range of fair-goers and also intends to attract some visitors who would not otherwise attend
Horowitz has previously set up “Free Store” in London and New York. Most recently, his store at Art Basel Miami Beach, last December, received donations from the fair’s artist clientele including Maurizio Cattelan, Rob Pruitt and Marilyn Minter. Monetary donations were collected for Hurricane Sandy relief groups, and all leftover goods were donated to a local charity shop.
New York gallery Gavin Brown’s enterprise, which represents Horowitz, is currently asking Basel residents, fair-goers and exhibitors to help stock the store. They welcome anything, including clothing, books, housewares, furnishings and art.
