Met my friend Akumal today, who is curating a painting exhibition. While the gallery is being doneup, we were discussing where the artists are going to be housed. The twelve artists are travelling from Kolkata to Bangalore for over ten days and accomodating them close to the gallery is important.
We noticed an empty house near the gallery ( which is in a very pleasant part of the city) and decided to check to see if the house could be "bartered out" for a week or so. The deal would be simple : house the artists for the duration and get a first-rate painting from them in return for the hospitality. Not a bad deal ! Considering that each of the artists who are exhibiting has the potential to make it big; and the works themselves are increadiblity beautiful, this is not a bad deal at all.
The discussion then veered towards how barter in some societies has replaced currency and how it can even in today's complex world be used effectively as a means of exchange. without enough "hard cash" many people feel strapped and cannot do things they really want to do. Barter can come to their rescue and be of great help in such situations.
A travel agent can offer free travel to a hotelier friend who can host the agent's friends for a few days; an artist can barter his paintings for some service or even hospitality. Even corporate firms can use this tool ( and i have seen this in practice) already. While barter in itself seems simple; the mechanism is susceptible to flaws and is not foolproof.
But in simple terms and among individuals, it can work very well if we mutually decide to share the resources we have. Something to think about on a sunday afternoon !
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