Brooklyn May Soon Have Its Own Currency

In the past, alternative currencies have been created out of necessity — by citizens who were living under oppressive regimes or through extreme economic turmoil. It's characteristic of the post-mega-boom recession we're in now that people are just doing it because, hey, it's kind of cool!

Earlier this summer, a Berlin art collective experimented with using slime as currency as part of an installation at a Lower East Side gallery; now an artist named Mary Jeys is developing one, the Brooklyn Torch, which she hopes Brooklyn businesses will begin accepting in lieu of the dollar sometime this fall. But the project isn't really about money, Jeys tells the Daily News:

"This medium of exchange has more to do with meeting people and feeling that you're connected to a community versus a monetary system."

That's cute. We assume also that, in the spirit of things, they will be redeemable if the economic system collapses again and money stops coming out of the ATMs. But — before we get there! — Jeys is still looking for a design for the currency. Flavorpill has a good one, and our own Ryan Monaghan's is above. Submit yours at Brooklyn Torch.com.

Northern Brooklyn artists encourage local spending with unique currency [NYDN]
Related: Will Work for Slime

Previously on Daily Intel...
 

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