The Trading Tortoise visits Portland

Saturday, July 28th, 2012 | 3-6 pm
@ Grass Hut
400 NW Couch Street
Portland, Oregon 97209

The Trading Tortoise is a traveling art project created by Souther Salazar & Monica Choy with the goal of creating a unique community experience while exploring America through objects and stories.

At each stop, they’ll set up our Trading Tortoise installation and invite people to bring an object, story or creation and exchange it for something else special we’ve found or traded for along the way. They hope to connect people in different places in America in this way, through a network of traded treasures, and through a mutual love of giving and receiving in a non-monetary exchange.

Every person has a unique object or story that only they can bring to this project.  Each item they receive will be tagged with the person’s name, location, and a number and documented on their website so people can follow the trades and see where their item eventually traveled to.

In between the scheduled events, we’ll be exploring whatever we can along the way and documenting the overall adventure on our blog with photos, videos, and artwork, as well as in a series of 5 printed Trading Tortoise zines.

The adventure culminates in an art show Souther has scheduled for May 2013 at Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York City. The art show will feature a new body of work including paintings, drawings, and an on-site installation of sculptures inspired by their trades and travels.

How it works:

1. Bring us something special that you’re willing to trade.

2. Fill out a tag (we will have them out near the Tortoise) with your name, location, and as much info about your trade as possible (leave the number blank).

3. Sit down and trade with us! Tell us about your object you brought: where did you find it? did you make it? what’s the story behind it? We will present a few different options for you to choose from. We will do our best to connect you with something we think you might appreciate. (If you decide you would rather keep the item you brought, that is always totally OK too)

4. Track your trade online. We will assign a number to your item that will allow you to see where it eventually finds its new home.

What is OK to trade:

Anything that you think is special and carries some story or meaning along with it. It could be a found object, a childhood possession, a handmade creation, a story, a drawing, etc.

What is not OK:

Anything living

Anything perishable

Anything extremely fragile without a container

Anything extremely large or bulky (shoebox size or smaller is preferable, our storage space is limited!)

Garbage from the bottom of your purse or backpack.

Extra Notes:

We can only accommodate up to 50 trades per stop, so come early! You are welcome to bring more items to barter with others, but please only 1 trade per person with the Trading Tortoise.