SHSMO Center for Missouri Studies
605 Elm St.
Columbia
Join us for an engaging conversation with artist and filmmaker Desireé Moore, followed by a pop-up Barter Boat trading event. Bring an item to trade and become part of this unique exchange!
Trading Hours are from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. in the lobby of the Center for Missouri Studies.
A presentation by Moore will be held in Cook Hall from 12-1 p.m.
What is Barter Boat? It's a mobile art installation designed to bring people of all ages together through the act of barter. Participants are invited to trade personal objects with emotional, philosophical, or historical significance. Barter Boat challenges prevailing notions of historical importance by focusing on objects as points of departure for storytelling. It emphasizes the value of everyday items in shaping a more inclusive view of culture and identity. Objects like a plastic model car, traded by a young man who fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or a handwritten note from a mother offering advice on wearing yellow, serve as witnesses to both extraordinary and ordinary life experiences. They create a space for stories that might otherwise remain untold.
What should you bring to barter? Almost anything that doesn’t rot. The Barter Boat curators love objects that hold meaning beyond financial value. They've received good luck rocks, original drawings, sentimental keepsakes, and special one-offs, like a foam cube that was supposed to be a pillow for a small lizard (minus the lizard!)
You're invited to contribute to the Barter Boat archive by sharing your own stories and their corresponding objects. Barter Boat is a collaborative project by Anna Elliott, Desireé Moore, and Robin Schwartzman. (Photograph by Lily Kleinhenz/Maneater)