the artmoney story

A story can be considered true or false. But consider this; when a story leads to action and people are affected enough to change their minds or begin to nurture thoughts they never had before. When society reacts and allows things that were previously forbidden. When events take place that were never considered possible, then it is no longer a question of true or false. Then it is simply a matter of reality.

The story begins with the end. When all is over the story stands to be told and witness a time that once was. Or perhaps there was no time before the story was told? While writing this, art money is still an undefined organism. We can only guess about the final form and function. There is enough material though to conclude that artmoney is a reality that touches many people, and we do have to relate in one way or another as an individual and as society.

A late night in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 1997, I was pondering on how to make ends meet. I did not have enough money to pay the bills and no promise of an income in sight. The studio was booming with dusty art but my wallet was empty. Suddenly, I had the crazy thought, that we constantly speak of “making money” when in fact no one does! The institutions that claim monopoly on the production of money have made it illegal for the common man to do the same. It is simple to understand the logic in that decision, but it has enslaved a major part of human kind, and that is a shame! We are forced to spend our time and freedom on serving the constant demand of the never ending bills. Regardless how hard one works, there is still a debt to be paid. Meanwhile the dear drops of life run out in the sand.

What if it was possible to break the mental chains of financial slavery by introducing an individual currency to global trade? Through all time artists have exchanged art for goods and services. Natural trade economy is the oldest known currency and is still alive and well worldwide. From time to time I sold some original, signed paintings for money, so I could pay my bills. Other times I paid directly with art, without reaching for my wallet. Why not combine the two methods into one and introduce the original drawing itself as a new kind of alternative currency?

The thought had sprouted and I began to nurture the idea. I cut some water color paper into 12x18 cm, a little larger than money and smaller than ”art”. The format allowed both landscape and portrait and seemed harmonious. I painted a motif. Now I had created a work of art. I carried on with serial number, production year, my full legible name and a binding signature. Now I had added the information seen on "money". I wrote a set of game rules, which guaranteed that one could redeem the bill toward art at the amount of 100 Danish Kroner (today 200 Danish Kroner). I named it "artmoney". I used the English language because I intended the trade to be global.

Trade objects issued by an individual need not be limited to a single country. "Art" indicated that it was an original work of art. "Money" indicated that it could be "spend" and that the value for all art money was to be the same. The human touch was intended to give the trade object "life" and as such hold an inherent value. It was all together an attempt to join good and evil in a single object. Plus and minus. One original "battery of human value" created by an artist with the purpose of maintaining a purchasing function for all places at all times, to be cashed in for goods or services wherever and whenever needed. And of course it was all meant to be fun.

Night became day and the thought seemed absurd in the light of a busy morning. A few days later an art collector dropped by my studio to check out the new art money concept. He liked the idea and bought the first four notes. We had conducted the first currency exchange in artmoney and thought became deed. I gained new hope. 

During the Christmas season I attempted to spend some artmoney at small shops down town Copenhagen. Many places refused the idea immediately, but some accepted and some even gave back change to honor the value! I was happily surprised at the willingness I met. It occurred to me that I might be looking at a great potential if artmoney could be accepted in a big way some day.

The next month I built my own house and paid half of the cost in art works and half of the cost in artmoney. No bank loan and no money down. Finally I was "home free"!

1998. Copenhagen artist Vincent from the artist collective "Syntese" viewed the project. We discussed how other artists could get involved in producing artmoney. Vincent was a pioneer on the computer and suggested a portal on the Internet. Using the Internet we could build a "bank" with little means and still store a large amount of information. 1998 was the year when the Internet became a common household item in Denmark and we felt we had just stepped into a new era! We could only guess about the future possibilities of the Internet, benefits and downfalls, and there was no guarantee that the new technology would survive. We took the chance. 

When we designed BIAM as an Internet portal it was taking a step into unknown territory. We did it, and finally presented the "online world" with the "Bank of International Art Money". The first Internet portal for artmoney ever! BIAM could be pronounced: "Be - I am", a play on words to signal the "human value" inherent in the concept, which was meant to "cleanse" a world of filthy money.

The intention of an Internet portal was to create an inexpensive, fast and easy accesses sable location to help artists’ world wide join up as producers in order to send authorized artmoney into circulation on several locations around the world at the same time and with minimum administration from the head office. A plan made possible with the new technology. It was not our intention to make any profit. Quite the opposite! We wished to seek an option free for money in order to attempt financial freedom by not needing money!

This could be accomplished if we succeeded at introducing art money as an accepted payment for goods and services world wide. Rather than reaching for financial wealth we reached for financial freedom!

Now BIAM figured as an art project with a free offer for artists to issue their own alternative currency, but no one was signing up? The skepticism among artists was overwhelming. Both Vincent and I went shopping with artmoney but we could not tempt other artists to follow suit! Therefore I planned an artmoney exhibition in a Vancouver gallery and a gallery in New York City and offered the Danish artists a place in the show if they would register and start making some artmoney. This trick seemed to work and the first 20 artists joined BIAM.

In Vancouver it was the Andre Emil Gallery on Granville Street and in New York City the Gathering of the Tribes Gallery in Lower East Side Manhattan. Both galleries had a broad network and the message of artmoney had a fine entry in both Canada and USA. The purpose of these shows was solely to serve information and to promote the new concept. The Danish artmoney was for show only, and not for sale.

As I returned to Denmark I had doubled the amount of artists in BIAM with Canadian and American artists! These two shows were critical in realizing BIAM and I will be ever thankful to the two galleries and the brave and devoted people involved.

1999. The Danish news paper: ”Politiken – Kultur & Debat” printed a full front page article titled: ”Money is something you paint”. The story brought about a series of media attention in Scandinavian countries. Later that year Norwegian TV visited Copenhagen and filmed a documentary on artmoney that was shown on national culture program: ”Gydas Vei” in Norway shortly after. The film crew followed the "bank director" in a live performance around Copenhagen, trying to spend artmoney in shops and cafés, while explaining how it worked in reality. This way Norway became the first country where artmoney was commonly known among the population. More exhibitions followed and more artists registered as artmoney producers.

2001. BIAM received an invitation to participate on the 25th Annual coin fair, in Aalborg, Denmark. I was only representative at the fair and presented my artmoney along side antique coins from various places and times. This was a principally important event, as it was the first time an established "money organization" recognized artmoney as a currency! An article on artmoney was printed in the Coin Fair membership magazine, to inform the coin society about the occurrence.

Later the same year I left on a 7-year journey, following the path of events. This 7-year project had been planned for some time, with departure 7am on his 35th birthday. I had to "travel this path" until age 42 on June 7th 2008, and could only choose among events that came my way. I could not follow any goals or desires other than what appeared before me in this period. Of course this method would have some effect on the development of BIAM as it could not be goal oriented for this period as well as the goal could not be known before hand. It also meant that BIAM was open for surprise moments and rapid change along the way.

Later same year the journey brought me back to Denmark to collect my wife. In the process she became pregnant, which meant that the Kraemmer family settled in Copenhagen again and had another child later on. So the Danish capital became a fairly solid base for BIAM after all.

2002. BIAM was invited to exhibit in the prestigious 5000 m2 showroom: "Øksnehallen" down town Copenhagen. Taking advantage of a budget of 3 million Danish Kroner (400.000 Euro) and a top professional staff in Øksnehallen, Vincent and I + a number of volunteers built the largest artmoney exhibition ever. A stylish office was established in the center of the room built in Danish Montana designer office furniture. A number of high tech computers were set up by Wictech and the web site was rebuilt in English by Wichtech and in Danish by ABC Design.

100 artists were invited to build an installation investigating "Human value" in 100 glass exhibition cases measuring 1x1x2 m. A heavy duty book on artmoney was printed and the show was a hit!

Former National Bank Director Erik Hoffmeier opened the show with a speech explaining the artmoney concept in financial terms, and 700 invited guests enjoyed an impressive buffet and wine.

Auction house Lauritz.com conducted the sale of installations for no charge while a staff of 17 artists managed the sale of more than 700 pieces of artmoney. Money from the art sale was donated to “Doctors Without Boarders” and the exhibition was named: ”Money Without Boarders”.

The Øksnehallen exhibition attracted more attention than we could have hoped for and most media in Denmark documented the event with much focus on Danish writer Gordon Inc., who had decided to exhibit his naked body during the entire month under the title: “Man is the greatest art of all!.

The Øksnehallen exhibition marked a turning point for BIAM, and it has been in constant growth ever since. By end of 2002 the number of artmoney artists reached 300 with new artists signing up every week. In 2004 serval artists demanded that BIAM should sell their artmoney via the site. Because of this turn of events, Vincent and I decided to call it a day. Vincent went back to his art production and I went into business.

In order to sell artmoey online, it was necessary to construct a formal business model for BIAM. That resulted in BIAM ApS (BIAM Ltd.), which became a reality in 2005 with InleadMedia.com as my new partner. I paid the down payment in artmoney - of course! InleadMedia constructed a new site with a payment module for online shopping.

In 2007 InleadMedia pulled out of the business, which was making no profit, leaving me with 100% of the shares and no means to support further development. I finally reached a point of exhaustion with nearly 1000 artists to administer, full time office work and no pay check to support my family.

At this time auction house Lauritz.com suggested that they could be a new partner in the artmoney project. They had followed the project with interest since 2003, since they handled the online sale of artmoney installations at Øksnehallen. The deal became reality and the project was saved form total collapse.

Lauritz.com supplied new funding and expertise. Most importantly Mette Rode and Bengt Sundstrøm, manager and owner, involved themselves personally in the creative development of the concept. A new web site was ordered from VERK.DK. They launched the new site on September 15th, the day of celebrating 10 years of artmoney at Pressen - Politikens Hus, Copenhagen, Denmark. At this major show room BIAM exhibited artmoney from 34 countries under the title: "forbidden art - finance of expression". More than 1000 guests visited the exhibition and we had a major party that night!  

Unfortunately the new site was never completed. Technical lacks and mistakes make it difficult for the BIAM site to develop. Also a lack of finance makes it problematic to move forth, as work on the site is very costly. 

On February 25th, 9:30 am, BIAM was taken to court. The "Danish Financial Advisory Board" had accused BIAM of illegal use of the word "bank" in "Bank of International Artmoney". The court decided that BIAM was guilty, and sentenced BIAM to a fine and loss of the right to use the word in the title. Thus BIAM has been forced to change the name against our will. Life is tough!