By Vasili Sushko: NEW YORK (VOR)— When it comes to art, some pieces are worth much more than others. Some works are worth millions, others just a few bucks. But imagine using art not as décor on your wall, but as cash you can spend in restaurants, hotels, even at your dentist’s office. This is the idea behind an alternative currency called Artmoney, which is growing in popularity around the world. Our New York correspondent Vasili Sushko had a chance to speak with the founder of Artmoney earlier this week, to find out what this alternative currency is all about. Imagine traveling across the United States without a single U.S. Dollar in your pocket, but instead, pieces of art. Imagine renting a bicycle, paying for your meals, paying for a hotel, not with cash but with… yes… art! This is the idea behind an up-and-coming alternative currency called Artmoney, which was first created over a decade ago, but is growing more popular today than ever before. “This is a currency this is actual money. That means you can spend it in a regular shop as full or partial payment for goods and services.” – Lars Kraemmer, Founder of Artmoney. Artmoney is the brainchild of Lars Kraemmer, a native of Canada but now a resident of Denmark. Kraemmer created his first Art Money in 1997, and said the idea caught on rather quickly. “I thought I could make a currency that would liberate me from financial binds more or less. The next year another artist joined the concept and from there it expanded and became more like a collective currency among artists around the world.” – Lars Kraemmer, founder of Artmoney So what exactly is Artmoney? A ‘van Gogh’ hanging in a museum may certainly be worth a lot in cash, but it isn’t Artmoney. Your child’s pre-school finger-painting isn’t Artmoney either. According to Kraemmer, anyone can make Artmoney, but it needs to fit a certain criteria.“Anyone in the world can make Artmoney but you have to agree on the common things. There is a fixed size and there’s fixed information on each Artmoney. There has to be a serial number, a website address, and then the Artmoney artist is registered on our website.” – Lars Kraemmer, founder of Artmoney. So how much is Artmoney worth? Well in fact, each piece of Artmoney holds an identical value of 200 Danish Kroner, which is about 34 US Dollars. You can purchase Artmoney from a number of registered vendors or you can simply create it yourself. Where and how you spend it, is up to you. “If I go traveling I would make Artmoney along my way, on the beach, or in the forest, or in the city. And I would approach the town and make a deal with the local hotel and buy one night for four or five Artmoney, that is how it operates.” – Lars Kraemmer, Founder of Artmoney. Today, Kraemmer’s Artmoney is purchased, sold and spent all across the world. Artmoney isn’t an official Bank or a financial institution, but rather the opposite: a sort of alternative to the dollar, which according to Kraemmer can be considered as a worthless piece of paper. While in this day and age it doesn't seem that Art Money will replace the dollar, the Euro or the Danish Krone anytime soon, Kraemmer said his idea is growing more popular than ever. “It seems to expand rapidly right now. It was a slow birth, it grew very slowly so I think it's an exponential growth that we are watching and now there are more than 1,200 artists involved, and it seems with the number of artists coming in now that we might double in one year. So that would make the project double in size, and that is very fast. It could explode if everything goes well." – Lars Kraemmer, founder of Artmoney" Kraemmer’s vision is that one day his Artmoney will serve as a functional trade system to help those who are poor, or people in areas of war or natural disaster. He also hopes that more people who can’t afford to become art collectors can do so. Source: Article