Starting some time in 2001 people in my Bushwick loft building spontaneously created a giving shelf. We slowly began leaving things for other people. Most of the time people picked them up. Among the items were books, kitchenware, electronics, DVDs, clothes and occasionally art work.
It was because of that shelf I felt part of a very localized community in an otherwise alienating part of Brooklyn. It was a very intimate exchange of objects we all lived with and shared. I still have a few items from that ledge, including a small oil painting of a nude model.
The building now has a myspace page, check it out here.
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