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Offering a visual art work (usually it’s a portrait), the artists receive a useful present in return. Differently from the traditional barter dynamics, “In Kind Exchange” consists in an exchange in which the two parties (the user and the artists) do not discuss the value of the exchanged objects. In fact the project expects mutual appreciation and respect. The artist does not guarantee realistic portrait of the model and the choice of the present is at user’s discretion. There is a “whish list” redacted by Claudia Beccato and Sergey Balovin that helps people choosing among the artists needs. The economic value of the gift does not alter the size and the quality of the art work.

In 2016 Sergey Balovin and Claudia Beccato invented a new portrait technique which consists in painting the model face over a black and white photo of an alien person.

Since 2015 he is been working with Claudia Beccato. They met on Sergey Balovin's "In Kind Exchange" tour in Europe. In the summer of 2016 they got married at Dukley European Art Community in Kotor, during their art residency program. They celebrated their money-free wedding, opening the exhibition "The Wedding [as it should be]." The artists represented with collage on canvas all the elements of a classical wedding, without possessing anything and spending any penny.

In 2015 the project made Sergey Balovin to meet Claudia Beccato, who became his wife. The next stage of In Kind Exchange was their wedding without money. They celebrated their wedding opening the exhibition “The Wedding [as it should be]” at European Dukley Art Community in Kotor, Montenegro. Not a penny was spent for the celebration and all the traditional wedding material attributes were present on the walls as collage. After the opening there was a party and all the food was got as exchange. “The Wedding [as it should be]” is a grotesque representation of the consumer society.

Among the most unusual presents received in exchange for a portrait, there are a drum set, a gold medal karate and a strip dance. Among the most expensive: MacBook Air, iPhone 5S, Round the World flight ticket (Shanghai - Mexico City - Buenos Aires - Santiago - Moscow – Shanghai). Among the most useless: expired driver's license, a lighter (presented by the Minister of Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina), several dozen artist portraits. Among the famous people involved in the "barter": the Minister of Finance of Switzerland Amman Schneider, the Minister of Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Oleg Garkusha, designer Artemy Lebedev, Marat Gelman, blogger Ilya Varlamov, composer Grigory Gladkov, film director Eldar Salavatov, traveller-presenter Andrey Ponkratov, traveller-photographer Sergey Dolya.

In 2012 Sergey Balovin won the competition to participate at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel residency program. For 6 months he lived in a luxury apartment and worked in his studio in the downtown of Shanghai.

So in 2012 he planned a new experiment: his money free world tour in “In Kind Exchange”.

In 2011 the project was nominated for Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award.

The idea of the “In Kind Exchange” project came to Sergey Balovin in Shanghai in 2011, when he moved to a new and empty apartment. He started to swap his drawings in exchange for furniture and household appliances with a neighbour about to move out. Soon the artist systematized the process of exchange, publishing on social media invitations to take part in the project. The participants met the artist e chose one of the two or three ink sketches made, offering in exchange whatever they believe could be useful to the artist apartment. In few months the artist was able to furnish his apartment with the presents got by barter. He got everything, from dishes to furniture and household appliances. Therefore, the artist realised the possibility to live with the only exchange system and started to organize performances focused on different needs: from food to clothes (title of some performances: “feed the artist”, “dress up the artist”, “get the artist drunk”).

In 2010, refusing to put price on his artworks, he launched "In Kind Exchange" where he drew portraits and exchanged them for currency free presents. In 2011 his "In Kind Exchange" project was selected for Sergey Kuryokhin Modern Art Award and in 2012 the artist was in residence at Swatch Art Peace Hotel. The project got amazing feedback in social media and he soon began to receive invitations from all over the world from people who wanted their portraits done. In 2013 finally ready, he started his Money Free World Trip, painting for food, lodging and transportation. The journey ensuing lasted 17 months and covered 36 countries and created over 5,000 portraits and got the same amount of gifts in return.

In 2009 Sergey Balovin was invited to Jinan, China, to open his solo show. About a hundred paintings reflecting Chinese stereotype views of Russian contemporary art. Series deliberately beautiful landscapes with golden frames was a parody of 19th century Russian painting. The artworks were successfully sold in a few days and the artist decided to move to China for improve his financial well-being. But he soon realized he was becoming more focused on consumer demand than his own art vision. He decided to cease sales and, to prevent himself from repeating past mistakes, he performed «Euthanasia», a radical act, destroying his entire oil landscape exhibition, which had been painted according to consumer taste, with a bulldozer (allusion to the Bulldozer Exhibition). The «Euthanasia» project was represented in IFA Gallery.

From 2008 to 2010 he curated the "Petit" project with Louise Morin in which they featured several dozen artists from Europe, Asia and America. The project participants reflected on the topic of "mobility" and created artworks around this theme. More than a hundred pieces were placed in a single suitcase, enabling the curators to cross country borders and represent this "contraband art". The project united some dozens of artists form Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Poland, China, USA, Brazil and was presented in France, Germany, Russia and China, including Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Red Gate Residency in Beijing and Art Labor Gallery in Shanghai.

Sergey Balovin grew up in Voronezh, in western Russia in a family of geologists and studied fine art from a very young age. In 1996 he graduated from Fine Art School and in 2005 graduated from Art Faculty of the Voronezh State Pedagogical University. At 17 years old he went on teaching art at Studio I, school of Architecture and Design. Four years later, he began working at the Pedagogical University, teaching painting and organising group exhibitions featuring young artists from Voronezh. His class soon began a creative and associative meeting point for students. Due to clear limitations in Russian academic education, and being greatly inspired by French, German, and Belgian artists encountered, he taught himself contemporary art.

Sergey Balovin (born 5 July 1984, Voronezh, Russia) is a visual artist and curator. In 2011, to escape the conventional application of monetary value to art, he started the popular "In Kind Exchange" project in which he is exchanging artworks for useful presents. The project has attracted a lot of attention around the world. In 2013 he started his money-free world tour with "In Kind Exchange", travelling the world and swapping portraits for flight tickets, food, accommodation, without spending any money. Since 2015 Sergey Balovin is been working with Claudia Beccato, Italian gastronome and artist. In 2016 Sergey Balovin is on the list of the Database and Analytics of Russian Contemporary Art as 20th of the Top 100 young artists and as 16th according to the list of People's rating.