At the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington, near the Oregon border, you can see this wonderful chess set among nearly 100 other chess sets from around the world. I didn’t quite catch it immediately, but if you played this particular set you would need to choose if you were going to be the communists or the capitalists. I don’t remember which country this set was from but it’s obvious that they favored communism; the capitalist pawns are bound in chains.*

Thankfully communism and capitalism, and even socialism, aren’t the only options we have in life. While it may seem that the overarching governmental and economic structures surround us at all times, there are thousands and thousands of examples of people like you and me who are making small but conscious efforts to implement new types of ideals into their world. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here are a few examples of things that I have seen around my neighborhood that embody an economy of generosity. Below are images of three free boxes. Someone has taken old real-estate magazine stands and transformed them into boxes and houses that are meant to bring small bits of enjoyment to you as you walk by. On a given day, you might find free clothes, bottled water, street zines, pens, pencils, cigarettes, or anything else that people decide to leave in them. The one directly below is complete with a garden. These serve to be positive social interventions and they subtly motivate us to think slightly differently about the way the world works (or could work).

I’ve always been curious to know if these free boxes are set up and then left alone, or if someone comes by and cleans them up occasionally. I would hope that the latter is the case. I know that the one directly above is updated and taken care of often. It used to be an entirely different color and one day it disappeared and was soon returned in this new state. This one is actually different than a normal free box. There is usually a pad of paper, and pens and you can draw images and submit them into the slot at the top. Every now and then a zine will appear and all the submissions are published inside. I’ve actually written about this one before here.

A while back this free box had a number of small plastic astronaut toys and I couldn’t resist taking one. Since then I have left a packet of lemon ginger tea for some other lucky person. I like the idea of giving and receiving and thinking about reciprocation. Below is an image of the astronaut; I keep the space cadet in my kitchen on the door frame.

***update***
I originally posted info about the chess set as the capitalists vs. the socialists. I was incorrect. Here is information from Colleen at the Maryhill Museum:
The set Maryhill has is a propaganda set, “Capitalists versus Communists.”
Designed by the sisters Natalia and Yelena Danko for the Lomonosov State
Porcelain Factory in Leningrad in the 1920s, the set has often been
reproduced since. Ours may be a later edition.

One side does represent Soviets — the pieces carry obvious symbols of the
Soviet Regime and are portrayed as upstanding Soviet peasants — virtuous
etc. The other side does represent capitalists — the King is death holding
a human thigh bone; the Queen wonton, etc.