Friday, February 26, 2016

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 02 - Show Me The Money

A selection of the works on display in the Show Me The Money exhibition at the People's History Museum in Manchester:

Graphs, Simon Roberts - a set of 56 graphs taken from newspaper reports about the financial crisis of 2008. With their axis removed, it is impossible to tell what they signify, yet line are graphs are used by journalists to signal sharp downturn, or a transformation of fortunes.


Cash Point, Wolfgang Weileder - Cash Point takes the premise that public art is 'for the public benefit' with  a delightful literalness. Banknotes sit behind the front panel and their distribution is computer-controlled. At one random moment each day the artwork ejects a banknote. Anyone who receives money from the artwork does so merely by being in the vicinity.


Credit Crunch Lexicon, Simon Roberts - Roberts combines three related forms of representation and understanding: textual, graphic and photographic images. The artwork uses all of the most common terms that have informed the way we have seen the financial crisis from 2008.


$49,983: Total Amount of Money Rendered in Exchange for a Masters of Fine Arts Degree to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pulped into Four Sheets of Paper, Thomas Gokey (one of four) - To make this work Thomas Gokey pulped the exact cost of his Masters degree in Fine Arts, $49,983 in used currency. He could then sell it, piece by piece, until the value of the debt has been met. In owning a piece of Gokey's art [the gallery] also owns a piece of his debt. [The gallery] is both his creditors and his debtors.


The ROBIN™ Currency, Robin Bhattacharya - The ROBIN™ Currency is a fully functioning currency system based on prime numbers. The coin and notes of each corresponding to one prime number, and are therefore unique. It can be freely traded and the changing exchange rates reflect its market value on the artist's website. The value of each ROBIN™note is determined by relative scarcity or point of introduction into circulation.