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| Making Money. November 2012. photo credit: C. Grenville |
Take a resource from the landscape
give the resource value
Reveal the process of this transformation
give the value away.
Kathryn
Walter. Fool’s Gold. 1998.
Making Money is
based on the performance of Fool’s Gold
by Kathryn Walter, presented at Counterposes, (curated by Jim Drobnick and
Jennifer Fisher) in 1998. Her work
exposed the process of creating value, not
only in the art world, but also by exploiting natural resources, Canada having
so many. By donning a white lab
coat, and positioning herself with a scientific “front”, she painted pieces of
gravel with gold paint, and invited the audience to take a piece home. Thus, the gold gravel became relics of
an art performance, and entered circulation in the art market. My response to this performance producing a residue
capable of entering the art market, (either purchased or given away) was to
also create a residue/relic of performance, while also attaching a tag with its
provenance.
During the week of November 17-21nd,
2012, I performed Making Money. Each morning I donned business attire,
did my hair and put on lipstick. I
travelled the short distance to my design studio, but instead of using gouache,
brushes, scanner and Photoshop to turn ideas into textile designs
and (hopefully) money, I turned neglected resources (old wallpaper books,
papers) into
home made money.
The new Canadian Twenty dollar bill
is printed on a plastic material, and to recreate this, I had to use vinyl in
my bills, which was a departure for me.
Fortunately, I had just enough left over from another project to make 22
new bills. Each separate feature
on my homemade money was selected from a paper that corresponded in colour to
the actual bill. All the pieces
were cut out and assembled at my studio.
On the final day, I took my sewing machine to work, and sat at my desk,
making money.
However, the performance of creating the
money was just the beginning. The performance
was not complete until the bills were given value. Just making them appear like the twenty dollar bill in
circulation does not give them value.
Only through exchange could value be given. On November 23rd, I gave the money away to my
classmates. With each bill was a
tag, giving the name of the performance, the date of performance, and my
name. By attaching a provenance to
the money, it may circulate with a residue of myself attached to it, not as an
inert object, but as a gift that may begin a chain of actions.
I also enclosed a self addressed stamped
postcard, so my classmates could report back to me their experience with the
money. So far, I have had 4 responses.
Especially important to this performance
is the repeated condition of explanation.
No matter how the money is dealt with, at some point an explanation of
it must be given. This explaining
is the crux of the performance.
Each time someone else explains the idea of homemade money, art and
value, an additional conversation takes place between two people I do not know,
that I could not possibly have.
These conversations/performances and ideas then become attached to the
money.
This performance takes place between art
and living. Money is a means of
transporting the value of commodities or labour conveniently, by agreeing upon
a form (bank notes) and their relative value to things. The money I made has neither of these
qualities. It is an artwork, made
as the residue of an artwork. The form is obviously based on the form of
currency, but is not legal tender.
The value of the money is unknown, until it is exchanged for something
of similar value decided upon by the person receiving it. This exchange has to be negotiated,
either as barter, or in advance of the purchase. To expect my money to be accepted at a cash register puts
the worker on the other side in the position of having to decide to accept the
possibility of having to pay back the $20.00 from his pocket. The conversation about value cannot
take place under pressure, so I do not recommend trying this.
Questioning the role of currency and art in
daily life is at the heart of Making Money. I would like to perform this work again
as a durational piece, with an audience- who could help make money, or
not. It would be a conversation
starter. I would be available to talk to people about what you can do with home
made money, and the implications of creating your own currency.
