As part of Global village 2012 I was asked to represent England in an international show that toured around Europe, to Holland France and then to this final location at the culture house in Brondby strand Copenhagen.
The installation C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) was chosen and installed in some manner in all three locations the project started with me running to Holland to Amsterdam central airport with a brief case full of fake cash like I was about to make a major drug deal. Once I had arrived at the gallery and avoided customs, I proceeed to empty out the fake bank notes onto the floor of the gallery and install the installation so as to look like a blob of cream on the floor of the space.
Money seems to be a major issue in current affairs at the moment,in this installation artist Nicholas Wright plays a game with our perceptions of what money is, what it represents, and how much value we perceive in it.
Explanation of the five hundred Nicka note used in the installation.
The game of monopoly is a popular game for children most parents play it with their children because it teaches them simple mathematics,But the game of monopoly actively encourages the buying out of every other player and the taking of what they have. It encourages capitalist ideals, is it really a good idea to teach children that the best way to be successfull is to be greedy?,to create a monopoly? After asking myself these questions I play another game with your perception of the classic design of the monopoly bank note, On closer inspection I have made it my own, its a Nicka note, a play on my own name,and a pun on slang from London. Added to this is the choice of hand drawing the notes,creating a suggestion of forgery, As if the artists wishes to float this currency on the stock market as an alternative to the current a selection of worthless papers, again playing a game with your perceptions of what art means is it art? or is it money?
Quite aside from this game I am asking of the viewers through the faking of monopoly bank notes. I originally thought of the concept for this installation during a period when I literally could not “rub two pennies” together as we say in England.
So I started making my own bank notes partly to cheer myself up, and partly as a comment on the fact that the moment the recession in England hit. A massive art sale of modern art at Christie’s saw a record number of outrageous million pounds plus sales by modern artists there work bought by the same people who stole the money from the public in the first place.
I decided to parody this in the installation by floating my own currency around an international show of art making a comment both about the death of the euro and the fact that I had as far as I was concerned found the stolen millions it was in art galleries!
I also wanted people to feel they could have some of the money back and so throughout the entire touring (or floating) of the installation I have actively encouraged people to “steal their money back” from the installation. To this end I have even gone to the point of hiding fake bank notes around the library section of the Brondby strand centre and sending the locals of on a treasure hunt to find their lost millions.
The 500 nicka note installed in the fantasy section at the bronby strand kulture house.
So far the five hundred Nicka note has been floated all around Europe and in shows all around the east midlands and may hopefully be in another touring show in India later this year.
The five hundred nicka note is available in an infinate edition for all who want it and cost approximately five English pounds to own (dependent on the stock exchange.)
At the start of the final show I was informed that some of the local immigrant children had found some of my funny money and were standing outside the culture house throwing it in the air shouting “I’m rich!”
A brilliant end to the show.
