Currency

Video performance, 2017

A video performance that presents a critique of the contemporary economic system, through irony and simulation.

In this action, an object of artistic value is produced through the representation of a physical object with a monetary value, through a virtual simulation that only reproduces an allegory of these goods. The artist uses a computer program that runs this simulation and each click generates a plantain on the screen. The title refers to the amount of plantains generated in the duration of the video and its equivalent value in two exchange rates (euro and Dominican peso).

When analyzing this work, leveraged assets in the production process must also be taken into account, such as time, space, human capital and equipment.

This gesture aims to give materiality, identification and relativity to money, which has become a symbolic and artificial value, thanks to speculation, fractional reserve banking and the failure of fiat currency. With the transfer of accounting to digital systems, money has literally become virtual matter, stored in bank databases.

The inspiration for this work comes from a sudden rise in the price of plantains at the end of 2015 in the Dominican Republic. This agricultural product is essential in the Dominican diet and an increase to € 1 per kilo, makes its consumption unfeasible for a large part of the population. In the daily news, it is common to see the price of plantains reported, along with other currencies such as the dollar, which denotes the intrinsic value of this product in the country’s market.