Incineration of banknotes from countries that no longer exist (DDR mark notes from defunct East Germany); countries, basing their ideologies on the philosophy of Marx and Engels.
Official Cuban banknotes with the portrait of CHE *, official convertible banknotes, intended not for the native people but for the visiting tourists; large denomination Venezuelan bolivar notes from experiencing economic freefall Venezuela; leva banknotes from the now defunct socialist BULGARIA, as well as RUBLES from the now defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, i.e. communist Russia; banknotes from the People’s Democratic republic of China with the likeness of MAO on each denomination. Many others among which there are ones with more positive likenesses, such as GANDHI on Indian Rupees.
The ash coming from the burnt banknotes is mixed with the Ash Wednesday ashes.
Branding people with ideas or rather „the ashes of ideas” which bring havoc, pain and suffering.
Belief in legals systems invented by people, systems that must be obeyed like some superhuman moral law the breaking of which will result in severe punishment.
All religions, the followers of other contemporary creeds require blind obedience, not reckoning with the consequences of such manipulations. At the cost of trial and error „we learn” to construct a new reality, the only right one.
Money burning is a symbolic attempt to free oneself from it, an attempt to free art from the profit that limit its development.
In the name of new ideologies and religions we brand people with “their” ashes. People consent to this experience believing on the profit, they cultivate it. Institutional help and care take away dignity and degrade people.
Making the same mistakes awaiting a different result.
The ashes of money burnt and mixed with the “Ash Wednesday” ashes.
A series of portraits of people branded with ash on Ash Wednesday. Place des armes , Coyoacan Mexico DF.
(Portraits of people shared with their consent.)
The Church has been called to manipulate people. Relying on the teachings of the church and its rhetoric, we are part of the divine plan, we have the divine element within us and we are “the children” of the Church. If we acknowledge that Man is part of God’s plan and is a child of the Church, it means that Man has the same right to manipulate as the institution representing him. It would be against divine and ecclesiastical law if we were deprived of manipulation as a means of our expression.
Or, in short:
Man as part of divine existence, in his image, has a right to manipulate, just like the creator himself.
MARBLE BOX URNS WITH THE ASHES – L: 18cm, D: 9cm, H: 11cm 2012
Ash Wednesday in the Catholic Church is on the first day of Lent – on that day a sign is made on the forehead as a sign of penance. During which a sign is made on the forehead as a sign of penance. In this project, the ash from burnt banknotes of the former East German Republic.
Can we refer to the symbolic value of outdated, devalued banknotes of a non-existing country by using the ash they produced in a religious ritual? Will the ash from the banknotes always have a larger symbolic value than traditional ash, and in that way, will it give that ritual a higher impact and rank? Can its symbolic and economic value be increased only by recruiting it onto the side of art?
All religions, the followers of other contemporary creeds require blind obedience, not reckoning with the consequences of such manipulations. At the cost of trial and error „we learn” to construct a new reality, the only right one.
