#16

Juliana Borinski 1 + 1 = 0

Solo show

opening  05/04/2012, 6pm - 10pm

Exhibition 06/04/2012 -05/05/2012

Curator:  Rosario Caltabiano

texts :  Nathalie Desmet, Simone Frangi,

Jérôme Glicenstein, Géraldine Miquelot

Samuel O. Ronsin, Septembre Tiberghien

 

 

 

The exhibition “1 + 1 = 0” originates from a hybrid work, whose nature is described by a paradoxical equivalence. 
This ambiguous object – which has been realised in unlimited edition since 2009 – gradually reveals itself as a knot of meanings, which activates a critical analysis of the European single currency and of the complex economical framework from which it emerges. 
By cutting the nickel silver borders of two one-euro coins and by joining them in a configuration where two spheres get into contact, Juliana Borinski obtains an apparently harmless but striking product. 
This permutation interferes with the modes of functioning of money, as it rectifies its function and redirects its circulation. The metal coin - understood as a reserve of value which can be accumulated while keeping its fluidity – migrates from a status of “mean of exchange” to a status of “luxury good” and “design object”.

The illegal operation that initiates “1 + 1 = 0” breaks the symbolic integrity of the one-euro coin, disconnecting the equivalence between attributed value and exchange value. Borinski distills in the structure of this transient object a third sphere of value that doesn’t rest anymore on the system of trust underpinning the abstraction of money. This work appears as a real “billon”, taking into account a declared value that exceeds the amount of metal price, production costs and the intellectual property rights. 

 

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